302. I have talked with angels about the conjunction of heaven with the human race, and I said that, while the man of the Church declares that all good is from God, and that angels are with man, yet few believe that angels are conjoined to man, still less that they are in his thought and affection. To this the angels replied that they know that there is such a belief and even such a mode of speaking in the world, and especially, to their surprise, within the Church, where yet there is the Word to teach men about heaven and its conjunction with man. Nevertheless, there is such a conjunction that man is unable to think the least thing apart from the spirits adjoined to him, and on this his spiritual life depends. They said that the cause of ignorance of this matter is man's belief that he lives from himself, without a connection with the First Being (Esse) of life; and that he does not know that this connection exists by means of the heavens; and yet if that connection were broken man would instantly fall down dead. If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.

10452. 'The tablets were written on across them both, from the edge of one and from the edge of the other they were written on' means through which the Lord was joined to the human race, or heaven to the world. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tablets on which the Law had been inscribed' as the Word in its entirety, dealt with immediately above in 10451. As regards the writing extending across both sides, from one edge and from the other, that this means the Lord's being joined to the human race, see the explanation in 9416, 10375. This also explains why those tablets were called the tablets of the covenant, for 'a covenant' means a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396.

[2] Since the Lord's being joined to the human race or heaven to the world through the Word is spoken of here, what this really is must be stated. Those who have no knowledge of the true nature of the Word cannot possibly believe that through it the Lord is joined to the human race, and heaven to the world; less still can those who spurn the Word or think it is worthless believe it. But let such people know that the heavens are kept in being through Divine Truth and that without that Truth they would not be heavens, and that the human race is kept in being through heaven. For unless heaven were flowing in to be present with a person no person could even begin to think or therefore desire anything in a rational manner. In order therefore that heaven may be kept in being, and the human race by being joined to it, the Lord has provided the Word, in which there is Divine Truth for angels in heaven and for people in the world. For the nature of the Word in its spiritual and celestial senses is such that they hold angelic wisdom itself within them, in a so highly exalted degree that a person can have scarcely any notion of its exalted nature, though in the letter it appears to be exceedingly simple and crude.

[3] From all this it is evident that when a person reads the Word heaven has the enjoyment of the wisdom it derives from the Word, and that at the same time the person is joined to heaven. This is the end for which such a Word has been given to mankind. From this it follows that if this means of joining together did not exist in the world the connection with heaven would perish, and with it all the good present in a person's will and all the truth in his understanding, and with these that essential human quality which enables one person to live in a community with another. Consequently evil and falsity would take possession of everything, as a result of which one community after another would be destroyed. For the situation would be like that when a person moves about in thick darkness and stumbles wherever he goes. It would be like that when the head is deranged and the body consequently behaves in a foolish and insane manner that leads to self-destruction. Or it would be like that when the heart is weak and internal organs and members consequently cease performing their functions until the whole is dead.

[4] This is what the condition of the human being would be if heaven were not joined to him; and heaven would not be joined to him if the Word did not exist, or else Divine Truth were not conveyed to him directly through angels, as it had been in ancient times. When the word 'heaven' is used that which is Divine should also be understood; for that which is Divine and the Lord's composes heaven. Thus being joined to heaven entails being joined to the Lord, and being separated from heaven entails being separated from the Lord; and being separated from the Lord entails destruction. For all ordering of things for good, which is called Providence, arises from there; and when Providence is taken away everything quickly deteriorates and goes to ruin. From all this it becomes clear what purpose the Word serves; but few will believe that the Word serves so great a purpose as that described above.