8872. 'And which are in the waters under the earth' means which exist on the level of the bodily senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a likeness of the things which are in the waters under the earth', as those which come below the ones that exist in natural light. The fact that they exist on the level of the bodily senses is evident from the consecutive degrees of the light that shines in a person's understanding. In the first degree with him there are the things which exist in spiritual light; these are meant by 'the things which are in the heavens above'. In the second degree there are the things which exist in natural light; these are meant by 'the things which are on the earth beneath'. And in the third degree there are the things which exist on the level of the bodily senses; these are meant by 'the things which are in the waters under the earth'. What the level of the bodily senses is and the nature of it, see 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310-6316, 6318, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693. The things which come to be known most directly from the experience of the outward senses, and the delights accompanying such knowledge, are connected with the level of the bodily senses. With those who are good that knowledge and associated delights are good because they are used in good deeds; but with those who are bad they are bad because they are used in bad deeds. Misleading by means of such knowledge and its delights, as pretenders, hypocrites, and deceivers are accustomed to do, is 'making a likeness of such things as are below the waters under the earth.'

6845. 'For the place which you are standing on is holy ground' means that otherwise the Divine cannot come in. This is clear from the meaning of 'place' as a state, dealt with in 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, and therefore 'the place which you are standing on' is the state in which he is up to this point; and from the meaning of 'holy ground' as the holiness which goes forth from the Lord. Thus a state of the holy influence from the Lord's Divine Human is what these words are used to mean. This meaning - that otherwise the Divine cannot come in - follows from what is said immediately before, namely that if a person were not removed from the powers of the senses, which form the external levels of the natural, that is, if he were not raised from them to more internal levels, the Divine could not flow in. The reason why the Divine cannot flow in as long as the person's thought remains on the level of the senses is that influx from the Divine extends right through to things that are last in order, thus right through to the powers of the senses which form the external levels of a person's natural. If those levels consist solely of bodily and earthly interests the Divine influences coming in are reduced to nothing since they are incompatible with what is there. Consequently when a person is about to receive the Divine, that is, matters of faith and love, he is raised from the powers of the senses; and once he has been raised from them, the Divine no longer flows in there, into the external level of the senses, but into the more internal level to which the person has been raised. I have been allowed to know from a considerable amount of experience that this is so.