266. (i) A bad man equally with a good man enjoys these two capacities. It was shown in the preceding section that the natural mind, as regards the understanding, can be elevated even to the light in which angels of the third heaven are, and can see truths, acknowledge them, and then speak about them. From this it is plain that, since the natural mind can be thus elevated, a bad man equally with a good man enjoys the capacity called rationality, and since the natural mind can be elevated to such an extent, it follows that a bad man can also think and speak about [heavenly] truths. Also that he is able to will and do them, although he neither wills nor does them, both reason and experience testify. Reason: Who cannot will and do what he thinks? But his not willing and doing it is because he does not love to do and will it. This ability to will and to do is the liberty which every man has from the Lord, but his not willing and doing good, when he can, comes from the love of evil which opposes. Yet he can resist this love, and there are many indeed who do resist it. By experience this has often been confirmed in the spiritual world. I have heard evil spirits who inwardly were devils, and who in the world rejected the truths of heaven and the Church, when the affection for knowing, in which every man is from childhood, was excited in them by the glory that, like the brightness of fire, surrounds each love, they perceived the arcana of angelic wisdom just as clearly as did good spirits who inwardly were angels. Indeed these diabolical spirits declared that they could in fact will and act according to those arcana, but did not wish to do so. When told that they might will them if only they would shun evils as sins, they said that they could even do that, but did not wish to. From this it was clear that the wicked equally with the good have the capacity called liberty. Let anyone look within himself and he will observe that such is the case. Man has the power to will because the Lord, from Whom that capacity comes, continually gives the power. For as was said above, the Lord dwells in every man in both these capacities, thus in the capacity or the power of being able to will. As far as the capacity of understanding, called rationality is concerned, man does not have this until his natural mind matures. Until then it is like the seed in unripe fruit, which has no power to be opened in the soil and to grow into a plant. Neither does this capacity exist in those mentioned above (n. 259).