1639. Speech composed of words, as has been stated, is the speech that belongs properly to man, and indeed to his bodily memory, whereas speech composed of ideas comprising thought is the speech that belongs to spirits, and indeed to the interior memory, which is the memory possessed by the spirit. Men are not aware of having this interior memory because the memory of particulars, that is, of material things, which is of a bodily nature, is everything and obscures the interior memory. Yet without the interior memory, which belongs properly to his spirit, man is unable to think at all. I have spoken to spirits quite often by means of that memory, and so in their own language, that is, through the ideas that are part of thought. How universal and abundant that language is becomes clear from the fact that every word holds within itself an idea that is wide-ranging; for it is well known that a single idea which a word possesses may be set forth by the use of many words. This is even more true of an idea belonging to one particular subject, and truer still of an idea belonging to many such subjects, which may be drawn together into one composite idea which nevertheless seems to be a simple whole. These considerations show what the speech is like which comes naturally to spirits when with one another and by means of which man is joined to spirits.