Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1757

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1757. THE SPEECH OF SPIRITS, AND ITS VARIATIONS - continued

As stated already, the speech of spirits with man is effected by means of words, whereas the speech of spirits among themselves is effected by means of ideas - the first origins of words - such as comprise thought. Those ideas however are not so obscure as man's ideas while he is living in the body, but are distinct and separate, like those that compose speech. Following the decease of the body human thought becomes more distinct and clear, and the ideas comprising thought become discrete and separate, so that they come to serve as distinct speech-forms; for obscurity has been dispelled together with the body, and thus thought, now freed, so to speak, from the shackles by which it was held, and therefore from the shades that enveloped it, becomes more spontaneous. As a consequence, insight into every specific idea, and the perception and utterance of it, become more immediate.


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