Knowledge. Memory. Two words. A plethora of meaning.
But just before I delve into that I want to ask you to memorise something for me: Lets all be unique together until we realise we are all the same.
Ok, now back to knowledge and memory. I'm sure most would agree when I say that without memory, knowledge is nothing and vice versa. But then again, aren't our memories flawed? Isn't everything we remember fabricated - a lie in one way or another? Does this not then mean that our knowledge is also flawed and could really just all be a figment of our imaginations?
Think about it - no one ever really agrees about anything unless provided with solid fact to support it and back it up. But what if that 'solid' fact isn't all that solid? What if it's just someone else's recollection of an event that occurred and has been recorded as a fact?
What if an apple never really did fall on Newton's head - what if he discovered gravity and then 'remembered' an apple falling on his head when really he just needed to prove to himself that his theory was correct? Like that guy you knew who ended up in prison and you always 'knew' that he seemed dodgy when you only realised that you had thought he was dodgy after he ended up in prison.
So I'm pretty sure it's safe to say our memories are far from reliable. They can be influenced by emotion (namely trauma), intuition, age and time, and of course importance. Having said that, they can also be influenced by the factors influencing knowledge - as mentioned in my previous blog entry - including age, gender, nationality, experience, religion and science. I for example, may recall having seen a covered Muslim woman as looking well kept and free whereas someone of a different background may recall having seen the exact same woman as a neglected woman who looks as if she's never seen the light of day. Of course that is all a matter of perception but can it influence our memory? Yes. If told that that same woman was perhaps the mayors wife or the richest woman in town, would that memory of her change slightly in the eyes of both those who perceived her? Most probably. Conclusively, the tides of knowledge and memory are seemingly one and the same, both influenced by the fickle winds of circumstance.
The Art of Forgetting
How many times have you responded with 'I'm only human' when asked how you could possibly forget such and such's birthday or this or that event? And the truth is you're right - you are only human and the mind naturally erases that which it perceives as irrelevant (Ever happened in a maths test?) . How else would we manage our lives? As great as it would be to be BBC's Sherlock Holmes and recall the minutest details of every moment there ever has been, it would eventually drive us insane. That's not to say we don't have selective memory - ever manage not to 'hear' or 'remember' your mum telling you to do the dishes? I know I've sworn up and down I was never told to do any chores and wholly believed it - my mind simply filtered that piece of memory away, deeming it unnecessary; and although that is an intrinsic teenage skill, it can also work against you when looking at the more important things in life.
Then there are the traumas of life. The deaths and the fights and heart-breaks. Everyone says to give yourself time and you'll heal and you usually eventually do but why? Bit by bit, day by day, you are forgetting the heights of the trauma, perhaps wiping away the bad and replacing it with all the good memories or even doing the opposite to make yourself stronger and less susceptible to the same mistake(s).
Chain reactions
'Every action has a reaction. Every thing we do or say has an effect.' Heidi Ayarbe.
There we have wise words full of depth. As Heidi Ayarbe so fruitfully pointed out, everything has an effect and this, to me, is memory in a nutshell. It is influenced completely by the actions of both yourself and the others around you. Lets say you're recalling a story and have forgotten some parts and with a mere suggestion from someone else you head off in a tailspin of pictures and memories all new but somehow you believe they happened - that they are part of the original story. Or maybe you've looked at an old photograph from when you were younger and a sudden wealth of memories come rushing back - but how could you possibly remember all that? Isn't your mind fabricating a story to match the evidence it has been provided with?
The paths of our futures are never really mapped by our pasts. It is our futures that are what shape our pasts - our futures that control what we remember, why we remember it and when we do so.
And only when we begin to realise that our memories can be the lights at the end of the tunnel will we begin to forget the memories that bar the paths to our tunnels.
Ok your done reading that now - phew!!! But can you remember that sentence I asked you to at the beginning? What was it again? Something about......?
Lets say you do remember because you were told it was important or that you had to remember it - can you remember the sentence that came after? Or the one after that? Chances are you don't unless of course we do have the next Sherlock amongst us. But this just goes to show memory IS selective and with every step you take that little filter in your head is brushing away all the extraneous things in life.
References
https://prezi.com/enq8xh1rr-7f/tok-memory/
Theory of knowledge course companion; Eileen Dombrowski, Lena Rotenberg and Mimi Bick; Pages 97, 99, 101-103.
https://prezi.com/_2cspdjjcv6y/tok-memory-presentation/
But just before I delve into that I want to ask you to memorise something for me: Lets all be unique together until we realise we are all the same.
Ok, now back to knowledge and memory. I'm sure most would agree when I say that without memory, knowledge is nothing and vice versa. But then again, aren't our memories flawed? Isn't everything we remember fabricated - a lie in one way or another? Does this not then mean that our knowledge is also flawed and could really just all be a figment of our imaginations?
Think about it - no one ever really agrees about anything unless provided with solid fact to support it and back it up. But what if that 'solid' fact isn't all that solid? What if it's just someone else's recollection of an event that occurred and has been recorded as a fact?
What if an apple never really did fall on Newton's head - what if he discovered gravity and then 'remembered' an apple falling on his head when really he just needed to prove to himself that his theory was correct? Like that guy you knew who ended up in prison and you always 'knew' that he seemed dodgy when you only realised that you had thought he was dodgy after he ended up in prison.
So I'm pretty sure it's safe to say our memories are far from reliable. They can be influenced by emotion (namely trauma), intuition, age and time, and of course importance. Having said that, they can also be influenced by the factors influencing knowledge - as mentioned in my previous blog entry - including age, gender, nationality, experience, religion and science. I for example, may recall having seen a covered Muslim woman as looking well kept and free whereas someone of a different background may recall having seen the exact same woman as a neglected woman who looks as if she's never seen the light of day. Of course that is all a matter of perception but can it influence our memory? Yes. If told that that same woman was perhaps the mayors wife or the richest woman in town, would that memory of her change slightly in the eyes of both those who perceived her? Most probably. Conclusively, the tides of knowledge and memory are seemingly one and the same, both influenced by the fickle winds of circumstance.
The Art of Forgetting
How many times have you responded with 'I'm only human' when asked how you could possibly forget such and such's birthday or this or that event? And the truth is you're right - you are only human and the mind naturally erases that which it perceives as irrelevant (Ever happened in a maths test?) . How else would we manage our lives? As great as it would be to be BBC's Sherlock Holmes and recall the minutest details of every moment there ever has been, it would eventually drive us insane. That's not to say we don't have selective memory - ever manage not to 'hear' or 'remember' your mum telling you to do the dishes? I know I've sworn up and down I was never told to do any chores and wholly believed it - my mind simply filtered that piece of memory away, deeming it unnecessary; and although that is an intrinsic teenage skill, it can also work against you when looking at the more important things in life.
Then there are the traumas of life. The deaths and the fights and heart-breaks. Everyone says to give yourself time and you'll heal and you usually eventually do but why? Bit by bit, day by day, you are forgetting the heights of the trauma, perhaps wiping away the bad and replacing it with all the good memories or even doing the opposite to make yourself stronger and less susceptible to the same mistake(s).
Chain reactions
'Every action has a reaction. Every thing we do or say has an effect.' Heidi Ayarbe.
There we have wise words full of depth. As Heidi Ayarbe so fruitfully pointed out, everything has an effect and this, to me, is memory in a nutshell. It is influenced completely by the actions of both yourself and the others around you. Lets say you're recalling a story and have forgotten some parts and with a mere suggestion from someone else you head off in a tailspin of pictures and memories all new but somehow you believe they happened - that they are part of the original story. Or maybe you've looked at an old photograph from when you were younger and a sudden wealth of memories come rushing back - but how could you possibly remember all that? Isn't your mind fabricating a story to match the evidence it has been provided with?
And only when we begin to realise that our memories can be the lights at the end of the tunnel will we begin to forget the memories that bar the paths to our tunnels.
Ok your done reading that now - phew!!! But can you remember that sentence I asked you to at the beginning? What was it again? Something about......?
Lets say you do remember because you were told it was important or that you had to remember it - can you remember the sentence that came after? Or the one after that? Chances are you don't unless of course we do have the next Sherlock amongst us. But this just goes to show memory IS selective and with every step you take that little filter in your head is brushing away all the extraneous things in life.
References
https://prezi.com/enq8xh1rr-7f/tok-memory/
Theory of knowledge course companion; Eileen Dombrowski, Lena Rotenberg and Mimi Bick; Pages 97, 99, 101-103.
https://prezi.com/_2cspdjjcv6y/tok-memory-presentation/
i love the method of which you implemented the art of forgetting,remembering the important stuff.Espacially when the others influence your memories, and the fact that you can alter it. It's really cool and keep it up!!! just a question to think about for all of us, can memories change who we are since birth, if so how?? through harsh experiences you are deemed understanding? how do you gain an understanding,even?? What types of memories stays in your head??
ReplyDeletethen again, loving the pictures too :)
It's really interesting and informative. What I mostly like about it is how you thought from different perspective and related to everyday life.I loved it and keep it up.
ReplyDeleteSakina xxx
First of all, I was genuinely surprised that I had to google a word I don't know - plethora - from the start of an essay. Second of all, I really enjoyed reading it! I particularly like where you questioned about Newton and gravity. I actually never had thought about the incident and was a bit amazed that you tried. And you're right - memory is a matter of perception. How we absorb knowledge and what we think about it is always different. I love your essay.
ReplyDeleteHakyoung :)
Thanks for post and comments!! Memory is fun..so much we remember and would like to forget. Reflecting on memory as WOK is interesting...so much we take for granted at times.
ReplyDeleteA very deep insight about the memory itself, especially about the aspect of memory's credibility. I also like your idea such you describe forgetting as art, because before reading this post I've always considered forgetting as a negative thing. You suggested me the view on forgetting in an optimistic way: replacing the old bad memories with new good memories!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Just note that the scientist who discovered gravity by the falling apple was Newton :)