While I was reading in the Word of the Lord, certain spirits were concerned about the words and expressions. I was prompted to tell them that the names there, of cities, regions, people, cannot possibly pass over into heaven to the angels, because they are limited, physical, material; so they do not know what those names are. Nor can the rest of the expressions, nor can the literal meaning, that of the letter, because it also is physical, worldly and material, but the inward and more inward meaning can. The meaning of the letter only comes to the nearest spirits. Consequently, if it does not pass into heaven to the angels, there must be no life in [that] meaning of the Lord's Word. That the angels do not understand the meaning of the letter of the Word is also evident from the fact that their speech is ineffable, because pertaining to inward, and more inward matters, thus to the essence of reality, which is life. 1748, 18 June.