Onto the rocks
This is a picture from Helsinki harbour but, the reason I like it is that it reminds me of a painting of my father did once upon a time of the tugboats in Adelaide. I haven't seen that painting for many years yet, the reminder is still there. The other day, my brother @galenkp showed my father a video I had taken of my daughter and videoed it so I could see his reaction as he watched. Even though he smiled and laughed, I could see that there was no real connection there, no memory of who my daughter is or, the line between the two that will always exist. I might see this as a sad experience or a shame yet for my father, he has no idea and can continue on with his day.
How important are the memories we have if one day, they will likely become meaningless, ghosts from the past that float through our awareness but can never really be grasped again? What is the point of even trying to hold on in the first place, perhaps we should just let them go and move on with life. Each new moment would be sensitive and unattached to the last, and each person would be new, no matter the history that might have been experienced together before. Is that a better world, or a worse?
Without a memory we would have no responsibility to pay for our actions and never need keep a promise. No memory would mean that the things that we hold dear will have no pull over us and the drive to add to our bank accounts would disappear along with it as we would not have anything remembered to add to. Is it a utopia?
We all want to see into the future, to be able to predict what will happen but, for what purpose? What would you do if you knew what tomorrow would bring, would you live today fully or, would you find a way to maximise the value of the expected future? It is interesting to think, what if everyone knew the future, what if everyone knew the lottery numbers and which horse would win? It takes away the point doesn't it? But, it wouldn't matter without a memory would it as that is all expectation is, a decision made on what is known, known is in the past.
We act on our expectations and we behave according to what we have learned. We move based on where we have come from, not on where we are going and, very rarely on where we are for we are insensitive to the current position since even now, we view it through the trained eyes of a past gone.
I don't know where we are headed but I have expectations on what I have learned in my own past. I am not ecstatic about the destination but, it seems the tugboats keep pulling us onto the rocks rather than into a safe harbour to rest or, out to see where we can live life on the open waters. Perhaps on the rocks is all our memory knows.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
This reminded me of Odin and his two ravens Huginn and Muninn. Huginn is thought and Muninn is Memory. They would fly across the world each day and bring tidings back to Odin. In one of the Poetic Edda poems, Odin disguised as Grimnir, says this...
Sounds like being between a rock and a hard place. Many folks, including myself, become too distracted with the past and the future and truly miss the magic of NOW. I spent too much wasted time trying to prevent past occurrences from repeating themselves as well as trying to avoid or create uncertain futures. In many ways, I missed the value of many NOW moments too focused on the past and future.
I know this is a more special situation and it's a difficult one for sure. Rather short or long term memory lapses or the cognitive functions associated with them begin to fail, the Value of those memories and moments is locked away somewhere a bit deeper in my opinion. Kind of like the legacy you mentioned before. More than anything, I am thankful that you and your siblings have good experiences and memories that You can hold on to. Even if you were all to follow suit sharing in his condition when the time may come... I don't think for one minute that none of the experience would be worth it Just because it wasn't remembered.
Nothing Is Trivial!
What an awesome line.
The experience may only really have value in the Now, the memories a crutch to lean on. It goes into a strange area to think that way though, it becomes almost, enlightened.
Right... I felt like Eckhart Tolle just mentioning it! hahaha
I never thought of it until now... but when Hugin and Munin don't come back to Odin... it would be a bad omen of Ragnarok to come. Sounds kind of like the cycle of life in a way! Memory is something that is very baffling.
My mom had a stroke during brain surgery for an aneurysm and she lost some of her faculties. The odd thing is that the memory was there... just not the capacity to oblige it! I wonder if this isn't the case somewhere down deeper in there?!
Thinking about Thinking and Memory is definitely trippy if you ponder on it long enough!
I have an Aunt who has started losing her memory. On some days she doesn't know who I am, and on the days she can remember, she asks a question about 10 times in 30mins. It's so painful to be around her nowadays, and I can't imagine what she's feeling.
she might be feeling great except for the times she is lucid and realises what is happening.
You may be right.
Memories are indeed powerful. Dementia patients sometimes are more attached to them that they are to what s happening in the here and now. That's one of the reasons why experts in this area tell caregives never to argue with their loved ones about a 'delusion' they may be happening. Perhaps it is precisely within this mental space where people are being 'their best' than in shared reality. Perhaps these are the 'rocks' you mentioned.
A photo or a painting becomes expensive and important because it is capable of recording memory and not just for one person but many people. And memory will take care of civilization.
I used to also go down to the harbour to see the boats when I was young. We used to watch the fishermen bring in their catch and have some good memories. Hadn't thought about it for ages but those were good times.
I wouldn't like to know my future because it would definitely change you for the good or bad. No crystal ball for me thanks as I will try and do the best i can without something hanging over my head. No news is good news in my book. When something happens I don't want to have a heads up especially if it is something you know already. Think I would be a miserable old sod. Some would say I am one already but I would be a proper miserable old sod.
All those boats will one day end up as scrap and so will we. Live life now as you don't know what tomorrow brings. No one looks forward to getting old so why think about it. We all know our destination but we don't know the schedule and timing.
It is interesting. At this point and having faced it somewhat already, I don't have much fear of the end. I am more concerned about whether I am living now.
Quite true. Never thought of it like that. I think differently now than I did 2 years ago after a health scare with blood clots. Changes your outlook on things somewhat. Makes you sit and think. Sometimes too much thinking is not healthy as well. People change and don't know if it's always for the better. Important things become less important in some instances.
Wow this is deep. I'd rather keep my memories. Without memories, life becomes flat and dull.
Memories are a vital part of every human being...to what extent is this true? Very true actually, it helps us to identify patterns and track our actions
I love to look at old pictures, it brings back a whole lot of memories, feelings of that time, but is that really all to it there is? I once lost an hard drive that contained a ton of pictures i was severely attached to and i thought i could never do without but ALAS, i moved on because...there are memories upon memories, and you cant have them enough
We act on our expectations and we behave according to what we have learned. We move based on where we have come from, not on where we are going and, very rarely on where we are for we are insensitive to the current position since even now, we view it through the trained eyes of a past gone.
correct
Perhaps on the rocks is all our memory knows.
I guess the rocks are more familiar
Perhaps the rocks are where life's value is held in the lessons they teach.
So is there even ever a shore? Or land? Because these lessons seem to be endless. The rocks just dont stop do they?
If I knew the question I would face in an examination then what’s the point of the examination? In reality, we only know what we have been through/experienced or seen. Until it happens we have no knowledge of it. This is the state that also ushers in choice. If you knew what would happen wouldn’t you go for the best option there is?
Sometimes I wished that I had known a recent incident like long before it happened. Thing is, this is real life.
Hello@tarazkp..
a reality post boss..
just say that good joob..
Losing memories certainly feels like losing a part of me. There are times when I wake up and I can't remember a thought I had the day before or I hear a song and I can't remember the artiste or the lyrics. I fear at such moments that something important is gone from me.
When my mother fell sick, many years ago, and she looked at me but could not remember my name, I felt depressed.
If we are to forget our own stories, all our battles and wins, all our loves and hates, then what is the point of storing up memories?
For we, humans, pay more attention to the past and the future than to the present. We take pictures, we record voices and videos, we write all in the bid to save the past for the future to see.
Do we consider it a waste? Should we live life uncaring, focusing on just today? Or should we devote all out attention to making tomorrow better than today? I think no matter what will do, tomorrow will come or not. I think that we should live life as if today was the last day and we should dream that tomorrow will be better. If we stop looking at the future, will hope not die? If we stop looking at the past, will faith not die? If we do not pay attention to today, will beauty not die?
I don't have answers but I pray my memory of today stays with me and remind me of all that was good today when tomorrow comes and it is not as beautiful as my dreams said it would be.
Yep.
I think if we do the best we can right now, tomorrow will on average be better. That doesn't require sentimental memory, only functional.
Yeah. Basically making the best of today is all we can do. At the same time, we should not forget to cherish the moments as it happens. Memories even unforgotten ones tend to be subjective and never truly has the flavour of the real thing.