1123. About the speech of this earth-it is hardly understandable to the spirits of the planet Jupiter
Mankind's language is understood, to be sure, by every spirit wherever born, even by those from the planet Jupiter. But because they are heavenly beings and [communicate by] thinking, they therefore have a kind of mental pictorial language that they do not even express by words, but only by more or less panoramic mental images. Whereas our speech, broken up into words, has to be gathered like scattered pieces, and then shaped into a continuous mental image.
This is the reason it was said that this speech is hardly understood, because words outline a general mental image in such a scattered manner, while the spirits of Jupiter cover more in a moment than we do in many moments, including things that [to us] are hardly expressible. It is as when a person is concentrating on the thoughts [of someone speaking]-he can understand better than one who holds his thought on the language, only on the words, or, as they say, on the lips, which is the outside. 1748, 2 March.
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.
1123. De loquela hujus telluris, quod vix intelligibilis sit spiritibus telluris Jovis
Loquela quidem hominis intelligitur ab omni spiritu, ubicunque natus, etiam iis qui sunt ex tellure Jovis, sed quia hi coelestes sunt, et cogitant, sic loquelam quasi imaginativam habent, quam etiam exprimunt non vocibus sed modo ideis quasi continuis-quapropter 1
loquela nostra in voces distinctas, sicut sparsa colligenda, et inde formanda idea continua-ideo 2
dictum est, quod vix intelligatur haec loquela, quia unam ideam communem tam sparsim continuant, dum ii plura momento comprehendant, quam illi per plura momenta, tum quoque quae vix expressibilia sunt, sicut etiam homo, qui cogitationibus vacat, comprehendere melius potest, quam qui cogitationes suas modo habet in loquela, sicut solum in vocibus, seu ut vocatur in labiis: quae externa est. 1748, 2 Martius.
Footnotes:
1. The Manuscript has continuis, quapropter
2. The Manuscript has continua, ideo