THE MEMORY CRISIS  (8/11/77)

As seems to be my usual pattern, these writings come in spurts and while each section is reasonably organized, one may not adhere to the other.  But . . . . . . An idea must be recorded or it is lost.  So we, so far, will live with this heterogeneous mixture.

We have been discussing several concepts that are interrelated:  Truth and Knowledge, the “nature” of the spirit, and the curious duality of the human entity.  Previously, we came to a distressing conclusion and that is that the spirit has little or no memory retention.  The following discussion will bear on that subject.

Dreams are an interesting phenomenon.  They, many times, don’t make much sense.  Without attempting to decipher their meaning, we can perhaps postulate some mechanisms.  I notice that when I dream, which is not too frequent, there is usually some difficulty in remembering the events.  In fact, I suspect that I dream much more frequently than I even know.  I also notice that a dream experienced shortly before waking can be remembered, particularly if I make a conscious effort to review the events just as I wake up.  I have observed that if I dream and am aware of the details and then attain consciousness without making a deliberate effort to “record” the events, I may loose all recollection of the dream.  This seems to be supportive of the previous dreaded conclusion . . . No memory retention by the spirit.

Let’s try to construct a model.  The mind is fabricated of two realms: The physical machinery by which to operate and, of course, the “operator”.  Language is interesting, and contains clues that are very supportive of these ideas.  For example, how many times have you heard, “he lost his life” or “his brain”?  Who is he and who is his?  I think it is the “operator” or spirit, the possessor of the machine.

At any rate, the machine is geared to function in physical nature and is subject to natural fundamental laws and driving forces.  One of these aspects of nature is oscillation.  Most all events and existences seem to be cyclic, short periods (electromagnetic waves or the time it takes for a bee to flap its wings once, etc.) and long periods (day-night, the seasons, the birth through death of a star).  Our human machine is also subject to oscillation.  The heart beat, breathing, the menstrual period, reproduction and the life-death cycle itself.  Also the body needs sleep periodically and so every night, the machine is shut down and locked up or secured for the night.  During this period, the senses seem to be inoperative.  That is, we can’t see, smell, touch, taste or hear or feel pain!  We are cut off from the physical world.  We . . . . who is this “we”?  Of course it is the spirit . . . that so far undefined being subject to other natural laws about which we know almost nothing.  So the spirit is “cut off” from others and communication via the physical world each night.  I suspect that while the spirit is or may be subject to other cyclic laws, it does not necessarily need to sleep every night.  Since it is still active during the “blackout”, it resorts to probing the memory banks of the brain.  Impressions, information, sequences, feelings are transmitted to the “operator” perhaps in an organized way or “helter skelter”.  A fantasy is constructed by the sprit from the information stored.  In other words, we dream.  But the extraction of information is not noticed by the “hibernating” brain.

One important point is that memory retention must be defined.  If we say that the spirit, out of boredom or due to the affinity for knowledge, browses through the great sea of retained knowledge in the brain during sleep, we imply that knowledge is somehow transmitted from the physical brain to the spiritual “operator”.  If the spirit traps the knowledge, then there must be some degree of information retention on the part of the spirit.  Or putting it another way, if the spirit cannot retain any knowledge, it can’t accept it in the first place.  I’ll try again!  If information is not retained, it is not known!  Interesting!

This is giving us a small flicker of hope!  Since the “operator” extracts information from the memory banks of the brain during sleep, then it follows that the spirit must have a memory.  However, it must be very limited . . . . . . A question of time I think.  Spiritual memory may exist but perhaps for, say seconds, where the brain has permanent retention, relatively speaking.

In any event, the spirit conjures up a dream sequence.  Toward the "tail-end" of the dream, say about 6:00 am the body stirs and the machine is made operational for the coming day.  As this process takes place, two things are happening.  The dream is continuing . . . but, with some difficulty since the spirit is now beginning to regain touch with the physical world.  The senses are starting to bring information directly to the spirit and now the nightly withdrawal of information from the memory banks is in competition with direct sensory perception.  Soon, consciousness occurs.  Within seconds, if information is transmitted from the short-term spiritual memory to the brain, the dream experience can be permanently recorded.  This is not "cut and dry", however, because I think that a dream can be recalled several hours after it takes place.  It is possible that during the transition from sleep to being awake, the recording took place without us being aware of it!