Knowing

Teja Gavankar

It is a practice of knowing something,
Trying to understand thing.
What one can understand is on basis of
Present, what exists.
What exists is based on past.
Past is a memory.
Memory creates the illusion of
Continuity.

As memory is a process an ever changing representation of the past. Memories can be accurate, but they are not always accurate. Memories of events are always a mixture of sensory information overlaid with emotions, mingled with interpretation and ‘filled’ with imaginings. Memory creates the illusion of continuity. In reality each experience has its own experiencer and the sense of identity is due to the common factor at the root of all experiencer-experience relations. Identity and continuity are not the same.

Memories of events are always a mixture of sensory information overlaid with emotions, mingled with interpretation and ‘filled’ with imaginings. (Source Wikipedia)

“Memory creates the illusion of continuity. In reality each experience has its own experiencer and the sense of identity is due to the common factor at the root of all experiencer- experience relations. Identity and continuity are not the same.” – Nisargdatta Maharaj (Spiritual Thinker)

The faculty of memory in St. Augustine’s broad usage is more than just the ability to remember or the act of remembering. It encompasses all cognitive capacities. Memory is the repository of all of a person’s experiences and knowledge. Memory includes sensations and perceptions, imaginations and dreams, hopes and fears, emotions and awareness of self.  Memory is the locus of personal identity. Owing to the transience and mutability of the present, memory is the focal point of any sense of continuity experienced. Through memory the past and future both become present. Knowledge resides in memory. In short, memory is mind.

“The way we see things is affected by what we know or what we believe. We only see what we look at. To look is an act of choice. As a result of this act, what we see is brought within our reach.” – John Berger, Ways of Seeing