Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The presence of the Lord involves freedom, the one following the other. The more present the Lord, the more free the man, that is, the more a man 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 the man, so that he may be nothing, and that they may be everything. When they are everything, the man is one of them, and scarcely even that, for in their eyes he is a mere nobody. Therefore when the Lord is liberating the man from their dominion and from their yoke there arises a combat. But when the man 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 his delights and his happinesses, and is loved and esteemed. This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:
My yoke is easy, and My burden is light (Matt. 11:30)The reverse of a man's state when under the yoke of evil spirits, who, as just said, account the man as nothing, and, if they were able, would torment him every moment.
(from Arcana Coelestia 905)