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.'

6622. In talking to spirits about what flows into ideas constituting thought I have said that men cannot by any means believe how countless the details are that an idea holds within it, for men have no conception of thought except as something simple and singular. Thus their judgement of the matter is based on quite external evidence. The spirits to whom I was talking at that time subscribed to the belief that ideas did not have anything inwardly present in them, a belief of which they had become convinced during their lifetime. But to enable them to understand that they perceived countless things as a single whole, I was led to tell them that the movements of millions of motor fibres combine to produce a single action. At the same time all things in the body work together and adjust themselves both collectively and individually to produce that action. Yet for all this that small action is seen as one that is simple and singular, as though it possessed no such complexity. It is similar with the countless things which combine to produce a single spoken word, such as the bending of the lips, and of all the muscles and fibres there; also the movements of the tongue, throat, larynx, trachea, lungs, and diaphragm, together with all their muscles collectively and individually. Since a person discerns the single utterance they make merely as a simple sound without anything more to it, one may see how crude is perception that relies on the senses. What then of perception that relies on sensory evidence regarding ideas constituting thought which exist in a purer world and are accordingly quite remote from the sensory level?