7 GA. Memory is our Identity

Without memory we would be an amoeba swimming in a sea of horrors.

THERE HAS BEEN AN INTERESTING DISCUSSION ON MEMORY, so what else can we say?

We can assess our basic human tools, and ask some questions about them. Some of them have certain tendencies or limitations which we can keep track of. Maybe we'll find work-arounds.

Some people claim that a human being, (that they) are not their mind. Maybe what they mean to say is that we are not the content of our mind nor of our memory. They use the term "Witness". We are the possibility to see what's in our surroundings, and to see what’s in the mind and the memory, and maybe to add or subtract something. Subtracting in the memory is not a surety, but maybe we can deemphasize something. It can get less interesting.

1. Memory is one fraction of mind. First and foremost, memory is our capacity to recognize safety, danger, food and shelter. It is our past, and civilization's past, it is all learning, and it's the possibility learn for the future. Without memory there will still be a future, because life will go on continuously, but we will not be able to foresee it as a future, or make any contingency plans, (visit the Alzheimer's ward to be sure). Even if we still had the 5 senses and certain cognitive abilities, without memory we would be locked into a simple here/now reality. Some will say, that's good. But we wouldn't be human. I think it would be more primitive than a bug, maybe like an earth worm. With advanced dementia we use the term "vegetative state".

2. Actually without memory we wouldn't have any cognitive abilities either. Cognition is the act of weighing and comparing the present with that of the past (or the projected future; which is the past). We wouldn't be able to figure out 2 + 2; both in a mathematical sense, but not for anything else either. Absolutely nothing would add up to any result or any conclusion. "Results" or "conclusions" would not be in the realm of possibilities. In fact, there would be no memory of words, so there would be no language. Is memory in the mind? I don't know if that fact would be important? Computer memories are vast arrays of pluses and minuses. They are digital and they are binary. I don't know if all memories, or if the human memory has to be digital, analog, or to be binary? (made up of a yes / no).

3. Thoughts are continually appearing, coming out of the memory. Maybe they come from somewhere else also, but if they are at all familiar, it's a personal memory. The ones that come out must be supporting some facet of our repeating story. “Story” is what we tell ourselves, about ourselves, and about the world. So the repeated story must be an influence on what appears. If we could recite another story we might call up different thoughts. If our story is negative, the resulting thoughts are troubling. That might convince us that the story is correct, so we go deeper into the hole. How to break this feedback loop?

4. Some people suggest techniques for diminishing all thoughts. Then the troubling ones are subdued, but the creative thinking is diminished also. Don't we need some thinking? These people are saying (for them) all thoughts lead to suffering. I don't have that experience. In fact I have just the opposite, that all joy and all good feeling comes out of thinking and comparing. (I can be joyful with less thoughts also.) Creativity and passion are also born in thoughts. I view the no-thought world as sterile, inert and robotic with limited or no possibilities. Maybe you can see things (as they are), maybe you can be thrilled, but can you act on any of it? There is no reason to act. You can sit in front of a crowd and emanate peace.

These advocates claim that there also is no suffering with their technique. I have no needs about suffering, it doesn't appear on my horizon. It is not in my definitions. You might not understand this, because it is a little different than how you might think. It is another post, so I’ll say no more.

5. We are used to dividing objects into smaller components, so I’ll divide the mind. Mind is memory, but also a cognitive ability. It is made out of comparing, judging and choosing, which are also memory based. We might be comparing two things, or comparing two ideas, or comparing a thing to our predetermined standard. Choosing means selecting what to act upon. This we keep, that we drop.

Humans are social beings. Then within the society, in order to function in cooperation, we choose similar things and drop what we tend to disagree on. We might not even agree, but we have to go along. Sometimes that is referred to, as accepting the lowest common denominator, (a mathematical metaphor).

So far we have given mind the memory and cognition. Maybe we should also ascribe the autonomic nervous system of self-preservation instinct to the mind. It does chores like keeping us breathing. It will probably still work with or without a memory. Or it has its own memory, (inner intelligence).

6. Memory is imperfect. It is in a flux between remembering and forgetting. An image appears but it is not retained. Why is that? Can images just skirt around while not being captured? Is there a judgement that this image is not vital and won't be retained? Is it that the image went into an "anti-chamber" of the mind, but never got all the way in? Is it that nowadays there are so many images that they spill over, and can't all get into the "bottle"?

Forgetting is a big part of what I write about, because we know (or knew) many things that could change our life, but we don't follow through on them. Did we forget? Or somehow it is pushed into the background. The mechanism for demoting memories is that they are not important, actually that there is no payback in them, or that it is too slow, or that they wouldn't work anyway, or that we are fine the way that we are. The strongest blocking is that “I already know that”. But still we have anxiety and emotional episodes that damage us. So we claim that everybody has them, and that's all you can do, (is to do nothing about it).

7. We remember certain experiences and certain of our judgments and conclusions. Perhaps they have been "Photoshopped", which means they are enhanced with more brilliant colors and more succinct conclusions than were there when they happened. We are building an idealized character, both for ourselves to be satisfied with, and for others to see, and be awed when we share these stories. The way that we reinforce this is by telling the story about it, to ourselves, (and to others) over and over again.

Some other people do it in a completely opposite way. They continually tell the story that they made all the wrong decisions in life and that now they are the victim of so many injustices. Wherever they turn the are bludgeoned by all their terrible circumstances, beaten down by every occurrence. Wow, it is difficult to understand that so much self-pity could be at all satisfying? Maybe they are searching for others to commiserate? Or they're looking for donations from a generous bystander.

Maybe we are in that camp also, up to the point were we love complaining. Complain about what, and to whom? Who is going to listen? What will they, or you do about it? So memory is selective, we can either have self-esteem, or find out what is wrong about ourselves.

You can acknowledge some truth about your situation, both plus and minus, but hopefully not descend into self-destructive thinking.

Thank you for being here.