Book of Questions #4

[Kimberly]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Ebony AKA AngieJ" <ebonyink at h...> wrote:
>  _______________________________________________________
> > 4.  If you could spend one year in perfect happiness
> > but afterward would remember nothing of the experience
> > would you do so?  If not, why not?
> > 
> > 	**Auxiliary question : Which is more important:
> > actual experiences, or the memories that remain when
> > the experiences are over?
> > ________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> Whoa.  What a question.  
> 
> My answer would be *yes*, as long as I was unaware of the fact that 
I 
> could not remember it.
> 
> Last semester, in one of my seminars, we talked about memory 
> formation and how our narrative formation is affected by this 
> process.  Fascinating stuff... I watched my grandfather struggle 
with 
> Alzheimer's until his death two years ago, and it's only recently 
> that I've realized the importance of remembering.
> 
> Both the actual experience and the memory are important, though.  I 
> can't think of which I'd value more.  My first instinct is to 
> say "actual experience", but I'm a nostalgic person, so...
> 
> --Ebony (who realizes that this post may make no sense)

I thought it made perfect sense.  It made me think about it more, too.  
That's what makes it hard for me to decide.  It might be a wonderful 
experience, and even if I couldn't remember, it'd be there as a part 
of who I am, right?  But at the same time, that's a year that would, 
in effect, be gone from your life.  Would it be like having a 
period of amnesia?  Even if I didn't know I couldn't remember it, 
wouldn't other people know, and tell me?  I'd be a year older, right?  
Would any of the happy effects of that year still be in my life?  If 
so, how would I understand them being there?  What about the people 
I'd meet during that year?  Would I forget them and never see them 
again?  Or would I see them, but not know them?  Would they know me?  
What about the experiences I might have with people I already know?  
Would they remember, but I would not?  Or would they not be included 
in this year?  If they weren't, how would I manage not to miss them, 
thus marring the perfect happiness?   Could I carry a video camera 
around all the time, and thus have a record, if not a memory, of the 
year?  Ok, well I guess that would be cheating, and I'm dissolving 
into silliness now.  It is all rather more thought-provoking than I'd 
originally realized, though.

Thanks Ebony, you got me considering this one more fully.

kimberly