Recently, I was required to complete a very extensive set of questionnaires in preparation for my ministry career assessment evaluation. An autobiographical portion involved recalling and documenting certain events that took place in childhood, adolescence, early and middle adulthood. Since I am somewhat advanced in years, I found it difficult to remember back in time some experiences and in particular how I felt, regarding my strengths and weakness that came into play during the occurrence.
Scientifically, it has been advanced that we humans have a built-in neural process of forgetting, which is why the average human brain is equipped with the ability to filter through seemingly irrelevant details. Since an average person does not have infinite memory resources, it appears to be an evolutionary trade-off that allows the majority of us to focus on the most relevant facts and more current experiences.
Okay, assuming this is factual and it sounds good to me, I suppose I should not be too anxious on not fully remembering what I experienced or felt at the age of five, fifteen, twenty-five, or even forty-five. Five minutes ago, that is a different matter. But a thought that crossed my mind, when we do remember, are we remembering the experience as it actually happened or as we now perceive that it happened? I submit it is the latter. Not only can’t we remember some past experiences and how we felt about them but when we do, our memories are not precisely exact, having been affected by time, experiences, and other’s conveyed recollections.
So what is the point of this rambling of mine? Only that when I related some autobiographic experiences in completing the questionnaire, some of them may not be entirely accurate as to what transpired back when they took place. More probable, the recollections are a current day perception of what happen and feelings about same are more that of today than what I felt back then. But maybe that is one of the reasons for the interrogation – how do I now feel about it and how is it affecting my current behavior? Any thoughts?
1 comment:
I read your writings over and over trying to think of how it may fit in my life...or does it? I still can recall many of my years of past with vivid recollection...some of course that I'd rather forget but they seem to still hang around per se. I think that many people would rather forget some incidents and therefore just void them out..I don't think age has much to do with it..unless you are truly suffering from dementia...I think though, ( you may resort to this as my faggot logic which I still chuckle when I remember the times se used it on me) I but I firmly believe if you keep the little person inside of you...you will forever stay young in thoughts and that you have the natural ability to always remember both the good and bad times..as vividly as they took place.
Dats what Teejay thinks :) btw its great reading your blogs...I learn more stuff :)
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