5588. As for the speech of spirits, it is made up of the mental images of spoken thought, which mental images are separate from human words, for when a person speaks, he thinks of only the meaning of what he is talking about, and this meaning falls into words. This thought which is speaking, that is to say, the outward thought, divided into mental images, conveys the speech of spirits, and it is from their inward natural memory. For there are with spiritual [angels] inward things which are closed; therefore they speak about truths and goods.
5588. As regards the speech of spirits, it is from the ideas of the speech-thought; which ideas are distinct from the words which are with man; for, when a man speaks, he thinks only the sense of the thing about which he is speaking; and that sense is what falls into the words. That thought which is the speaking, or exterior thought, separated into ideas, constitutes the speech of spirits; and it is from the interior natural memory. For the internals which the spiritual have are closed: wherefore, they speak about truths and goods.
5588. Quod loquelam spirituum attinet, est illa ex ideis cogitationis loquentis, quae ideae sunt absque vocibus apud hominem, nam homo dum loquitur cogitat modo sensum rei de qua loquitur, et ille sensus cadit in voces; cogitatio illa quae est loquens seu exterior, divisa in ideas, sistit loquelam spirituum, estque illa ex memoria naturali interiore. Sunt enim apud spirituales interna quae clausa, quare loquuntur de veris et bonis.