Memory And Experience
“We consume time as quickly as we are consumed by history, gorging on immediacy, storing memories for the long trail ahead.”
Depending on one’s perception, life moves quickly or slowly, either way it leaves a residue that speaks to a bigger picture, the here and now. We consume time as quickly as we are consumed by history, gorging on immediacy, storing memories for the long trail ahead. We are constantly taking in information and imagery, far more than we are aware of, eliminating the unnecessary through dreams and the funnel of memory. We skim past moments in time as we stare down the coming future, sometimes unaware of what we are taking in or moving past.
We experience life through all our senses though we are not fully aware of each at any given moment. We slip through time on our way to building the future, constantly consuming, constantly adding memory. Time is held in the body, caught in the web of memory, though much is lost through the veil of fast consumption. If we think of a memory, we can recall how an object felt or its scent, think of lemon and we salivate, or think of a rose on a vine and we drift. This is what our scenses provide us, what memory gives, if only we slow our pace and perceive.
In this time of COVID-19 we are forced to stay in place, forced to slow or even stop our pace of movement and even our thinking. This has allowed us to perceive time better, to see ourselves and the lives we have created, to pause and pivot, or for some, to merely question. The memories of this time will hopefully pull us to make better decisions, to be more empathetic, to appreciate time and its passing, understanding life in its totality, our impact and the complexity of beauty that surrounds.
“Whether time moves quickly or slowly, we seem to be missing the bigger picture of life’s purpose…”
The essence of who we are are memories and experience, what we perceive opens the door to memory, releasing the past as it documents the present. Whether time moves quickly or slowly, we seem to be missing the bigger picture of life’s purpose: experience and the process that living life entails, appreciating the moments in front of us, seeing our connected humanity, building memories that build a better future.
