2490. With regard to the interior memory, it not only retains every single thing that a person has ever seen and heard since early childhood, and what he has thought, said, and done, but also the things he sees and hears in the next life, and those he thinks, says, and does. But this phenomenon varies. People who are governed by false persuasion and evil desire imbibe and retain all things that suit them, for these things enter into them like water into a sponge. All else flows in as well but is retained so superficially that they hardly know it as anything at all. But those who believe in truth and have an affection for good retain all things that are true and good and are consequently being perfected all the time. In this way people can and do receive instruction in the next life.