10237. 'For washing' means purification from evils and falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purification from evils and falsities, dealt with in 3147, 5954. Since purification from evils and falsities by means of the truths of faith is the subject in the internal sense of the verses that now follow, what the situation is with purification must be stated briefly. By 'washing' purification is meant, by 'water' the truths of faith are meant, and by 'the laver' containing the water the natural is meant; for all spiritual purification is accomplished within the natural. A person possesses an external and an internal; the external is called the natural and also the natural man, while the internal is called the spiritual and also the spiritual man. They are so called because the person's internal exists in the spiritual world, where spirits and angels are, while his external exists in the natural world, where people are. Both of them, the internal and the external, undergo purification; the internal does so in heaven, and the external in the world while the person is living there, thus within the natural which exists in the world.

[2] The reason why purification takes place within the natural at this time is that the truths of faith within the natural are clearly perceptible; for they exist there among known facts or things in the memory which are perceived clearly when they are brought to mind. It is different however with things that are thought about in the internal man. These do not come to be seen plainly while a person is in the world, because the ideas there are spiritual. This explains why purification is accomplished within the natural. The fact that it is accomplished by means of the truths of faith becomes clear from the consideration that those undergoing purification should not merely know what evil and falsity are but also acknowledge them to be such, and then turn away and flee from them. When this is done the person starts to be purified from them. Evils and falsities cannot be so known or acknowledged except within the natural through the truths of faith, for these teach what they are and so make them plain. The person who believes that he is purified from evils and falsities before seeing and acknowledging those present in himself is very much mistaken, see 8388, 8390ff.

[3] The reason for saying that a person may know his own evils and falsities through the truths of faith within the natural, that is, in the external man, but not in the internal, is that the ideas belonging to thought in the internal man are spiritual, and spiritual ideas cannot be grasped within the natural. This is because they are ideas in the understanding which are unconnected with objects such as exist in the material world. Nevertheless these ideas, that is to say, spiritual ones, which belong properly to the internal man, flow into natural ideas, which belong to the external man; they produce and fashion those natural ideas, doing so by means of correspondences. But more about spiritual ideas belonging to the internal man will in the Lord's Divine mercy be told in a description of heaven and of spirits and angels; ¹ for they use spiritual ideas for thinking and also for talking to one another.

10237a. 'And you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar' means in order that truth and good may be joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'between the tent of meeting and the altar' as the joining together of truth and good, dealt with in 10001, 10025. The reason why the laver was to be placed between the tent of meeting and the altar, and why Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet there, was in order that purification of the heart and regeneration, which essentially is the joining together of truth and good, might be represented. For truth and good joined together constitute heaven itself with a person. This also is why heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage. That joining together is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, because these teach people the way to lead their life; and therefore when they lead a life in accord with the truths of faith a joining together of truth and good is accomplished. For then truth is transformed into good through the life they lead. The life of truth is goodness. The same thing is meant by the reference to a person's being regenerated by 'water and the spirit', 'water' being the truth of faith, and 'the spirit' its life.

Regeneration is the joining together of truth and good, see 2063, 3155, 3158, 3607, 4353, 5365, 5376, 8516, 8517, 8772, 10067.

Poznámky pod čarou:

9730. 'And you shall put it under the rim of the altar beneath' means that sensory perception on the last and lowest levels. This is clear from the meaning of 'a grating, a network', which was to be put under the rim of the altar, as the level of sensory perception, dealt with above in 9726; from the meaning of 'the rim', when it refers to sensory perception, as that which is last and lowest (external sensory perception forms for a person the last and lowest level of life, see 9726); and from the meaning of 'beneath' as outwardly, for by things that are higher those which are more internal are meant, and by things that are lower those which are more external are meant, 6952, 6954, 7814-7821, 8604, so that 'above' means inwardly and 'beneath' means outwardly. The words 'external sensory perception' are not used to mean the sensory powers of the body itself - its senses of sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch - but the ability that depends directly on them. For a person is called sensory-minded if those bodily senses and their appetites govern what he thinks and desires and he looks no further. If he does look further to examine what the senses desire and what his senses lead him to think, he is said to be raised above the sensory level, or to be drawn away from it, and to think on a more internal level. This happens to those at the present day who are governed by the good of charity and faith; and when it happens, the sensory level becomes dormant and is deprived of the life and activity that the world and worldly objects stimulate there.

There are two directions in which the things composing a person's understanding and will can be oriented. One faces without, towards the world; the other faces within, towards heaven. With natural and sensory-minded people the things composing their understanding and will, that is, their thoughts and affections, are oriented towards the world; but with spiritual and heavenly-minded people their thoughts and affections are oriented towards heaven, and also alternately towards the world. When a person is being regenerated he pivots round to face within, and so far as he can be turned in that direction the person can be raised by the Lord towards heaven, to Himself, and can as a result be endowed with wisdom, faith, and love. For the person then leads his life on the level of the internal man, consequently on that of his spirit, and the external man is subordinate to the internal. But if a person does not allow himself to be regenerated all the thoughts and affections within him remain oriented towards the world, in which case he leads his life on the level of the external man, and the internal man is subordinate to the external, as happens when the external man produces reasonings that lend support to evil desires. These people are called natural-minded, and those who are interested only in the most external things are called sensory-minded. All this goes to show what anyone should understand by the level of sensory perception.