6843. 'And He said, Do not draw near here' means that in thinking about the Divine he should not do so as yet with the powers of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'drawing near Jehovah' as thinking about the Divine. The reason why the expression 'drawing near' when used of a person's approach to the Lord means thought about the Divine is that a person cannot draw near the Divine physically in the way one person draws near another, only mentally, that is, in thought and will. No other kind of approach can be made to the Divine, for the Divine is above the things that belong to space and time and is present in those things with a person which are called states, that is to say, states of love and states of faith, thus states of both powers of the mind - will and thought. It is by means of these that a person can draw near the Divine. This explains why here 'Do not draw near here' means that in thinking about the Divine he should not do so with his outward sensory powers, meant by his shoes which he had first to take off. The expression 'as yet' is used because the outward sensory powers of the natural are regenerated last and so are the last to receive influx from the Divine. And the state which is the subject here was not yet such that the sensory powers could receive the things that flowed in. Regarding the powers of the senses see what is said immediately below.

6316. The majority of the learned, it will surprise you to learn, think on the level of the senses. The reason for this is that they have studied different branches of knowledge solely for the sake of renown. They have studied them so that they may be promoted to important positions and thereby earn material gain, not to the end that they may be made wise; for all branches of knowledge that exist in the world of learning are means that may serve to make a person wise or that may serve to make him insane. Once those learned people have been raised to important positions they live, more than those who are simple, on the level of the senses, and they then think it a sign of simplicity to attribute anything to the Divine instead of attributing it to prudence and natural instinct and all else to chance.