I had a conversation with spirits about life, because it had been said that they have no life from themselves, but only seem to themselves to have it, and that [to them] this is enough, for then the spirits, thinking as they do, suppose that they nevertheless live. Therefore it was inspired to tell them that there is life in wisdom, for not to grow wise cannot be called having life, and that truths, notably the truths of faith, are what constitute life. Since this is undeniably so, one can therefore imagine what life there could be in insanity, or things contrary to wisdom, which are consequently not truths of faith. Being the opposite of wisdom, it follows that there is no life in them. But still they kept on thinking, people may be insane, as is well known, and they still live, in fact, think they live more than others and take much pleasure in that life, which they consider much more excellent than the pleasure of a life devoted to the truths of faith. So I was inspired to tell them and to portray to them by a spiritual mental image, that the life they have is like that of a dim fire, like a coal fire, glowing in the darkness. The dimness from this fire appearing by the spiritual mental image looked sad.