At face value, the Ten Commandments can seem intense and unforgiving. But Emanuel Swedenborg’s understanding of the internal sense of the Bible—spiritual meanings that lie beneath the literal words—can give us a new perspective on these familiar rules.

In this episode of their Swedenborg and Life web series, hosts Curtis Childs and Jonathan Rose study the inner meaning of the first commandment.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 950; Arcana Coelestia 8864, 8865, 8868, 8869, 8875, 8878, 8879, 8880, 8881)

8872. 'And which are in the waters under the earth' means which exist on the level of the bodily senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a likeness of the things which are in the waters under the earth', as those which come below the ones that exist in natural light. The fact that they exist on the level of the bodily senses is evident from the consecutive degrees of the light that shines in a person's understanding. In the first degree with him there are the things which exist in spiritual light; these are meant by 'the things which are in the heavens above'. In the second degree there are the things which exist in natural light; these are meant by 'the things which are on the earth beneath'. And in the third degree there are the things which exist on the level of the bodily senses; these are meant by 'the things which are in the waters under the earth'. What the level of the bodily senses is and the nature of it, see 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310-6316, 6318, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693. The things which come to be known most directly from the experience of the outward senses, and the delights accompanying such knowledge, are connected with the level of the bodily senses. With those who are good that knowledge and associated delights are good because they are used in good deeds; but with those who are bad they are bad because they are used in bad deeds. Misleading by means of such knowledge and its delights, as pretenders, hypocrites, and deceivers are accustomed to do, is 'making a likeness of such things as are below the waters under the earth.'

6201. This was how my thought was seen by spirits when I had been raised a little way above the level of the senses. But when my thought took place on the latter level no such wave-like motion was seen; instead something entirely material appeared there, not unlike an object seen with the physical eyes. This is called thinking on the sensory level; but when thought takes place on a more internal level it is referred to as being raised above the level of the senses. The ancients were well acquainted with the idea that a person can be raised above the sensory level, and therefore some of them also wrote about that condition. People whose thought takes place on the lower level are called sensory-minded, and spirits of a similar nature are attached to them. These spirits take hold of little more from a person than what enters his own awareness too; for they are more unrefined than all other spirits. I have also noticed that when a person is on the sensory level and has not been raised above it his thought is confined to what is of a bodily and worldly nature. He has no wish to know about things that belong to eternal life; indeed he refuses to listen to anything about it.

[2] To enable me to know the nature of all this I have been brought down frequently to that sensory level, when the things described have occurred instantly. At the same time spirits in that more unrefined sphere have poured in foul and offensive ideas. But as soon as I was raised above the sensory level such ideas were dispelled. The life of the majority of people who surrender themselves to physical pleasures is on that sensory level, and so is the life of those who have utterly refused to contemplate the existence of anything beyond what they can see and hear, in particular those who have refused to think about eternal life. For that reason people of this kind revile such higher things and are nauseated when they hear them mentioned. At the present day large numbers of spirits like this exist in the next life, for bands of them enter it from the world. Also when they flow into a person they prompt him to indulge his natural inclination to lead a selfish and worldly life, not a life for others except insofar as they countenance him and his selfish desires. To be raised up above these spirits a person must entertain thoughts of eternal life.