588. Which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.- That this signifies in which, and from which there is nothing of the understanding of truth and perception of good, and thus nothing of spiritual life, is evident from the signification of seeing, as denoting to understand truth (see above, n. 11, 260, 529); and from the signification of hearing, as denoting to perceive and obey (see above, n. 14, 249), and as denoting to have understanding to perceive (see note 529); and from the signification of walking, as denoting to live spiritually, and when predicated of the Lord, as denoting life itself (see above, n. 97). Hence it is evident, that by neither seeing, hearing, nor walking, is signified, that there is no understanding of truth and perception of good, and consequently no spiritual life. The reason why these things are not in and from idols, is, that idols signify falsities of doctrine, religion, and worship, and such things are not in falsities, but in truths from good; in and from these, are all understanding, all perception from the will of good, and consequently spiritual life. We say, "consequently," because spiritual life consists in the understanding of truth, and in perception from the will of good. For truths are in the light of heaven, and so much so that truths themselves give forth light in heaven, and this because the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord is the cause of all light in the spiritual world; and that light imparts all intelligence and wisdom to the angels. Because, then, truths themselves are of the light, it follows that falsities are not of the light, for they extinguish it, therefore falsities, in the Word, are called darkness (see above, n.526). And because they are darkness, they are the shadows of spiritual death. It must be observed, however, that the falsities of evil are such darkness, but not the falsities that are not from evil. The reason why to hear, signifies perception from the will of good, and thence obedience, is, that speech enters the ear together with sound, and the truths of speech enter the understanding and thence the thought, and the sounds enter the will and thence the affection. That in the spiritual world sounds manifest and produce affection which is of the will, and the expressions (voces) of sound thought which is of the will, may be seen in Heaven and Hell 236, 241), and above (n. 323:1). It is therefore evident why to hear and to hearken also signify to obey, and the ear and hearing obedience.

236. All people in heaven have the same language. They all understand each other, no matter what community they come from, whether nearby or remote. This language is not learned but is innate; it flows from their very affection and thought. The sound of the language corresponds to their affection and the articulations of the sound - the words, that is - correspond to the mental constructs that arise from their affections. Since their language corresponds to these [inner events], it too is spiritual, for it is audible affection and vocal thinking.

[2] Anyone who reflects may realize that all thought comes from affection, which is a function of love, and that mental constructs are various forms into which the general affection is apportioned; for no thoughts or concepts whatever occur apart from affection. This is the source of their soul and life. This is why angels know simply from speech what kind of person someone is - they know the quality of the affection from the sound and the quality of the mind from the articulations of the sound, or words. Wiser angels know from a single series of statements what someone's ruling affection is, since this is what they are primarily attentive to.

[3] It is recognized that all people have various affections or moods - one in times of happiness, another in times of sorrow, another in times of tenderness and compassion, another in times of honesty and truth, another in times of love and thoughtfulness, another in times of zeal or anger, another in times of pretense and guile, another in times of ambition for respect and adulation, and so on; but there is a dominant affection or love within all of these, so since the wiser angels perceive this, they know from conversation the whole state of another person.

[4] I have been granted knowledge of this through an abundance of experience. I have heard angels discover a person's life simply by listening. They have told me that they know everything about another person's life from a few individual ideas because these enable them to know the person's ruling love, which contains everything in a pattern. This is all that our "book of life" is.