10028. 'And shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar' means the whole of Divine Truth present on the level of sensory perception, which is the lowest level of life in a person. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth springing from the Lord's Divine Good, dealt with just above in 10026; and from the meaning of 'the base of the altar' as the level of sensory perception, which is the lowest level of life in a person. 'The base of the altar' has this meaning because the altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, and therefore the base of it means that which forms the lowest level of life in the human being, and that which forms the lowest level of life in the human being is called outward sensory perception, which is what is meant here. The altar was the chief representative of the Lord's Divine Human, see 9388, 9389, 9714, 9964, 'the base', it is self-evident, being the lowest level of it. As regards this level in the human being, that it is outward sensory perception, and as regards the nature of it, see 9212, 9216, 9996.

[2] The implications of all this must be stated briefly. When a person is being purified he first of all learns the kinds of truths that someone who thinks on the sensory level can grasp; these are truths such as exist in the literal sense of the Word. Afterwards he learns more internal truths such as are gathered from the Word by those who have enlightenment; for these gather its inner meaning from various places where the literal sense there is explained. Then, once these truths are known, even more internal ones are taken in by those who have become enlightened. These even more internal truths together with the previous ones serve the Church as doctrinal teachings, the even more internal truths serving members of the internal Church, the other truths serving members of the external Church. Both groups of people, if they have led lives in accord with those truths, are raised to heaven among angels, and there they are endowed with angelic wisdom, which is the product of truths still more internal, and finally of inmost truths in the third heaven. These truths together with the previous ones in their own order terminate in the last and lowest, which belong to outward sensory perception, and exist together within them. From this it is evident that interior truths reside all together in the truths belonging to the literal sense of the Word, for the latter are the last and lowest, as has been stated. Within things that are last and lowest those which are more internal ones position themselves all in sequence, and within them they exist all together, see 9828, 9836. From this it is evident what should be understood by the whole of Divine Truth present on the level of sensory perception, meant by the requirement that all the blood was to be poured out at the base of the altar.

9215. 'It is his clothing for his skin' means that they also clothe relatively external things. This is clear from the meaning of 'clothing' as the sensory level in general or things on that level, as above; and from the meaning of 'skin' as that which is relatively external, which also clothes more internal things but still exists within those on the sensory level. What 'the skin' means, and who exactly correspond to the skin in the next life, see 3540, 5552-5559, 8977, 8980. The natural degree of the human mind has a rather internal level, a relatively external or middle level, and an outermost level. The more internal level of the natural is in contact with heaven; the middle or relatively external level is in contact on one side with the more internal, and through this with heaven, and on the other side with the outermost, and through this with the world, see 4009, 4570, 5118, 5126, 5497, 5649, 5707. The outermost level of the natural is that of the senses, which is meant here by 'clothing'. This level receives impressions of objects in the world and thereby serves more internal things. It is called 'his only covering' because it is the last and lowest and so is general to all, the relatively external or middle level of the natural being the one meant by 'skin'. From this it is evident that 'his clothing for his skin' means that the sensory level also clothes relatively external things. The fact that the sensory level is the last and lowest of a person's life, and so is a general covering, see 4009, 5077, 5125, 5128, 5767, 5774, 6201, 6313, 7442, 7693.