Favorite Inspiring Quotes
Memories
Commentary by Peter Shepherd

“Memory and forgetfulness are as life and death to one another. To live is to remember and to remember is to live. To die is to forget and to forget is to die.” ~ Samuel Butler
Really sad when my father was dying in hospital and he couldn't remember who my mother was after 60 years of happy marriage. Then suddenly he did and it was like he was back to his old self again, with new life through his veins. Since then I realized that memories are beautiful things.
“Every man's memory is his private literature.” ~ Aldous Huxley
We're each responsible for creating our library. As Tryon Edwards said, "The secret of a good memory is attention, and attention to a subject depends upon our interest in it. We rarely forget that which has made a deep impression on our minds."
“Recalling days of sadness, memories haunt me. Recalling days of happiness, I haunt my memories.” ~ Robert Brault
There are two fundamental forms of memory. The first occurs when we are reminded or recognize something from the past, so the previous feelings are stimulated, and this happens automatically. The second way of remembering is when we consciously look back and try to recall something that we are sure exists in our memory, and we may or may not be able to immediately make the connection, though it may appear a while later.
“Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.” ~ Lewis B. Smedes
By accepting the past reality with an open heart, and letting go of our resistance, we can move on, empowered by the learning.
“Memory is the cabinet of imagination, the treasury of reason, the registry of conscience and the council-chamber of thought.” ~ Giambattista Basile
Yes, we need to be in touch with our feelings and intuition, but we equally need to consciously create, arrange and re-order our mental environment, and integrate both aspects. Schooling followed by self-directed life-long education and mind development have their roles to play.
Here’s some further reading on this theme...
True or False? The Light of Insight ~ by Peter Shepherd
The importance of understanding our dual consciousness is that it is possible to have thoughts that have nothing to do with what one is feeling, and to try to reach and change someone for the better through his thoughts and intellectual apparatus alone, without reference to the necessity for connection, is a vain exercise. The left-brain can be quite aware that smoking causes cancer but the person will still pull out a cigarette. Man is conscious, as are animals, of external stimuli, but to be conscious that he is conscious, to be self-aware, is the introspective faculty that separates him from the animals. But he can only be meaningfully objective about that self when his feelings and contextual understandings are connected and integrated. Continues...