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Not the innocence we remember our world
being when we were children.
The world we remember is innocent
because we were innocent.
Do you remember anything before the age
of five, four?
You must have thought and felt and learned
so much during those early years.
Where did the memories of those things go?
No one's memory goes beyond three and a half.
Freud called it "childhood amnesia."
Freud, being Freud,
said we repressed early memories
due to the discomfort of our sexual awakening.
Later psychologists ---
without any data to support their theory ---
said that due to lack of focus,
children could not form stable memories until the age of seven.
The truth is that there are far more links between our brain cells in our earliest years
than in early adulthood.
Our earliest memories
are will o wisps blended from genuine recollections,
narratives told us by others, and imaginary scenes churned by our unconscious mind.
Now, scientists believe that
as a forest can hold only so many trees,
the hippocampus can hold
only so many neurons.
Sadly, we cannot trust the few distinct memories
that survive the stormy cycles of growth and decay in our infant brains.
Some of them may be partially or even completely fabricated!
WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY?
DO YOU TRUST IT?
^^^... heck, I'm still trying to remember what happened last week. While Kenneth is telling me he remembers who he was before his grandfather was born, LOL...
ReplyDeleteAbout reincarnation ... how come most who say they remember they were royalty not barn sweepers! More of those last in history than the former, right? :-)
DeleteLOL, great point. Last or Lost in History for sure. My earliest memory, yet vague in details, was from s "violent circumstsnce", i.e
DeleteFalling from a top bunk bed; breaking my shoulder (1st of 3X). On "violent circumstances"- sad it tis when to often life requires such, in order for one to successfully bring about change(s), eg addictions, divorce &/or other life-changing decisions & accomplishments
Well, breaking your shoulder would definitely make an indelible impression in your memory!
DeleteI knocked myself out in the basement laundry room of the apartment building I lived in at four -- I was playing along the steel railings supposedly protecting the electric meters from curious fingers. But I saw the whole set-up as the bridge of a starship! I thumped my head on one of them as my rocket ship took enemy fire. :-)
I lived in Japan until I was five and I do remember some of it. Don't remember much of the language though and I used to speak fluent Japanese.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember what I did last week either.
Lived in Japan until you were five? See? Visitors to my blog learn fascinating facts about you, ALex! Like you and Robert, I live such a whirlwind existence, yesterday is a bit of a stretch for me to remember!! :-)
DeleteI have three separate memories from when I was only two years old. I'll admit that they're brief, and not crystal clear, but they exist nonetheless. And these are not stories I've been told by others that I merely wish I remembered.
ReplyDeleteI have a very early memory of my biological father drawing cartoons for me -- I also remember crying in dissatisfaction at him - though he was really talented, WB cartoon studio talented. I've always felt badly about me behaving that way. I was very young. How young. I do not know. And like your early memories, it is brief.
Delete