visionary should be willing to acknowledge the possibility that their experiences

might be the product of the imagination

or otherwise not come from God. The key thing, though, was St. Hildegard’s
willingness to submit the phenomena she experienced
to evaluation by others—something that indeed should be the response of a true
visionary, for Scripture tells us:

"Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything;
hold fast what is good" [1 Th. 5:19-21].

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they
are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world" [1 Jn. 4:1].