Memories

The default mode for most people when they’re not occupied with any external activity is to look into the memory. This has become so normal (and even encouraged so as keep the mind active) that mental images now run continuously in a sort of insane tempo that cannot be stopped except through the conscious intervention of a superior power of intelligence.

The original purpose of the memory was part of the ingenious evolutionary process of making the human animal a self-conscious being, able to realise the source of its own creative intelligence; this universal truth has never changed. The memory develops with experience as an aspect of the pure egoic intelligence, which protects the survival of the physical organism. If we could remain in touch with the idea of existence at a conscious level of mind, everything would be effortlessly provided. But the function of the memory system has now been largely subverted by the demands of living in an appalling world of conflicting forces which must be lived through until the end of time. However, due to the pressure of these times and the reciprocal release of knowledge from the psyche, it’s now possible to restore the memory to its original settings – and so allow the mind to function as was intended in its natural state of receptivity to life.

At the dawning of time when man and woman emerged as self-reflective beings, many of the features of sensory perception we now take for granted were operating at a rudimentary level of efficiency. For example, thinking had none of its fluidity we experience today. Thoughts appeared in the mind in single frames of static images. Only in time, and the repetition of the thoughts of other minds, did the single frames begin to move to give an elementary degree of mental reasoning. This transition process continued for many hundreds of thousands of years. With the development of the human mind, people began to enjoy watching the images as they appeared on the screen of awareness. This imaging of past experience became what we know as imagination, which had the unusual effect of creating self-induced emotional feelings within the natural flow of the psyche. It was like enjoying a movie with invasive adverts interrupting the rhythm of the main feature: the unfolding of nature and the earth’s beauty. The human mind was now becoming identified with a personal self and an alternative version of life on earth. This coincided with the emergence of human nature which spearheaded the progressive drive of humanity through the mind’s increasing momentum.

Memories of the past impressions of the living life are contained in each cell of the body consciousness. The more intense a memory, the greater the vibration of that particular cell. This generates intensified feelings which stimulate the overall vibration of the emotional self. When the mind locks onto the unresolved feelings of past experiences it creates a direct feed to that part of the self which is sustained by the vital energy of the host body. Through the practice of stilling the mind, the power of being conscious in the senses neutralises any negative energies, and the emotion is unable to move. Then, with a still mind it’s to surround with the attention the vibration in the body from where the feelings arise. In this way the energy of the past is transformed to the present and restores the cell to its optimum point of enlightenment.

It’s not necessary to go into the past as an exercise of mind, except for a practical purpose such as remembering where a bunch of keys was left. People assume that it’s okay to think about the good times stored in the memory but fail to realise that there’s a price to be paid. This is that the not-so-good memories must follow to upset the natural wellbeing as a reciprocal exchange of emotional energy. The human psyche works not unlike a pendulum swinging from positive to negative modes through the extremes of excitement to the depths of depression. The spiritual state is a level playing field of equilibrium that is neither up nor down but midway between the two extremes. The challenge is to give up the old habit of resurrecting the past in the memory and reside in the liberating state of being.

To resurrect the past as any self-indulgence will cause eventual pain and heartache. But it’s virtuous never to forget anyone who has served or edified the consciousness in the living life. By the way of things, at the moment of parting (either in death or separation by events) the purified energy of whoever has been loved, or wherever love has been made conscious, returns to that being. The knowledge of this dispels any distress or anxiety of being parted. Then, should an image or recollection of someone arise in the mind, it will come through love – not as a memorable impression of the past but in the immediacy of the moment. And that’s nothing memorable to remember but an ongoing of the profundity of life.