11. Some spirits approached me, and I was told from heaven that they were from the world nearest to the sun, the planet named in our world Mercury. Immediately on arrival they sought out from my memory what I knew. (Spirits are very clever at doing this, being able when they approach a person to see the details stored in his memory.#) So when they looked into various matters, including the cities and places I had visited, I noticed that they were not interested in churches, palaces, houses or streets, but only in the events I knew had taken place in them, together with such matters as their administration, the character and customs of their inhabitants, and so forth. For such matters are closely bound up with places in a person's memory, so that when the places are recalled, these facts are presented too. I was surprised at this behaviour, so I asked why they dismissed the splendid locations and only looked into the things and events associated with them. They said that they took no pleasure in looking at material, bodily or earthly objects, but only facts. This proved that the spirits from that world answer to the memory of abstract ideas, not material or earthly ones. # Spirits have access to the whole of a person's memory, but nothing passes from their memory into the person's (AC 2488, 5863, 6192-3, 6198-9, 6214). Angels have access to the affections and purposes which initiate and direct what a person thinks, wishes and does (AC 1317, 1645, 5854 [5844 in original]).