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398. A man's instinctive tendencies being a reflex of his past, does it follow that, by studying those tendencies, he can ascertain what are the faults he has formerly committed?
"Undoubtedly he can do so up to a certain point; but he would also have to take account of the improvement which may have been effected in his spirit, and of the resolutions taken by him in the state of erraticity. His present existence may he very much better than his preceding one."
-- Might it be worse? that is to say, might a man commit, in a subsequent existence, faults which he had not committed in the preceding one?
"That depends on his advancement. If he were unable to resist temptation, he might be drawn into new faults as a consequence of the situation chosen by him; but such faults must be considered as indicating a state which is stationary rather than retrograde, for a spirit may advance or remain stationary, but he never goes back."