I often have the most amazing thoughts and ideas while swimming.
Sometimes I have a lot of scattered thoughts that bounce around my head, and sometimes my thoughts are clear, concise, organized, focused.
I have been swimming at my local pool for a really long time. Yesterday, while swimming, I reflected upon an interview I read recently, which, in turn, prompted me to check out the book, Science Set Free, by Rupert Sheldrake. The interview of Sheldrake was in the Sun Magazine, and seemed to fit right in with all the new things I've been learning about lately.
One thing Sheldrake talks about in the interview and in his recent books is the idea that memory does not exist within our brains:
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"Leviton: If, as you say, memory does not reside in the brain, then where is it? And can it survive the death of the individual to whom it belongs?
Sheldrake: “Where?” is the wrong question. Memory is a relationship in time, not in space. The idea that a memory has to be somewhere when it’s not being remembered is a theoretical inference, not an observation of reality. When I met you this morning, I recognized you from yesterday. There’s no photographic representation of you in my brain. I just recognize you. What I suggest is that memory depends on a direct relationship across time between past experiences and present ones. The brain is more like a television receiver. The television doesn’t store all the images and programs you watch on it; it tunes in to them invisibly.
It may sound radical, but this idea was put forward not only by Bergson but also by philosophers Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. They all challenged the notion that a memory has to be somewhere in the brain. The whole of the past is potentially present everywhere, and we access it on the basis of similarity. I think we’re tuning in not only to our own past experiences but to the memories of millions of people who are now dead — a collective memory. It’s similar to psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of a collective unconscious or Hinduism’s akashic records, which store all knowledge on another plane of existence.
Yes, there’s the potential for the memory to survive the death of the brain. Whether there’s survival of an individual’s memory, my theory doesn’t predict one way or the other. It leaves the question open, whereas the conventional theory is that, once the brain decays at death, all memories are wiped out."
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I was intrigued by the idea that memory does not exist within our brains, but rather exists across time, AND is outside ourselves.
Since reading that article, I began taking note of spontaneous memories. Not reminiscent memories like thinking back to when my oldest child was a baby, but memories that seemed to be triggered by place or smell or sound. Like, for instance, the other morning I was driving into the back parking lot where I work, and I remembered a very intense dream I had way back when I first started working a real job, which, ironically, happened to be in the same building I work in now. The action of driving into the parking lot seemed to be the trigger for remembering the dream. When the dream had occurred, I had reflected upon the intensity of the dream the morning I'd had it while driving into work. I hadn't thought of that dream in over 16 years, probably, but as I drove in, it was like the place, maybe the lighting, triggered the memory, because the memory was stored there in that place somehow.
So, yesterday morning, I was swimming and thinking about how long I've swam in that pool...since I was 16. When I was in my early 20s, I started swimming laps regularly, so for about the past 18 years I've been swimming and thinking continuously in that same pool.
And Then I thought about all the thoughts I've had.
I've recently been reading about how thoughts can impact our cells. I'm currently reading The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton. I do not know how I missed this book in the years since it has been published. It is mind blowing, and exceptionally easy to understand. It also appears to put answers to the ideas I've had for years regarding the power of positive thinking. My Mother is the queen goddess of positive thinking, although her affirmations are cloaked in Christian prayers. But I always felt like there really was something to it all. She shunned negative talk and always encouraged (sometimes too strongly) that I think in a manner that was in line with my desired outcome. But, this is all a topic for another blog so I'll leave it at that for now.
So, back to the swimming pool...
While I was swimming, I thought about how many billions of thoughts that I have had in that pool. Then I thought about the gazillions and gazillions of thoughts that all people who have swam there have had. And then I remembered the memory thing.
I thought about the years before I ever became pregnant, and how I would wrestle with the idea of pregnancy and motherhood and whether it was for me. And then once I became pregnant, I wrestled with the reality of being pregnant, and thought and thought about all those what ifs, and what will bes.
And then I had the most profound thought that it rocked me to the very center of my bones. I realized that all those thoughts and memories are there in the pool. Every molecule of water, every molecule of the cement, all the beams, and wood, and windows, everything that makes up the pool maintains that energy of all the thoughts of all the people who swim there. I thought of all the world class Olympic athletes that have come there to swim. I thought of all the high-energy kids who swim there every day, pushing harder and learning more. All the old people trying to stay strong, and the babies just feeling the water. Sure, some of those things get washed out when they drain the pool every year, but that water interacts with the structure of the pool itself all day every day for a year.
The feeling I had when I had that thought was overwhelming. I literally felt my bones vibrate and it was as if the entire pool structure acknowledged my thought.
I have been in the midst of a huge life transformation. To me, it feels like this event in my life, which has been going on now for 11 months, is still in the beginning phase. Learning about quantum physics, epigenetics, morphic resonance, New Biology, all these things are assisting in this molting that I seem to be going through. Overall, I remain positive that all things will work out. That all is as it is meant to be. But I must remain focused and energized. I must start taking action. This idea I had in the pool yesterday, was just another little piece of this big puzzle being put into place.
I guess that is the puzzle of this life.
Sometimes I have a lot of scattered thoughts that bounce around my head, and sometimes my thoughts are clear, concise, organized, focused.
I have been swimming at my local pool for a really long time. Yesterday, while swimming, I reflected upon an interview I read recently, which, in turn, prompted me to check out the book, Science Set Free, by Rupert Sheldrake. The interview of Sheldrake was in the Sun Magazine, and seemed to fit right in with all the new things I've been learning about lately.
One thing Sheldrake talks about in the interview and in his recent books is the idea that memory does not exist within our brains:
------------------------------------------------------------------
"Leviton: If, as you say, memory does not reside in the brain, then where is it? And can it survive the death of the individual to whom it belongs?
Sheldrake: “Where?” is the wrong question. Memory is a relationship in time, not in space. The idea that a memory has to be somewhere when it’s not being remembered is a theoretical inference, not an observation of reality. When I met you this morning, I recognized you from yesterday. There’s no photographic representation of you in my brain. I just recognize you. What I suggest is that memory depends on a direct relationship across time between past experiences and present ones. The brain is more like a television receiver. The television doesn’t store all the images and programs you watch on it; it tunes in to them invisibly.
It may sound radical, but this idea was put forward not only by Bergson but also by philosophers Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. They all challenged the notion that a memory has to be somewhere in the brain. The whole of the past is potentially present everywhere, and we access it on the basis of similarity. I think we’re tuning in not only to our own past experiences but to the memories of millions of people who are now dead — a collective memory. It’s similar to psychologist Carl Jung’s concept of a collective unconscious or Hinduism’s akashic records, which store all knowledge on another plane of existence.
Yes, there’s the potential for the memory to survive the death of the brain. Whether there’s survival of an individual’s memory, my theory doesn’t predict one way or the other. It leaves the question open, whereas the conventional theory is that, once the brain decays at death, all memories are wiped out."
--------------------------------------------------------------
I was intrigued by the idea that memory does not exist within our brains, but rather exists across time, AND is outside ourselves.
Since reading that article, I began taking note of spontaneous memories. Not reminiscent memories like thinking back to when my oldest child was a baby, but memories that seemed to be triggered by place or smell or sound. Like, for instance, the other morning I was driving into the back parking lot where I work, and I remembered a very intense dream I had way back when I first started working a real job, which, ironically, happened to be in the same building I work in now. The action of driving into the parking lot seemed to be the trigger for remembering the dream. When the dream had occurred, I had reflected upon the intensity of the dream the morning I'd had it while driving into work. I hadn't thought of that dream in over 16 years, probably, but as I drove in, it was like the place, maybe the lighting, triggered the memory, because the memory was stored there in that place somehow.
So, yesterday morning, I was swimming and thinking about how long I've swam in that pool...since I was 16. When I was in my early 20s, I started swimming laps regularly, so for about the past 18 years I've been swimming and thinking continuously in that same pool.
And Then I thought about all the thoughts I've had.
I've recently been reading about how thoughts can impact our cells. I'm currently reading The Biology of Belief, by Bruce Lipton. I do not know how I missed this book in the years since it has been published. It is mind blowing, and exceptionally easy to understand. It also appears to put answers to the ideas I've had for years regarding the power of positive thinking. My Mother is the queen goddess of positive thinking, although her affirmations are cloaked in Christian prayers. But I always felt like there really was something to it all. She shunned negative talk and always encouraged (sometimes too strongly) that I think in a manner that was in line with my desired outcome. But, this is all a topic for another blog so I'll leave it at that for now.
So, back to the swimming pool...
While I was swimming, I thought about how many billions of thoughts that I have had in that pool. Then I thought about the gazillions and gazillions of thoughts that all people who have swam there have had. And then I remembered the memory thing.
I thought about the years before I ever became pregnant, and how I would wrestle with the idea of pregnancy and motherhood and whether it was for me. And then once I became pregnant, I wrestled with the reality of being pregnant, and thought and thought about all those what ifs, and what will bes.
And then I had the most profound thought that it rocked me to the very center of my bones. I realized that all those thoughts and memories are there in the pool. Every molecule of water, every molecule of the cement, all the beams, and wood, and windows, everything that makes up the pool maintains that energy of all the thoughts of all the people who swim there. I thought of all the world class Olympic athletes that have come there to swim. I thought of all the high-energy kids who swim there every day, pushing harder and learning more. All the old people trying to stay strong, and the babies just feeling the water. Sure, some of those things get washed out when they drain the pool every year, but that water interacts with the structure of the pool itself all day every day for a year.
The feeling I had when I had that thought was overwhelming. I literally felt my bones vibrate and it was as if the entire pool structure acknowledged my thought.
I have been in the midst of a huge life transformation. To me, it feels like this event in my life, which has been going on now for 11 months, is still in the beginning phase. Learning about quantum physics, epigenetics, morphic resonance, New Biology, all these things are assisting in this molting that I seem to be going through. Overall, I remain positive that all things will work out. That all is as it is meant to be. But I must remain focused and energized. I must start taking action. This idea I had in the pool yesterday, was just another little piece of this big puzzle being put into place.
I guess that is the puzzle of this life.
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