Advice worth remembering

Image taken by By Martyn Seddon [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons.

“…memory cannot retrace its path
that far unless Another guide it.”

Paradiso, Dante (Canto 18 L. 11-12)

Looking back and reflecting on the crystal clarity of reflection (which is also commonly called 'logic'), I have surmised from experience that looking back doesn't do anything positive for forward momentum. I mean, certainly Kierkegaard was right about many things, namely his point about only being able to understand life backwards, and subsequently only being able to live in a forward direction. Most basically, if you were to imagine a timeline with arrows representing directional time, Kierkegaard’s well-known psychological observation would look something like this (the blurriness of the line itself is appropriate):

LIFELINE

                                  Understanding                                                     Spontenaity
                               Comprehension                                                           Discovery
                            Experience                                                                        Opportunity

And basically reality and experience are points somewhere in the middle-ish. I did not plot those however because each of us usually resides more on one or the other “side” of the middle, sometimes this is lumped up and labeled as the difference between the pessimist and the optimist, but it’s not quite that simple (for example plotting a skeptical optimist like myself). 

We are all advice givers, often secretly and overtly flattered when another asks us for not only our opinion but wise expertise. It’s an ego stroke, yes, but it also means that we are acting out our part in our own Hypocrites play (reciting the monologue anyway), rarely taking or acting on the same advice for our own lives. Judging others and weighing another’s situation is often easier than clearly seeing our own situation, predicament or opportunity.

There’s an art wall/mural space in my small (touristy) town that is supposed to be revolving every month, yet the popularity of one has kept it for 3 months now. The piece is entitled “If I only knew then…” and there is chalk on the ground for passersby to contribute their statements, effectively seeing the writing on the wall. It has been filled and the slate cleaned more than a dozen times, filling up within minutes of being ‘erased’. The undeniable popularity of this artwork got me thinking about my younger/former self and honestly, I wouldn’t have listened to any advice from someone my age, but that’s a technical diversion of the point, the point is in the middle-ish, remember?

The more I thought about it, the more I noticed it was primarily younger people “contributing”  advice to themselves and the world; some of the messages clearly showing maturity and hindsight below normal levels. For myself now, I determined that the feeling was mutual, I would not tell my younger self anything-figure it out, look it up, whatever that my mean. My life could have gone very different directions and I like that. Some people call that “the road not taken” but that road was under construction anyway. The beauty of the mystery is that sometimes you are not smart or wise enough to make the right decision but end up exactly where you should be anyway, most of the time better off than you could have ever imagined or conceived.

A particularly serendipitous story, I recently finished a book that I purchased when it was brand new, paying full retail cover (!) at the time of its publication in the year 1994. As an obsessive bibliophile I have made myself sell all of my books more than once, but managed to retain this title along with only two others since the 90’s.  I had been reading another book that mentioned it, and immediately delved in. I always knew I had it, and obviously then, in 1994, I knew I would need it but not clear why.  The book is not so much the point as the unconscious act of keeping it, like a momento-but I had never read it, so there we no memories associated with this momento.   The serendipitous part of this story is in the coded message to my future self, “you’re going to need this”-it’s much more valuable advice than anything with a “shoulda”, “woulda”, “coulda” leading the way, that’s a trajectory I do not intend to head towards-most would agree and is why the art mural is popular-maybe someone’s advice will guide some unknown stranger, a reader of one’s message “Don’t be scared!” will actually listen and somehow become brave by osmosis of time…it’s not likely to work like that (refer to LIFELINE).

“The analogue of death is forgetting.” 

-Murray Gell-Mann,  “The Quark and the Jaguar” 

A gift for my future self, seems like a more valuable, tangibly so, deal, but when we are young we lack not only the resources, but experience and wisdom to be throwing out advice or investments for our future selves. All along our lifeline however we are unconsciously shaping the path of our future, learning how and what it should look like, where it should go as we traverse this trail on our allotted timeline.  There are many factors in my current life I know are owed credit to the tenacious, stubborn and naïve me of the past, I wouldn’t have steered me any other way.

Image of Dante by Gustave Doré [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita

mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,

ché la diritta via era smarrita. "

Alas, the past is in the past, even as I type “NOW” it has become the past. And I cannot change the timeline any more than you can live/dwell in the past or live/dream only in the future.

Most of us have had some exposure to the experience of what we call “déjà vu”, that feeling of knowing something unknown, a familiarity of something that is verifiably new. Memory can often seem like a game, a losing one for many.

Image By Billertl at English Wikipedia (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Much “new” science about the brain has recently been made available to the public based on the results of studies conducted under the current BRAIN (mapping) initiative, and just last week a study about memory was released. If I remember correctly, our memories specific neurons are inextricably linked with confidence (this does not seem like revolutionary neuroscience, more like common sense, like the reason we study before taking a test).  Additionally the study concluded that meta-cognition (i.e. thinking about ones own thoughts and their validity) was not as importance if confidence was strong enough. Interestingly, they did utilize a mathematically equation for confidence which was linked with familiarity or prior exposure.  It seems the more sure (positive) a person is the less “rationality” was relied upon, hence positivity through unrestrained optimism.

                                         ?              
“I’m positive”                                                                                                             “I’m positive”

“No I’m positive”                                                                                                       “Yes, it’s possible”

There is much hype today surrounding three letter words, like “Now” and “Aha” and for good reason, those are even palindromic. Seriously, ‘Now’ and ‘Won’ are not that far apart (at least on the selfish scale), but does hype lead to understanding or is it merely a regression? (refer to LIFELINE)

I am looking forward to my future gifts, I know I have them stashed somewhere...just like that $5 in cash (Ahem-I’m a writer so it wouldn't be a $20)  I hid from myself somewhere...if I only could remember where I put it. I’m hoping déjà vu will kick in as I retrace my steps.