247. There is another reason why angels and spirits conjoin themselves so closely with man as not to know but that what is man's is their own, namely, that there is such conjunction between the spiritual world and the natural world in man that the two are as if one. But inasmuch as man has separated himself from heaven, the Lord has provided that there should be angels and spirits with each individual, and that man should be ruled by the Lord through them. This is the reason for such close conjunction. It would have been otherwise if man had not separated himself; for in that case he could have been ruled by the Lord through the general influx from heaven, without spirits and angels being adjoined to him. But this subject will be specially considered in what follows, in connection with the conjunction of heaven with man.