AC 904, 905 - the presence of the Lord

AC 904
The Lord speaks with every person,
for whatever a person wills and thinks that is good and true,
is from the Lord.
There are with every person at least two evil spirits and two angels.
The evil spirits excite his evils,
and the angels inspire things that are good and true.
Every good and true thing inspired by the angels is of the Lord;
thus the Lord is continually speaking with a person,
but quite differently with one person than with another.
With those who suffer themselves to be led away by evil spirits,
the Lord speaks as if absent, or from afar,
so that it can scarcely be said that He is speaking;
but with those who are being led by the Lord,
He speaks as more nearly present;
which may be sufficiently evident from the fact
that no one can ever think anything good and true
except from the Lord.

[3] The presence of the Lord is first possible with a person
when he loves the neighbor.
The Lord is in love;
and so far as a person is in love,
so far the Lord is present;
and so far as the Lord is present,
so far He speaks with a person.
. . . His speaking to Noah denotes being present,
because the subject is now the regenerated person,
who is gifted with charity.

AC 905
So long as Noah was in the ark
and surrounded with the waters of the flood,
the signification was that he was in captivity,
that is, he was tossed about by evils and falsities,
or what is the same thing, by evil spirits,
from whom is the combat of temptation.
So it follows that to "go forth from the ark" signifies freedom.
The presence of the Lord involves freedom,
the one following the other.
The more present the Lord,
the more free the person;
that is, the more a person is in the love of good and truth,
the more freely he acts.
Such is the influx of the Lord through the angels.
But on the other hand,
the influx of hell through evil spirits is forcible,
and impetuous, striving to dominate;
for such spirits breathe nothing but the utter subjugation of a person,
so that he may be nothing,
and that they may be everything;
and when they are everything
a person is one of them, and scarcely even that,
for in their eyes he is a mere nobody.
Therefore when the Lord is liberating a person
from their dominion and from their yoke
there arises a combat;
but when a person has been liberated, that is, regenerated,
he, through the ministry of angels,
is led by the Lord so gently
that there is nothing whatever of yoke or of dominion,
for he is led by means of what is delightful and pleasing,
and is loved and esteemed.
This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,
(Matthew 11:30)

and is the reverse of a person's state
when under the yoke of evil spirits, who, as just said,
account a person as nothing,
and, if they were able,
would torment him every moment.