Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Are you awake right now ? Memory. Seeing. Wakefulness.

'Medha' is a Sanskrit word that is associated with memory.
It implies memory without effort. A Medhavi is a person who has the power to 'remember' everything he exposes himself to. (Not just 'photographic' memory.)

The reason why most of us don't have that ability is because we are sleeping most of the time.
If I ask you if you are awake right now, you will probably reply with a 'Of course, yes. I am reading this, and a few moments later, will be able to recall what I read. So - I am awake.'

What is more likely is that - your usual state is a lack of awareness, but an external trigger, like these words, nudges you awake. The trigger registers itself. And you go back to sleep. Waking, but sleeping. How many minutes of the last 24 hours can you precisely recall ?

This phenomenon was also examined by P.D. Ouspensky.

So - if you remain 'awake' continuously, you could 'remember' everything around you.
But that would be very unusual. Most of us live in well labeled, established mechanical patterns, that we call comfortable. And hence, we do not even SEE. When we look at a wall, we don't see the texture, the color, the tiny marks on the surface, the tiny cracks ... a hundred other things. We perceive a label. Wall. And we don't see the wall. And so we don't remember anything about it.

Now here's the kanji link -
The kanji for 'to awaken' and 'to remember' are, THE SAME!
覚える is oboeru - to remember.
覚める is sameru - to open, awaken
.

The kanji has an eye on a pair of walking legs, under the radical for a school-house roof.

'nuff said.

No comments: