Sunday, August 22, 2010

Memories Are All We have

Of course this latest thought of mine is so obvious that I almost shy from writing about it. BUT, I am not sure if the thought is as obvious as it sounds. All we really have in this dimension we live in, is memories. As we do anything, whatever it is, it passes so quickly that we don't even realize whatever it was we had is gone and what we have left is our remembrance of it. The very moment we act it is over before we know it making the present a flicker of an eye as it slips into the past. Remember your first kiss? No matter how delicious it was it was gone before you knew it and only the sweet remembrance, which by the way changes the longer the act slips into the past, is left. All this means is while we live in time the only real truth is in the past and how we remember it. As we learn the time slips into the past and only what we retain is real until we retain another truth. Now just think how it must be for those who have Dementia such as Alzheimer's, or those with brain damage from an accident, or stroke or lack of oxygen. Suddenly, you no longer exist. Whoever you were you are no more and you live in great confusion or fear since you have no reference point, no memories.

Another dimension is eternity. I can't fathom what that must be like, no passage of time, no changes, everything is just as it always was, is going to be? It is all laid out in front of us like one big reel of film which has the beginning, middle  but no end all laid out for us. Hopefully, if there is another dimension such as eternity, we can't have illnesses like Dementia because there is no passage of time and everything is complete and whole in eternity. Hopefully! Bob Hope used to recap his programs with a refrain of "Thanks For The Memories" from "The Big Band of 1938", his rendition and the original lyrics mean so much more in light of this discussion. Another song, Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" also takes on a deeper meaning. We are who we are because of what we retain, remember, we lose our very being when  memories cease.

1 comment:

Klink Cannoli said...

"All we really have in this dimension we live in, is memories. "
"All this means is while we live in time the only real truth is in the past and how we remember it."
"Another dimension is eternity."

Read much Immanuel Kant? Or is Socrates more your schtick? Maybe influenced by Karl Marx's writings?

These statements mentioned above "all really mean" an alternative consciousness apposing truth in the present as interpreted by man. Tidbits from the aforementioned philosophers.

From an Objectivist's point of view, such statements are nonsense. Reality is simply what is observed. An Aristotelian point of view. Personally, I believe to be superior, logical and reasonable. A layman's opinion.