540. Such, then, is the equilibrium between heaven and hell. Those who are in the world of spirits are in that equilibrium, for the world of spirits is midway between heaven and hell. By it also all men in the world are kept in a like equilibrium, since men in the world are ruled by the Lord by means of spirits in the world of spirits, as will be shown below in the appropriate section. No such equilibrium would be possible unless the Lord ruled both heaven and hell and regulated both sides. Otherwise, falsities from evil would preponderate, and would affect the simple good who are in the ultimates of heaven, and who can be more easily perverted than the angels themselves; and thereby equilibrium would perish, and with it freedom with men.