SYNOPSIS

Youhave to lose your memory, if only in bits and pieces, to realise that memory iswhat makes our lives. Life without memory is no life at all...our memory is our coherence,our reason, our feeling, even our action. Without it we are nothing.

~LuisBunuel~

Whatare memories?

That is both a difficult and easyquestion! And the answer sounds like an oxymoron!

 The dictionary defines this word as "the facultyby which the mind stores and remembers information OR something remembered fromthe past."

But that is such an emotionlessexplanation. Memories are more than a mere functioning of the brain or a cold recollectionof facts. They are a window to the past; they define our past and by extension defineour very selves. They are names, labels, characters, identity and our very essence.For who are we without our memories? What defines us when we do not remember whowe are?

Memories are our gateways to eternity,the passages to our future and the treasure chests of our past. They can be foundanywhere and everywhere and are capable of transporting us to days long past, oftime long gone and people long departed. As a quote goes, "Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are,the things you never want to lose". (- Kevin Arnold)

Memories are not frozen facts butsunny feelings and stormy emotions, ones that can make us relive those golden joyousdays, even if they are blackened in places on account of sorrows and loss. Noneof us, I am sure, would trade any memory, good, bad or ugly to be in a place wherewe do not have those memories.

So what would it be to lose one'smemories, to have no clue as to who we are, where everything we have learnt aboutourselves is forgotten. (Amnesia usually refers to the loss of autobiographicalknowledge, forgetting about other things, like what we learnt in school or at workis normal and not so scary either). How does one deal with being lost, even temporarily?How scary and frightening would it be when you do not remember who you are? Whenthe permanent question haunting you is:

"Who. am.  I?"

And there is nobody who knows aboutyou, none who can help you answer that question. When you are a nobody'; it isnot only you' who does not know you, but there is not a single soul either whoknows you. How lost would you be?

And how would you build or ratherrebuild your life, your name, your identity, your very existence? Who is a friendand who is a foe? What is your story and what would be your tale? And what wouldyou choose, mourn the loss of your existence or take it as a chance to rewrite yourhistory?

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She who could not remember; he whocould not forget

It is said that the past does notmatter, is it true? If so, then why do we need memories? After all, memories arenothing more than mere images from our past. Why is it said that memories last forever,when our past does not matter? And if you have no memories, does it mean you haveno past?  And it still does not matter?

She who had no memories of her past,he who had no dreams for his future

It is said that sometimes, hopeis all you have when you have nothing else. And if you have it, you will have everything.That everything you learn from yesterday is a hope for tomorrow. But if your pastis a nightmare can you dare dream of a new future?

She, for whom her life was a lie;he, for whom a lie had become his life

It is said that the truth shallset you free, that if you tell the truth you do not have to remember what you havesaid; that once you tell it, it becomes a part of your past. But does that meanif you do not remember who you are, you are always saying the truth?

She who had nothing and dared tolove; he who dared to love and lost everything

It is said that love is worth fightingfor, worth being brave for, worth risking it all. But can one truly love anotherwhen you have no past to remember or no future to hope for? It is also said thatlove is when two people touch each other's souls; love is everything, that the powerof love is enough to heal all wounds and to make life beautiful. Is it truly enough?

Nynaeve2017-11-02 06:44:16