7398. Only in the river shall they be left. That this signifies that they should remain with the falsities where these are, is evident from the signification of “river,” here the river of Egypt, as being falsity (see n. 6693, 7307); and from the signification of “being left,” as being to remain. With this the case is that whatever enters with man, remains with him, especially what is received from affection. It is believed that the things which enter have been completely obliterated and cast out when the man no longer remembers them; but they have not been obliterated or cast out, but they stick fast either in the interior memory, or in the exterior, among things which have become familiar. For the things which become familiar, are as it were natural, which flow of their own accord, and are not excited by a conscious recalling from the memory; like man’s speech, the words of which flow spontaneously from thought, as also do the gestures and actions, and even the steps; and also the thought. These enter successively from infancy, and in time become familiar, and then flow spontaneously. From these as well as from other similar facts, it is evident that all things which enter with man, remain, and that the things which have become habitual, that is, familiar, are no longer noticed as being in the man, although they are in him. Such is the case with the falsities and evils that enter with man, and also with the truths and goods. Such are the things that form him and determine his quality. (That all things which a man has seen, heard, thought, spoken, and done, have been inscribed on him, (see n. 2474-2489.) From all this it is now evident how it is to be understood that the reasonings would remain with the falsities where these are; for after falsities are being removed, they are allotted their places elsewhere in the natural, and together with the falsities the endeavor and cupidity of reasoning; but not as before in the midst directly under the mind’s view. Hence it is that, as related in what follows, the frogs were gathered together in heaps, and the land stank by reason of them, whereby is signified that these reasoning falsities were arranged in bundles in the natural, and there was what was foul and loathsome therefrom (see below, n. 7408, 7409).