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.

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.