4397. 'And he bought the portion of the field' means making the good that springs from that truth its own. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as making one's own, and from the meaning of 'the portion of the field' as good springing from that truth. For 'the field' means the Church as regards good and so means good itself, see 2971, 3196, 3317, 3500, 3508, 3766.

2479. A certain person who had recently become a spirit was angry because he could not remember many of the things he had known during his lifetime. He grieved for the delight which he had now lost and in which he had taken very great pleasure. But he was told that he had lost absolutely nothing and still knew every single one of them, but that in the next life he was not allowed to summon such things up. It was sufficient that he was now able to think and speak far better and more perfectly and was unable to submerge the rational side of himself, as had happened previously, in dense, obscure, material, and bodily things which were of no use in the kingdom he had now entered. As for the things that existed in the kingdom of the world he was told that they were left behind, and that now he possessed whatever was suited to use in eternal life and that he could become blessed and happy in no other way. Thus anybody is wanting in knowledge who believes that in the next life, where the physical memory is not used, intelligence ceases. The reality is that to the extent the mind can be drawn from sensory and bodily interests it is lifted up to spiritual and celestial things.