9726. And thou shalt make for it a grating, a network. That this signifies the sensuous, which is the ultimate, is evident from the signification of “a grating, a network,” as being the external sensuous, thus that which is the ultimate of life with man; and because it signifies the ultimate, it was put round about the altar. This sensuous was represented by “the grating” because in the first place it as it were sifts and separates the things which enter to man and are presented to the understanding and the will, thus truths and goods. If the sensuous is from good, it admits nothing but goods and truths which are from good, and rejects evils and the falsities which are from evil; for the sensuous is the perceptive and sensitive itself of the things of the understanding and of the will in the extremes, being formed precisely according to their affections. The nature of it may be illustrated by very many things in the body; for everywhere in the extremes of the body there are net-like forms, and as it were sieves or gratings, which sift the things that flow in from the world, admitting, from desire, those which are suitable, and rejecting, from aversion, those which are not suitable. There are such most exquisite forms in the stomach, which in accordance with the desires, and for the sake of use, admit into the blood what is suitable of the chyle, and reject what is unsuitable, in accordance with the aversion that is felt for things injurious. The case is similar with the sensuous, which is the ultimate of man’s life. But with man this has been completely destroyed, for the reason that it stands out nearest to the world, and therefore is the last to be regenerated, and at this day scarcely anyone can be regenerated as far as this; and what in consequence is the nature of this sensuous with such persons can be seen from what has been already shown about it (see n. 4009, 5077, 5081, 5084, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 5774, 6183, 6201, 6310-6318, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7645, 7693, 9212, 9216). Therefore man is raised by the Lord from this sensuous toward more inward things, in order that he may see and take hold of the truths which are of faith, and the goods which are of love. But the sensuous which is signified by “the grating, a network round about the altar,” is the sensuous of the Lord’s Divine Human; for the altar is the representative of the Lord, and of the worship of Him from the good of love (n. 9714).