enses; and he said, "I can; but I do not choose: who is not out of
his senses?" When the conversation was thus ended, this universal
confirmator was sent to the angels, to be examined as to his true
quality; and the report they afterwards made was, that he did not
possess even a single grain of understanding; because all that is above
the rational principle was closed in him, and that alone which is below
was open. Above the rational principle is heavenly light, and below it
is natural light; and this light is such that it can confirm whatever it
pleases; but if heavenly light does not flow into natural light, a man
does not see whether any thing true is true, and consequently neither
does he see that any thing false is false. To see in either case is by
virtue of heavenly light in natural light; and heavenly light is from
the God of heaven, who is the Lord; therefore this universal confirmator
is not a man or a beast, but a beast-man. I questioned the angel
concerning the lot of such persons, and whether they can be together
with those who are alive, since every one has life from heavenly light,
and from this light has understanding. He said, that such persons when
they are alone, can neither think nor express their thoughts, but stand
mute like machines, and as in a deep sleep; but that they awake as soon
as any sound strikes their ears: and he added, that those become such,
who are inmostly wicked; into these no heavenly light can flow from
above, but only somewhat spiritual through the world, whence they derive
the faculty of confirming. As he said this, I heard a voice from the
angels who had examined the confirmation, saying to me, "From what you
have now heard form a general conclusion." I accordingly formed the
following: "That intelligence does not consist in being able to confirm
whatever a man pleases, but in being able to see that what is true is
true, and what is false is false." After this I looked towards the
company where the confirmators stood, and where the crowd about them
shouted, "_O how wise!_" and lo! a dusky cloud covered them, and in the
cloud were owls and bats on the wing; and it was said to me, "The owls
and bats flying in the dusky cloud, are correspondences and consequent
appearances of their thoughts; because confirmations of falsities so as
to make them appear like truths, are represented in this world under the
forms of birds of night, whose eyes are inwardly illuminated by a false
light,