10292. 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'stacte' as truth on the level of the senses, an affection for that truth being meant on account of the sweet smell this spice has. For an odour means perception, a sweet odour meaning perception that is pleasing, a foul and stinking odour perception that is displeasing; and any pleasure or displeasure that perception brings is attributable to and in keeping with the affection belonging to love, see 925, 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 4748, 5621, 10054. It should be remembered in general that all things whatever in the vegetable kingdom, both those which woodlands yield and those which gardens, fields, and plains produce, such as trees, crops, flowers, grass, and vegetables, mean spiritual and celestial realities generally and specifically. The reason why this should be so is that the whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, see in the places referred to in 9280.

[2] 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses because it is mentioned first; for there are four spices from which the incense was made, even as there are four spices from which the anointing oil was prepared. And the one that is mentioned first is the most external, as was that mentioned first in the preparation of the anointing oil, namely the best myrrh, by which the perception of truth on the level of the senses is meant, see 10252 above.

[3] The reason why four spices were used in the preparation of both the oil and the incense was that they meant levels of truth in their proper order, from outward to inmost; and in a person they follow one another in that same order. For a person has an external, called the external man, and an internal, called the internal man; and in each of these there is a more external level and a more internal one. The most external level is called that of the senses; this therefore is what is meant by 'stacte'. What the level of the senses is and what it is like, see 9996, 10236.

[4] The fact that 'stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses cannot be corroborated from other places in the Word because it is not mentioned anywhere else. Yet another kind of stacte, for which also a different word is used in the original language, is mentioned among those spices which were taken down into Egypt, Genesis 37:25; 43:11; and by those commodities which were taken down to Egypt such things as exist in the external or natural man are implied. This is because 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, which belongs to the natural man, see in the places referred to in 9391.

9996. 'And you shall put them in one basket' means the level of the senses, containing them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a basket' as the level of the senses. It has this meaning because the senses constitute the last and lowest level of a person's life, and the last and lowest conceals all inward levels in sequence within itself, see 9828, 9836; also external things that hold more internal ones are meant in the Word by vessels of any kind, 3079. This now explains why it says that the unleavened bread, cakes, and wafers should be put into and brought in a basket. Regarding the level of the senses, that it is the last and lowest of a person's life, see 9212, 9216. The implications of all this are that there are two powers of mind that compose a person's life - understanding and will. The lowest level of the understanding is called sensory knowledge, and the lowest level of the will is called sensory delight. Sensory knowledge, the lowest level of the understanding, is drawn in through two senses, those of hearing and sight; and sensory delight, the lowest of the will, is also drawn in through two senses, those of taste and touch. And the lowest level of perception belonging to both powers of mind is the sense of smell.

[2] Sensory knowledge, the lowest level of the understanding, is meant in the Word by 'cup', for the wine within it, or the water, is the truths that belong to the understanding part of the mind; but sensory delight, the lowest level of the will, is meant in the Word by 'basket'. And since what is last and lowest is the container of all more internal things, the interior things are also meant by those vessels. Truths in the understanding, and in the contrary sense falsities, are meant by 'cup', and forms of good in the will, and in the contrary sense evils, by 'basket'; for forms of good belong to the will, and truths to the understanding. 'Cups' are truths present all together in the understanding, see 5120, 9557, and 'baskets' are forms of good present all together in the will, 5144. Whether you say forms of good in the will or kinds of celestial good, it amounts to the same thing; likewise whether you say truths in the understanding or spiritual truths. Regarding the things which were put in the basket, that they mean kinds of celestial good, see immediately above in 9992-9994. And since the sensory level is the last and lowest of them and so contains them all it says that all those things should be put in a basket.