Humans are conditioned from birth to believe that the world is made up of only a material reality. Everything we claim to be true and real about the physical world, we know through the things we see with our eyes, taste with our tongue, touch with our hands, hear with our ears and smell with our nose. Dependant on these senses is what has led the human race to believe that that is where it ends. Our memories are more important than our physical bodies because who we are as human beings is based on our experiences.
This is proven in so many different ways which are overlooked in the world of perceptions that we currently live. Science has been proving this fact for decades now and we need not look far to see that this is a fact. One only needs to look at society, science and most importantly themselves to see that our memories are a vital part of human life and living. Are we just flesh and bones? Are we that Asian guy with the nice skin? Or are we that fat guy who has that funny smell? Though this might describe someone, it is not even scratching the surface of who a person actually is.
We as humans are not our races or body types. Who we actually are has nothing to do with our physical bodies. We are made up of our experiences and our experiences depend on our memories. In the short story “ The Safe Deposit Box”, the main character does not possess a body of his own. Not even a name to call himself. He jumps from body to body and wakes up in another body every morning. He is forced to live in that person’s body for a full day. He explains that “ some days I’ve lost control and done things that must have embarrassed them…but, I’ve never set out to intentialy harm anyone. In this instance he is showing who he is.
Not the body that he currently possesses. He is the one who makes the decisions and choices based on all of his experiences. When we wakes up beside a woman who is obviously his wife for the day, he comments, “ Yes, my lover has a thousand faces, and yes, a different soul looks out from every pair of eyes, but I can still find (or imagine) as many unifying patterns in my memories of her, as any other man or woman can find in their own perceptions of their own most faithful lifelong companion. This is a human being speaking.
His brown hair or the scar on his back cannot express these feelings. Our memories are who we are. Without our memories we seize to exist as we were with those memories. Anyone who has watched someone succumb to wicked ailments such as Alzheimer’s disease watches a person change. The ability to make new memories is one of the first things to go and long term memory leaves eventually. A different person is there. The person we knew for maybe all of our lives becomes a totally different person in most cases.
In the short story ‘ We Can Remember It For You Wholesale’, the main character Quail has his memory partially erased and replaced with new memories. He is introduced to us as a husband who lives a boring, unfulfilling life. But, old supressed memories are driving him to go to Mars and do crazy things. It turns out that he finds out about the supressed memories and before we know it, the secret agent who he really was is killing men wholesale with skills that he was suddenly remembering. A knowledge of weapons and fighting arises.
Again the power of memory is proven. The world is made up of perceptions. This is also true for everything we see, touch, hear, smell and taste. What our eyes see is processed and introduced to our brain. What we therefore see is merely an electrical signal or copy of what was in front of our eyes. This means it might not be true. When we go to bed at night and sleep, our brain shuts down the part of our bodies that controls movement. We are then thrust into another world of perceptions. A world where we can see, touch and taste.
We can be who we want to be and do what we want to do. This showing that the body can be disregarded while we still live a life. Sometimes a life far better than the one than what we actually live. Who is then to say that what we are living right now is just one big dream? Are you really reading this? Would it matter if the main character in ‘ The Safe Deposit Box’ never ‘ moved’ to another host body? Would it mean that he never existed? No, it would not. This man is as human as any one of us. The fact that he does not possess a body does not make him any less human.
He possesses memories that will last him until he stops moving from host to host. Our memories are maybe the most important part of our lives. We would never cry at a funeral ever again. We would never learn from our mistakes or others mistakes ever again. Doomed to repeat situations that are detrimental to us and others. We are not just flesh and bones. We are our memories and our memories become us. Philosophers for centuries have been reducing all objective reality to a world of perceptions. It’s time for the entire human race to realize the true limitations of man’s senses