Andre Fenton explores spatial memory in rats and mice
The best performance I have seen by Canadian actor Jim Carrey was one in which he wasn't his usual zany, over-the-top self. He starred in the movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, with Kate Winslet, who was also excellent. They are a couple who fall in love and then out again. They live in a present moment during which science has developed the ability to scrub away unpleasant memories, including recollections of relationships gone sour. Carrey's character has the procedure done, but fights back into memory because he wants the recollection of love, however painful it might be.
There was a New York Times article this weekend about the development of a drug that can erase certain memories- truth is stranger than fiction. The benefits? Erasing that part of the memory which triggers addiction is one example. Or we might be able to expunge a chronic fear. It's still a long way from a pharmacy near you, but who knows, one day it may be on your drug plan.
I find this fascinating because so many people on the spiritual quest are shaped by memory. There are people who remember the faith of their childhood, for good or bad, and seek to make their peace with that religious experience in adulthood. There are others who are angry about the pain of the past and wonder whether God can heal the wounds. Forgiveness, a central theme of Christianity and of this season is connected to what we do with our memories.
If you could take a drug to wipe out certain memories, would you do it? Do you think drugs could replace the religious emphasis on forgiveness at some point?
I agree, that was such a thought provoking movie. Originally my response was negative, thinking that the much of the healing that comes from forgiving another is found in the process.A forgiveness drug might seem like one of those diet pills, that sheds pounds that are only to be regained later as the heathy healing of lifestyle changes weren't required. However,there are so many levels of transgressions against another that when truly terrible things have been committed against another that haunt them forever perhaps this is hope for a new start in erasing a memory. On the addiction front...could this mean folks take up bad habits without worry...they'll just take a pill to stop.
ReplyDeleteOr will the drug erase one addiction, only to open the door to another?
ReplyDeleteYou're right Laura, some people are so scarred by the past that it would be beneficial if the painful memories could be removed, the way surgery can remove a tumour.
I wonder, though, if in the end we will discover that the real healing for the majority of us will come through forgiveness and reconciliation. It's hard to imagine that there will ever be a pill to replace that process.
As someone who once burried a past trauma, then regained the memory 8 years later, I can tell you that without a doubt we need even our bad memories. The terror of a burried memory effects every part of the body. There are physical consequences to repression. Furthermore, some of our deepest most enriching thoughts come from our bleakest experiences. The play of memory and time offer so much growth. Although I would never want to relive that trauma from the past, I don't think I would be the same person that I am today if the memory of it could be erased. I can't experience myself without the whole of my experiences. As odd as it is to say, I would suffer without the memory. I would be separated from some essential part of myself. It would be losing a part of my sight.
ReplyDeleteThanks, pupil, for this personal reflection and important reminder that painful memories can still shape us for good.
ReplyDeleteAnother time we might chat about the difference between repression, which "pushes under" bad memories, and actually removing them.