youth and manhood
spirits are present who are in affection for what is true and good,
and in consequent intelligence, and who thus communicate with the
second or middle heaven; while in old age spirits are present who are
in wisdom and innocence, and who thus communicate with the inmost or
third heaven. But the Lord maintains this association with such as
can be reformed and regenerated. It is otherwise with such as cannot
be reformed or regenerated. While with these also good spirits are
associated, that they may be thereby withheld from evil as much as
possible, they are directly conjoined with evil spirits who
communicate with hell, whereby they have such spirits with them as
are like themselves. If they are lovers of self or lovers of gain, or
lovers of revenge, or lovers of adultery, like spirits are present,
and as it were dwell in their evil affections; and man is incited by
these, except so far as he can be kept from evil by good spirits, and
they cling to him, and do not withdraw, so far as the evil affection
prevails. Thus it is that a bad man is conjoined to hell and a good
man is conjoined to heaven.

296. Man is governed by the Lord through spirits because he is not in
the order of heaven, for he is born into evils which are of hell,
thus into the complete opposite of Divine order; consequently he
needs to be brought back into order, and this can only be done
mediately by means of spirits. It would be otherwise if man were born
into the good that is in accord with the order of heaven; then he
would be governed by the Lord not through spirits, but by means of
the order itself, thus by means of general influx. By means of this
influx man is governed in respect to whatever goes forth from his
thought and will into act, that is, in respect to speech and acts;
for both of these proceed in harmony with natural order, and
therefore with these the spirits associated with man have nothing in
common. Animals also are governed by means of this general influx
from the spiritual world, because they are in the order of their
life, and animals have not been able to pervert and destroy that
order because they have no rational faculty.{1} What the difference
between man and beasts is may be seen above (n. 39).

{Footnote 1} The difference between men and beasts is, that men
are capable of being raised up by the Lord to Himself, of
thinking about the Divine, loving it, and being thereby
conjoined to the Lord, fr