The reality is we have memories reminding us of the past and active imaginations projecting into the future. What would life be like if we stayed present all the time?
Image Credit: April Heath LMT (MS Designer)
What memory is
According to verywellmind.com, Memory refers to the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and later retrieving information. Memory involves three major processes: encoding, storage, and retrieval.
Where memory is stored in the brain
The Weill School of Medicine at Cornell published the findings of a study on memory. On their website, they state:
An unforgettable time at a restaurant is not just about the food. The odors, the decor, the sound of the band playing, the conversations, and many other features may combine to form a distinctive memory of the night. Later, reviving any one of these impressions alone may be sufficient to bring back the entire experience.
A new study now reveals that in the brain, a complex memory similarly consists of a whole and its parts. The researchers found that while the overall experience is stored in the hippocampus, the brain structure long considered the seat of memory, the individual details are parsed and stored elsewhere, in the prefrontal cortex. This separation ensures that, in the future, exposure to any individual cue is sufficient to activate the prefrontal cortex, which then accesses the hippocampus for recall of the whole memory.
How does memory serve us?
Memory serves human beings in many complex ways. It enables us to process our environment, change our behavior, and perhaps most importantly, give context to our lives.
It’s that last bit that makes me question the importance of “staying present.” Before I get into that random thought, I need to parse the future.
What imagination is
One definition, according to dictionary.com:
The faculty of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
So, there’s the world as it is, and then there’s the world as we imagine it could be. Sometimes our imaginations are optimistic. Sometimes they’re pessimistic.
Where it’s stored in the brain and how it differs from memory
Imagination lives in the hippocampus. In an interview with the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, Professor Loren Frank, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, said imagination and memory are two sides of the same coin.
Why imagination matters
Imagination is key to making plans for the future.
Are humans the only living beings with imagination?
I once posted the question on Facebook if cats have an imagination. My cat Milo was still alive and I used to watch him studying the squirrels running up the palm tree. Then he practiced running up the palm tree, only to get stuck. That didn’t stop him from trying over and over, each time getting higher up and making it harder on me to get him back down.
A number of researchers have come to the conclusion that chimpanzees and gorillas can play pretend, so imagination is at play. I still think my cat had an active imagination and used it to perfect his hunting skills.
What happens when we can’t remember the past or imagine the future?
It’s hard to generate a sense of self if we can’t place ourselves in a context. Context depends on drawing from memory. Configuring a vision of ourselves in the future means we recall the past and either want to repeat it or change the outcome if something similar happens again.
This, at last, brings me to my random thought.
I don’t want to be fully present in the moment all the time. When someone is talking to me, my brain is actively searching my memories for context. Maybe something I’ve experienced will be helpful for the person I’m listening to. The person may wish to replicate my results or avoid them. The person may or may not even want my input, but that doesn’t stop my brain from searching.
There are times when I want to reflect on the past. There are other times when I want to conceive of something utterly different from present reality. Being bound to the way things are without imagination means there’s no escape. Imagination offers hope for a different future.
Case in point, a man who has no memory is institutionalized. There’s no freedom for him. Living perpetually in the present moment is not enlightenment. It’s a disorder.
Man with 7-second Memory
What are your thoughts on “being present?” Let me know in the comments.
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