5583. I also realized where writing like this comes from, namely, that it follows the form of heaven which is like this, and about which many things could be said but not now. The heavenly angels know perfectly what corresponds, as for example, what the correspondences are of the degrees of turnings to this or that quarter, and they know this from an implanted knowledge because the [quarters] are derived from the form of heaven. This is the source of writing and many other things. That they know that this is true without being taught, see Jer. 31:33, 34. I am at liberty to relate something remarkable about a similar matter. When the angels see a spirit below them walking, they then immediately see from the path he is walking and its curves back and forth what his nature is and what he is thinking, for he is moving in accord with the form of his thought, and they draw a conclusion from the form. From this I was able to be shown that the curving of the writings is according to the form of heaven. Walking in accord with the heavenly form and writing in accord with heavenly writing are things no one can learn artificially; if anyone learns something artificially, that person immediately departs from heaven and is recognized immediately, especially one who is walking, and this is recognized from the direction of his face when his feet are going a different direction.
