5849. The two spirits adjoined to man cause him to be in communication with hell, and the two angels cause him to be in communication with heaven. Without communication with heaven and hell, man could not live even a moment. If these communications were taken away, the man would fall dead as a stock; for then would be taken away the connection with the First Esse, that is, with the Lord. This has also been shown me by much experience. The spirits with me were removed a little, and then as they were removed I began as it were to expire, and indeed should have expired if they had not been sent back. But I know that few will believe there is any spirit with them, nor even that there are any spirits; and this chiefly for the reason that at this day there is no faith, because no charity, and thus it is not believed that there is a hell, nor even that there is a heaven, nor consequently that there is any life after death. Another reason is that they do not see spirits with their eyes; for they say, "If I should see, I would believe; what I see, this is; but what I do not see, I do not know whether it is." When yet they know, or might know, that man's eye is so dull and gross that it does not even see many things that exist in ultimate nature, as is evident from microscopes which make them visible. How then could it see what is within even purer nature, where spirits and angels are? These man cannot see except with the eye of his internal man, for this is accommodated to such vision. But the sight of this eye is not opened to man while he is in this world, for many reasons. From all this it is evident how far distant is the faith of this day from the faith of ancient times, when it was believed that every man had his angel with him.