6141. 'And the ground may not become a waste' means that the mind must be cultivated with facts known to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ground' as the receptacle of truth, as above in 6135-6137, the actual receptacle being the mind, in this instance the natural mind since it is the ground of Egypt; and from the meaning of 'being laid waste' as a situation in which there is no truth to be seen, at this point no facts known to the Church, for 'the Egyptians' means the facts known to the Church, 4749, 4964, 4966, 6004, which are also the truths present in the natural. 'The land of Egypt' means the natural mind where factual knowledge resides, see 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701, and therefore 'the ground of Egypt' means that mind specifically. This now explains why 'the ground may not become a waste' means that the mind must be cultivated with facts [known to the Church].

1068. That 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' means in general a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already in 268, 566, as the member of the Church, or what amounts to the same, the Church. For if the Church is to exist at all the individual must be the Church. The Church is called 'the ground' from the fact that it receives the seeds of faith, which are the truths and goods of faith. 'The ground' is distinguished from 'the earth' or 'the land' - which, as has been shown, also means the Church - as faith is from charity. As charity includes faith within itself so does earth or land include the ground. Consequently when the Church is dealt with in general it is called 'the earth' or 'the land', and when dealt with specifically it is called 'the ground', as here. For that which is general is a complex whole consisting of the things deriving from it. The matters of doctrine which the members of the Ancient Church possessed had come down, as stated already, from revelations and perceptions of the Most Ancient Church which had been preserved, and in which they had faith, such as those we have today in the Word. Those matters of doctrine were their Word. 'Noah began to be a man of the ground' therefore means a person who has been instructed from matters of doctrine concerning faith.