1123. THE SPEECH OF THIS EARTH IS SCARCELY INTELLIGIBLE TO THE SPIRITS OF THE PLANET JUPITER The speech of man is indeed understood by every spirit wherever he may have been born, even by those who are from the planet Jupiter. But because the latter are celestial and think [in a celestial manner], they have, as it were, an imaginative speech, which they express, not by words, but only by ideas that are as if continuous; whereas our speech being divided into words must be gathered together like things scattered, and a continued idea formed therefrom. They therefore said that this speech is scarcely intelligible because it carries on one general idea in such a disconnected manner, whilst they comprehend in their speech more things in a moment than we can comprehend in many moments, even such things as are scarcely expressible. Similarly, a man who devotes himself to thoughts can comprehend better than one who holds his thoughts only on the speech, or on the words alone, or, as it is said, upon the lips, which is something external. 1748, Mar. 2.