Fire and water are metaphoric...
Fire means ascension, it is aggressive, you reach to God... this is the path of love. It is because fire constantly climbs higher, and its smoke defies gravity.
Water means descension, it is more feminine, you simply sit and wait... this is the path of meditation. Picture a waterfall, this is how God comes in this practice, as a flood.
The other elements are Earth and Air, they represent heaven and earth, high and low, the directions of the previous two. The fifth element is that of ether, it is the space between them.
God is the crystal, the combination of all.
It is not higher at all, it is the very same intent, just another way of explaining, my previous post is yet another...
Never take spiritual words literally.