9215. 'It is his clothing for his skin' means that they also clothe relatively external things. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as the sensory level in general or things on that level, as above; and from the meaning of 'skin' as that which is relatively external, which also clothes more internal things but still exists within those on the sensory level. What 'the skin' means, and who exactly correspond to the skin in the next life, see 3540, 5552-5559, 8977, 8980. The natural degree of the human mind has a rather internal level, a relatively external or middle level, and an outermost level. The more internal level of the natural is in contact with heaven; the middle or relatively external level is in contact on one side with the more internal, and through this with heaven, and on the other side with the outermost, and through this with the world, see 4009, 4570, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649, 5707. The outermost level of the natural is that of the senses, which is meant here by 'clothing'. This level receives impressions of objects in the world and thereby serves more internal things. It is called 'his only covering' because it is the last and lowest and so is general to all, the relatively external or middle level of the natural being the one meant by 'skin'. From this it is evident that 'his clothing for his skin' means that the sensory level also clothes relatively external things. The fact that the sensory level is the last and lowest of a person's life, and so is a general covering, see 4009, 5077, 5125, 5128, 5767, 5774, 6201, 6313, 7442, 7693.

6622. In talking to spirits about what flows into ideas constituting thought I have said that men cannot by any means believe how countless the details are that an idea holds within it, for men have no conception of thought except as something simple and singular. Thus their judgement of the matter is based on quite external evidence. The spirits to whom I was talking at that time subscribed to the belief that ideas did not have anything inwardly present in them, a belief of which they had become convinced during their lifetime. But to enable them to understand that they perceived countless things as a single whole, I was led to tell them that the movements of millions of motor fibres combine to produce a single action. At the same time all things in the body work together and adjust themselves both collectively and individually to produce that action. Yet for all this that small action is seen as one that is simple and singular, as though it possessed no such complexity. It is similar with the countless things which combine to produce a single spoken word, such as the bending of the lips, and of all the muscles and fibres there; also the movements of the tongue, throat, larynx, trachea, lungs, and diaphragm, together with all their muscles collectively and individually. Since a person discerns the single utterance they make merely as a simple sound without anything more to it, one may see how crude is perception that relies on the senses. What then of perception that relies on sensory evidence regarding ideas constituting thought which exist in a purer world and are accordingly quite remote from the sensory level?