5146. And in the uppermost basket. That this signifies the inmost of the will part, is evident from the signification of a “basket” as being the will part (of which above, n. 5144); and from the signification of “the uppermost,” as being the inmost (n. 2148, 3084, 4599). The reason why the “uppermost” denotes the inmost is that with man who is in space, interior things appear as higher things, and exterior things as lower ones; but when the idea of space is put off, as is the case in heaven and also in the interior thought of man, there is then put off the idea of what is high and what is low; for height and depth come from the idea of space. Nay, in the interior heaven there is no idea of things interior and exterior, because something of space adheres to this idea also; but there is the idea of more perfect or more imperfect state; for interior things are in a more perfect state than exterior ones, because interior things are nearer the Divine, and exterior things are more remote from it. This is the reason why what is uppermost signifies what is inmost.

[2] Nevertheless no one can apprehend what the interior is relatively to the exterior unless he knows how the case stands with degrees (in regard to which see above, n. 3691, 4154, 5114, 5145). Man has no other conception of what is interior and hence more perfect than as of what is purer in continual diminution; but the purer and the grosser are possible in one and the same degree, both according to the expansion and the contraction, and according to the determinations, and also according to the insertions of things homogeneous or heterogeneous. As such an idea prevails about the interior of man, it is quite impossible to avoid the notion that the exteriors are continuously coherent with the interiors, and thus act with them absolutely as a one. But if a genuine idea about degrees is formed, it is then possible to see how the interiors and the exteriors are distinct from one another, and that they are so distinct that the interiors can come into existence and subsist without the exteriors, but by no means the exteriors without the interiors. It is also then possible to see how the case stands with the correspondence of the interiors in the exteriors, and also how the exteriors can represent the interiors. This is the reason why the learned can treat hypothetically only of the interaction between the soul and the body; nay, this is also the reason why many of them believe life to be in the body, so that when the body dies, they believe that they will die as to the interiors also, on account of the coherence of these with the body, when yet it is only the exterior degree that dies, the interior then surviving and living.

5144. And behold three baskets. That this signifies the successives of the things of the will, is evident from the signification of “three,” as being what is complete and continuous even to the end (see n. 2788, 4495, 5114, 5122), thus what is successive; and from the signification of “baskets,” as being things of the will. That “baskets” are things of the will is because they are vessels to hold food; and also because food signifies celestial and spiritual goods, and these are of the will; for all good pertains to the will, and all truth to the understanding. As soon as anything comes forth from the will, it is perceived as good. In what precedes, the sensuous subject to the intellectual part has been treated of, which was represented by the butler; what is now treated of is the sensuous subject to the will part, which is represented by the baker (see n. 5077, 5078, 5082).

[2] What is successive or continuous in intellectual things was represented by the vine, its three shoots, its blossoms, clusters, and grapes; and finally the truth which is of the intellect was represented by the cup (see n. 5120); but what is successive in the things of the will is represented by the three baskets on the head, in the uppermost of which there was of all food for Pharaoh, the work of the baker. By what is successive in the things of the will is meant what is successive from the inmosts of man down to his outermost, in which is the sensuous; for there are steps or degrees as of a ladder, from inmosts to outermosts (see n. 5114). Into the inmost there flows good from the Lord, and this through the rational into the interior natural, and thence into the exterior natural or sensuous, in a distinct succession, as by the steps of a ladder; and in each degree it is qualified according to the reception. But the further nature of this influx and its succession will be shown in the following pages.

[3] “Baskets” signify the things of the will insofar as goods are therein, in other passages of the Word, as in Jeremiah:

Jehovah showed me, when behold two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jehovah; in one basket exceedingly good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; but in the other basket exceedingly bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness (Jeremiah 24:1-2);

here “basket” is expressed in the original by a different word, which signifies the will part in the natural; the “figs” in the one basket are natural goods, while those in the other are natural evils.

[4] In Moses:

When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God will give thee, thou shalt take of the first ripe of all the fruit of the land, which thou shalt bring in from thy land, and thou shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which Jehovah shall choose. Then the priest shall take the basket out of thy hand, and set it before the altar of Jehovah thy God (Deuteronomy 26:1-2, 4);

here “basket” is expressed by still another word that signifies a new will part in the intellectual part; “the first ripe of the fruit of the earth” are the goods thence derived.

[5] In the same:

For the sanctifying of Aaron and his sons, Moses was to take unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil; of fine wheaten flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them upon one basket, and bring them near in the basket. Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting (Exodus 29:2-3, 32);

“basket” here is expressed by the same term as in the present chapter, signifying the will part in which are the goods signified by “bread,” “cakes,” “oil,” “wafers,” “flour,” and “wheat;” by the will part is meant the containant; for goods from the Lord flow into the interior forms of man, as into their vessels, which forms, if disposed for reception, are the “baskets” in which these goods are contained.

[6] Again:

When a Nazirite was being inaugurated he was to take a basket of unleavened things of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, with their meat-offering, and their drink-offerings; a ram also he shall make a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Jehovah, besides the basket of unleavened things; and the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hand of the Nazirite, and the priest shall wave them with a waving before Jehovah (Numbers 6:15, 17, 19-20);

here also “basket” denotes the will part as the containant; the “cakes,” the “wafers,” the “oil,” the “meat-offering,” the “boiled shoulder of the ram,” are celestial goods which were being represented; for the Nazirite represented the celestial man (n. 3301).

[7] At that time such things as were used in worship were carried in baskets; as was also the kid of the goats by Gideon, which he brought forth to the angel under the oak (Judges 6:19); and this for the reason that baskets represented the containants, and the things in the baskets, the contents.