Thursday, April 12, 2007

In a Maybe World


It baffles me to no end to have the closest people to you in your life have a completely, absolutely, utterly different set of memories about your past together than you do. On the one hand, this can be explained by poor memory; it can also be explained by selective memory; and it can be explained by defensive, self-protective memory.

Another explanation is that BOTH lines of memory are valid and that the universe has room for both time lines of experiences that seem to be relevant to the one remembering. This bizarre discrepancy of memory among people is so easily dismissed as such things as pettiness, resentment, romanticizing, poor memory, but... just... what if... it's ALL true?

No more arguing points; no more defending stances; no more dismissal of personal feelings; no more losses of friendship; no more blame; no more over-indulgence against the will of another...

I'm just sayin....

....maybe the universe is more accommodating than we are.

Maybe there is something to learn from that.

7 comments:

merlyn said...

I think that all of the above is right. We colour our memories, select what we want to remember pick and choose, like putting together a patchwork quilt, but also I really think that it is more than that, that others' memories are just as valid and real, just different. Like looking at the world through a cut diamond, it's all the same thing but seen differently. ( how scholarly is this?) but it's all true, from a certain point of view. Of course this depends then on how one defines truth?
It's a HUGE circular question ....

What I find odd are 'missing' memories. There are parts of my life I have absolutely no memory of at all, photos prove the event / time/ thing happened but in my head it is just gone. Seems odd to me this happens but i just accept it as my hard drive is too full of other stuff. :)

I suppose this is why eye witness accounts are alweays different. No one sees the same thing the same way - ever.

interesting thing to think about!

cheers
-merly

CocteauBoy said...

I was watching Court TV, which has a series called VIDEO JUSTICE, and it was utterly fascinating how even when all bystanders were absolutely consistent in their description of an event, to the point of arresting and convicting a suspect, that when video footage came into the picture, a COMPLETELY different account was the truth!

This makes me wonder: is that which is recorded on video relative to who is doing the recording? is video truly objective, or is it just one of many realities simply being "caught on tape?"

merlyn said...

Good question but that sort of spirals me into the what is real anyway theories...and if we create our own reality then video becomes a part of that and it's all POV so....

bah that's making my brain dizzy!

two crows said...

a fascinating take on the world.

I get frustrated by it sometimes, though.
like when I put down my hammer or tape measure or glasses just-for-a-minute and go back to where I'm SURE I left em and they're NOT THERE!

and I think: 'ok, if the world is supposed to be so fluid and created by my perceptions WHY aren't the hammer/tape measure/glasses where I could've sworn I left em?
and, when I DO finally find em, I don't remember leaving them THERE of all places!

so my world isn't even the same from MY OWN perspective, sometimes. so, I've given up trying to reconcile it with the views of others.
most of the time, at least, I can let you have your view and I'll have mine. the main time I get frustrated with it is when I try to create that allowance and 'the other' keeps trying to convince me that 'they' are right and 'I' am wrong. THEN, I allow it to become a problem.

so, that's my current project---- allowing that to be ok, too.

merlyn said...

oh now see I have a theory about the moving of placed objects...

gremlins.

I swear!

you put something down and the little buggers move them someplace else.

I tried to make a peace treaty with the ones we have but they delight in playing, best thing is just to play along!

xxxs
merly

two crows said...

oh, _gremlins_! and, here I've been blaming the poltergeists. :)

truly, tho', I do try to reconcyle this phenomenon with the 'fluid universe' Michael, Seth, Lazuris, et al have talked so glibly about.
mebbe I'm just at the wrong end of the telescope--I DO have a hard time seeing it except when I'm curled up on the couch with a cat in my lap and a book in my hand.

merlyn said...

Fluid universe. Perhaps its leakage from one reality through to another and right now someone has my copy of Kushiel's Dart as we speak.

I love the idea of pandimensionality and why not? Why can't there be black holes atthe center of every galaxy holding it all together? That makes sense to me too.

Poltergeists don't swipe stuff they just get snippy and toss it about. Gremlins have a mean streak, they enjoy mocing stuff about then watching you look for it with that little puzzled doggy face going "I could have sworn I put it there a second ago!"

Still who knows...that's the beauty of it, no one really knows... and how I do love a good mystery!

I enjoyed your blog as well, by the way.

-cheers
merly