False Memories and Time as an Illusion

[Michael Paul]

There is quite a bit of literature about the phenomenon of false memories. Also, many studies have confirmed how the human memory is extremely fallible and susceptible to alterations, distortions, confabulation, and even outright fiction. It’s difficult to discern a false memory from a real one because most of the time, we do not attempt to verify our subjective experiences — we just assume that these memories are real, almost video-like recordings of objective events. But that’s not how memory works at all. If you’re interested in this phenomenon, I highly recommend the work of Dr. Julia Shaw and Elizabeth Loftus.

To take this a little further, if we get to a very deep level of awakening we can realize and even directly experience that our everyday notion of past, present, and future is illusory, and that only true Eternity (which is Consciousness or Awareness) actually exists. This is what people like Eckhart Tolle refer to as ‘the Now’.

If ‘linear time’ is truly is illusory, than our memories are simply just references to experiences that take place in the Eternal Now.

 

[James123]

1 hour ago, Michael Paul said:

 

There is quite a bit of literature about the phenomenon of false memories. Also, many studies have confirmed how the human memory is extremely fallible and susceptible to alterations, distortions, confabulation, and even outright fiction. It’s difficult to discern a false memory from a real one because most of the time, we do not attempt to verify our subjective experiences — we just assume that these memories are real, almost video-like recordings of objective events. But that’s not how memory works at all. If you’re interested in this phenomenon, I highly recommend the work of Dr. Julia Shaw and Elizabeth Loftus.

To take this a little further, if we get to a very deep level of awakening we can realize and even directly experience that our everyday notion of past, present, and future is illusory, and that only true Eternity (which is Consciousness or Awareness) actually exists. This is what people like Eckhart Tolle refer to as ‘the Now’.

If ‘linear time’ is truly is illusory, than our memories are simply just references to experiences that take place in the Eternal Now.

 

Definitely. Additionally, theory of relativity, space and time, and speed of light from Einstein can provide information about past, present and future are happening at the same time. 

[Zanoni]

Heard about the mandela effect. I think the explanation was that different timelines are collapsing on each other and we remember not something false but something that happened on a different timeline when it merged together with our own. 

There is also this theory that memories are not stored in the brain, but in the "astral light". Is called akashic records. It is interesting as I know little about this topic myself. 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Zanoni