A Sea of Memories



2 


Everyday, every moment of our lives, all of us undergo a range of experiences. With each experience is associated a memory. During an average lifetime, the storehouse of such memories is vast indeed, far more than any computer can hold.

A process of the human brain is to organize these memories in layers, the uppermost layer being the conscious mind. Below this are many layers of the subconscious mind that store not just the memories of this lifetime, but for those who believe in reincarnation, memories of previous lifetimes as well. Mystics believe that the deepest layers of memories are in the soul and contain knowledge of the universe. Reaching this layer is what is described as enlightenment. Nevertheless, restricting ourselves to the most immediately accessible layers of mind, we know that with each memory is connected certain emotions such as hate, anger, love, sorrow, happiness etc. Indeed it seems that only those memories are of value that have emotional value attached to them. Others, such as the knowledge of numbers and how to add them, may not have any emotional value attached and are mere temporary conveniences that do not impact deeply on our psyche.

From time to time, we are able to resolve an emotional memory so that it has no emotional impact left on us. At this time, the memory has no more value left than say a memory of the alphabet or numbers. This is what shrinks try to do when they talk to their patients whose memories have become so overwhelming so as to severely limit their daily functioning in the world. A lot of this resolution also takes place through dreams while we sleep. The quality of our dreams is an indicator of the quality of our suppressed emotion linked memories. 

It is these unresolved memories and their emotional impact that shape our personality. They are different for each human and therefore each human has his or her own unique personality. The accumulated unresolved memories at the end of a lifetime is some of what determines what our next life will be, from how we look to where we are born; just as the accumulated past memories have determined our present life. In Eastern philosophy this is called Karmashya or the store of Karma.

As our conscious mind preoccupies itself with whatever we are doing right now, from time to time old memories pop up along with their accompanying emotion. It could be love, happiness, satisfaction or a negative thing like hate or anger. If negative memories are far too many or too strong, they limit a person’s happiness, energy, intellect and abilities even though they may remain dormant in the subconscious mind. Resolving these lifts us out of negative things like fear, nervousness, depression etc.

It is a result of the quality of their memories that some people are just naturally happy souls full of energy and others are suppressed or depressed. Therefore, it is worthwhile for us to deal with our negative memories and resolve them so that their negative emotional impact on us is reduced or vanishes. Only then can we be truly at peace and happy on a sustainable basis. Persons who lead very busy lives, and have a lot of things on their do list keep their conscious minds so preoccupied that there is little opportunity for buried memories to emerge and resolve, even in dreams. That is why it is so important to have periods of mental silence in our lives. Processes such as communing with nature or meditation are some of these periods of near silence. An attitude embedded in love, truth and simplicity make this journey possible. That is where our spiritual journey must begin. That is when we shall discover our true selves, the soul within.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You shall find Bliss in Forests

Image
https://twitter.com/PardueSuzanne/status/839705079900962816 My mind can go in a thousand directions, But on this beautiful path, I walk in peace... - Thich Nhat Hanh Delightful are the forests where worldlings find no pleasure, there the passionless will rejoice for they seek no sensual pleasures Dhammapada ( Buddhist Scripture) Ch 7 vs 99 As worldly desires of one on spiritual paths reduce and things like ego, lust  greed, diminish then love of Mother Earth and Father Universe surfaces. This is similar to our remembering love of our earthly mother and father when we free ourselves from worldly concerns. Such a soul then craves for beautiful parts of Mother Earth such as forests, mountains, lakes and grasslands filled with wild flowers. Some then abandon worldly pursuits and head for forests and other places created by nature, not humans. The results of worldly pursuits are mixed - joy and sorrow; the results of spiritual pursuits are bliss in huge...
Read more

Love of God makes the journey easy

Image
N ot even the godly are perfect. It is too much to expect a human to be so. All of us have different strengths and weaknesses of different kinds, to different degrees that cause us to do good or bad things in our journey through life and lifetimes. Our good deeds bring us good result - peace and joy while bad ones bring sorrow and misery for all things have consequences. A lie can please one for moments but sustainable peace is found only in truth and how can there be happiness without peace? Human love can cause us brief suffering at times yet hate produces much misery when it returns for whatever we put into the world and universe around us comes back to us, good or bad, in due course, when it is time for harvest, the fruit or the thorns. When blinded by pride, desire or ignorance we do poor things that produce bad results later, they make our journey through life difficult. Yet when we place our love and trust in God, the journey through life becomes easier than...
Read more

Sustainable Celebration of Life

Image
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Children_playing_outdoors.jpg  Few disagree that Life must by full of happiness Life must be joy Life must be a celebration But then we have these thinkers and spiritualists who seem to come and throw a spanner in the works (that includes this blog) with a whole lot of other prescriptions such as, do the right thing; inculcate discipline, order and beauty; spend some time in service of others - humans, animals or nature, organize your time wisely, enhance love, truth and simplicity, trust in God and be grateful for what he provides and so on and on. Life is a school, a 24 X 7 boarding school. There are children at school who divide their time wisely between work and play. They take study hours seriously and even seem to enjoy those. Then there are others who would rather shirk that work and have fun. They get miserable when they fail in tests and when school years are over they have a miserable time later too. T...
Read more

The helping hand

Image
At any given time on our planet, some people are living in peace and comfort whereas there are some others who are undergoing deep suffering because of any one of numerous causes of suffering.   If one is in comfort, one may feel sorry for those suffering or ignore them and get on with one’s life. After all, no one person can help all the suffering people of the world. No one person can help all the suffering of the world but everyone can help some of them. The wise do that not just from compassion that follows the wise like a shadow but also from wisdom that unless they do that, they too shall become deserving of similar suffering some time in future.   The Universe makes a note of all deeds big or small.   Happiness comes to us easily when we add happiness in lives of others. Those who help others when they can, receive similar help when their time of help comes for life is ever changing. Those in comfort now may be in difficulty at another time and vic...
Read more

Your True Possession

Image
Dear friend, we all take pride in our possessions. If we have other achievements such as educational degrees, name, fame, power, privilege etc. we are deeply pleased with that too. In reality, none of these things belong to us. Everything including our bodies belongs to the universe and has been granted to us temporarily, for limited periods, by the grace of the Universe. Everything we have is a temporary gift from the universe to assist us in our own unique journeys from life to life. What truly belongs to us is our soul that is everlasting. The wise yogi realizing this evolves to superior states. Patanjali in his text on yoga has described this as an essential step for evolution of the soul, terming it in Sanskrit as - Aparigrah We tend to grow deeply attached to our possessions and if they are taken away we fret and get miserable. The wise person however moves on peacefully when the time for a gift to be withdrawn comes. The human body grows from a child to youth ...
Read more

Of gods, angels, kings and leaders

Image
The mystic yogi sat on a flat rock on the hillside. With years of practice, he knew now how to still his mind and body. Breathing with calm and uttering His name repeatedly, thinking of the infinite Lord alone he found his consciousness detaching from his body, submerging in an infinite sea of bliss, beauty and joy but a question arose in his mind, “Lord you are so beautiful, so full of joy. I feel my consciousness being pulled into your bosom, to become a part of you, to escape once and for all from endless cycles of joy and suffering but would that not be a selfish thing to do? I would find eternal bliss but there are so many others still suffering. Better it would be that I stay back and help them in whatever way I can.” The infinite Lord then answered in his heart, “Your compassion is admirable but how much can you do with this frail human body of yours? Come to the worlds of bright elevated beings known as angels, bodhisattvas, gods and a thousand other nam...
Read more

Secret of Happiness in Old Age

Image
https://pixabay.com/en/old-woman-pension-relax-old-rest-1886863/ He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age - Plato When this frame of yours is weak and old When motion slow, even bending a chore Yet in moments that are quiet, full of peace If a river of joy runs through your heart It is a sign dear friend That time is not far for a bright new start When the Lord who made it all Who gave this clothing for your soul Shall take it away It is old and worn Your precious soul To make you whole Needs a bright new suit Given to you With a song and dance Cry out many, We would like that too How does one get that cool A deep sorrow weighs on my head A deep fear troubles my soul Is it hard work? Does one have to pray? Not at all dear friend It is as easy as a child’s play Just make this dear to your heart Love, truth and simplicity Gratitude for what the universe gave Not what you sought A l...
Read more

Our Eternal Mother and Father

Image
3 Both my father and mother are no more. When I was young, my mother was the world to me. She was a gentle and loving mother as good as any and if any mother has something of the divine in her, something of the mother Goddess, she had it. As I grew older, I continued to love her and be loved by her until she breathed her last some twenty years ago. Something else happened, as I grew older. I learnt that there is another mother, a more permanent one that was the mother of my mother as well and the mother of everyone else too. She is Mother Earth because all of us are born from her womb. Every part of our body is made from some part of her flesh and blood. And, this more eternal mother is incredibly beautiful too. Her vast forests, mountains, deserts, grasslands and oceans never cease to delight and charm us with their grandeur. She provides us with unlimited bounties, day after day, as long as we live and long after that for the rest of her children, all life that dwells u...
Read more

Encounters of a Mystic

Image
  Ashok in a mystic moment In some companion blog I have written a post – Encounter with a Himalayan Mystic – which describes my surprising encounter with Babaji Haidakhan in the early eighties when I was an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. That post has been a popular one (you can find it in the Life and spirituality blog by using the search tool) because such encounters are unusual and surprising for those still in the world of activity and ambition. Now, finding myself in the same shoes as that of a Himalayan Mystic, every now and then I have equally interesting encounters with those still in the world of activity. This post mentions a few. A friend that I had not met for decades recently chanced upon an image of mine in one of the traditional garbs of a Himalayan Baba and was quite shocked and wondered what had happened to me. He contacted me and enquired. I asked him if he had different dresses for a visit to a golf cou...
Read more

To be or not to be like a Sheep

Image
When humans walk on paths that many others do, they feel safe and secure. It is because of it that most do it. It is to be safe like sheep in a flock. They push and irritate each other at times, even quarrel and destroy each others peace. Nevertheless they are safe from the wolf and there is even that joy for five minutes when they mate. The odd sheep that leaves the flock may fall into a pit but a rare one may find that lovely pasture and garden with a kindly owner and end up in bliss or perhaps even show some of the others in the flock a new path towards abundance. Dear readers, it is so with humans too. Most stick to well charted paths in their journey through life but there are some rare ones who leave the flock and chart their own daring course. Like the sheep, some end up in trouble, in prisons, on homeless streets as beggars but a few, the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Buddha or the saints lead humans to new levels of evolution. A human may leave the f...
Read more