A Question on “Fading”
I wrote Fading because I’ve been thinking about this lately:
If we lose our memories, do we also lose our coping mechanisms?
If I lost my memories, would I revert to self-harm? Would I forget to lean on the Tao, and struggle against what everyone needs of me? Would I go back to being a supercilious intellectual? Will I go back to repressing? To unfeeling depressive episodes? To crushing self-loathing?
Will all these decades of personal growth be reversed in the final years of my life?
Maybe my story is too cynical. Maybe even when the memories are lost, the habits which are strongly engrained remain. Maybe a coping mechanism is more of a habit than a memory.
What do you guys think?
Fresh Hell 
I don’t have a good answer to your question, but I will say that Fading was wonderfully poignant. You reminded us to appreciate what we have while it is still ours.
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Thank you 🙂 That means a lot!
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Hi Hell,
Your questions are extraordinarily profound and get to the very root of some huge spiritual issues. Books have been written on this topic, and it’s a very complex one.
But a simple example of some of things involved. Living without memories would most likely be living as we did when we had so few memories — when we were small kids. So maybe losing them would return us to that state when every hour brought to us something new and interesting.
Thank you for sharing this. Very thought provoking.
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I appreciate your input!
Yeah, maybe it won’t be so bad… to a kid, when it’s good it’s amazing, and when it’s bad it’s hellacious. I suppose in a way it’s living life in the fullest and most present way possible…
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“it’s living life in the fullest and most present way possible…” I’ve read sages who have said as much. Get rid of memory and you life life passionately, to the fullest.
They don’t mean all memory, of course. Just the memories that are idle, unnecessary, such as that last church service you attended, or your graduation day. But memories of how to sew or fix a car — those they are not talking about getting rid of.
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I agree, It doesn’t mean you would lose religion, just you marbles.
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