Eyes of the Bluest Sky

Last night as I wound down after another weekend this side of the world, I could not help but think about the movie from Saturday night and the weak remnants of an inspired emotion experienced during the 3 hours of movie watching.

Memories.

What a loaded word.

Good memories - ones that keep us going ..some of them for a lifetime. That we cling on to in times of hope and even more so in times of despair. That keep the fire burning in our sometimes cold hearts.

Bad memories- ones that we would rather forget - now ..the difference is that some of them come from experiences we wish we'd never had .. others from experiences that we do not regret ..just regret the way that those experiences ended or did not end.

What would we be without our memories ?

Same people Different outlook ?

Different people Different outlook ?

I'll quit with my bit map - yeah we know exactly how this goes.

But - coming back to my original question ... what would we do ..if we woke up tomorrow morning ..completely devoid from every experience we've had on the way here .. any meaningful experience anyway ?

Yeah - its not a good idea asking questions like this -when you blog.

I dont know. Maybe we'd be refined versions of ourselves - who were more open, more reckless, more in love, more friendly, trusting. Less cynical, less risk averse.

Maybe we'd suffer the same fools gladly all over again to come back to the same spot.

Heres the thing - I dont know what we hold dearer - the exact details in a memory ...like the place..the time..the person..the words ..or the feelings we experienced when those specific things happened .. joy..happiness..fear..excitement..

And if its the latter - does the devil really lie in the details ?

I guess it comes back to the much debated(on this blog anyways) ..heart and brain question.

What houses all these memories ? .. Ofcourse the brain ..the medically inclined would say .. but what about how these things make us feel ?

Its weird. In B school - they talk about Pavlov's dogs experiment.

I have my own results to share.

Dawn hand washing soap always makes me want to cry. Smell of coffee brewing makes my heart leap with joy. I'm conditioned - to specific experiences that followed or I associated with these two things.

So coming back to my original question ..

If I woke up tommorrow morning - having no memory at all .. and washed my hands with Dawn hand soap .. would I experience sadness ? ..or complete indifference ?

Hmmmm.....

One might infact argue then that forgetting is one of the best virtues.

For then, one is well and truly free of the past and can live without a haunted chamber in his mind and heart.

The verdict is still out.

The fine balance between remembering and forgetting continues to be a tightrope that unfortuantely we will all walk in this life of ours. And it is what we remember - with joy or sorrow that will make us infact richer or poorer in our minds anyways.

What will you remember about today ?