Memory is what I do. It goes in and comes out, with no particular pattern. I either remember stuff or I don't. Importance doesn't seem to matter, just some bits stick - quite a lot as it happens - but it doesn't always come out when I want it to. Memory is what I do because I don't seem to be as good at a lot else - and because it feels safer because I know it 's already happened and gone. So what profundity am I going to drop in your lap ? Get the "pseuds corner" entry in Private Eye ready....
I think of time as a flow - a bit like a stream, or a river to go a bit "yeah, right" but with memory acting in a strange way - we all remember "bits" of things clustered around important events ( or unimportant ones) but you never play back the whole of the time-strand in one go. You don't get a full video stream in sequence, do you? Life isn't like the movies - slow-motion action replays / edited highlights is more like it - the moment when you score that spectacular goal ( or own goal) over and over again, but not what happened 10 minutes before...
The way I'd describe it is like dipping a bucket into a river ( OK serious "yeah,right" moment) but each bucket contains different things - I know it sounds a bit off the wall, but if you think about particular times in your life that were memorable, there will be people, places, the weather, music, television programmes, films, food, smells, clothes, even the actual sensation of something happening (either nice or not-so-nice) that are connected in your mind to whatever it was that makes you remember it. Sometimes two "buckets" are closer to each other - or directly connected.
The odd thing seems to be that you can't necessarily remember the bits in the bucket separately - they all seem to come at once,connected to each other, but separate from other "buckets". Bit like the quantum theory really. OK so that's just me going on about it. I'm sure some scientist explained it better and you'd understand them.
So what about time then ?
Some time ago I read "The Disposessed" by Ursula Le Guin ( actually I've read a lot of her stuff - as you'll find out later) and the book, in explaining the science involved, came up with two theoretical approaches to time - simultaneous and sequential ( I think) they try to explain the throwing of a rock at a tree and the sequence of events - in the simultaneous approach, the rock hits the tree as you throw it ( so not real) while in the sequential it is travelling a proportion of the distance from your hand to the tree each milli/micro/nano second - except that in this process it can never actually reach the tree because it will always be an infinitesimally small distance from the tree - reducing all the time, but never getting there. OK so that's the theory. In reality, it's abit of both, but the science don't seem to stack.
While we're talking about Ursula, one of her other books - The Left Hand of Darkness - tries to tell you how useless it is to know the answer to the wrong question about what will happen in the future. A warning for all those who want to know what will happen.
Man gets to ask one question so he asks : On what day will I die ?
Answer : Tuesday
Doesn't help a lot does it? No clue as to which Tuesday - this week, this year, in 50 years time - so he gets partner/lover to ask a second one - question : how long will he live ?
Answer : longer than you
So no real news there, then.....so just be careful what you ask for - you might just get it - and then what would you do - unforeseen consequences abound.
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