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Do Past and Future Really Exist?
by Stacey T Pollock, Feb 21, 2009
As every second ticks away, with every event that we experience, it turns into past, a moment that once was, but no longer exists. It is scientifically proven that memory is stored in the brain and that what we remember only encompasses around the average of eight percent of what we experience.
When we go to a film, lecture or play, we only induce but a small portion of the story, the memory being but an interpretation of what we have seen through our senses, chosen through our own perception. What this means is that our personal perception of past really is just a fabricated memory of the event having taken place, and not really the total event that would have existed.
To look at this in more detail, a person could imagine themselves at a party with a group of friends. They induce memories of the interactions that they had throughout the night, all things that directly relate to them specifically. They remember a moment that they wanted to get a drink, and they remember having poured it into the cup, one snapshot of memory of the event that took place. They do not remember the whole time that they poured the drink into the cup from beginning to end, but they remember a moment when they were participating in the experience, enough to know that the event did occur. They do not remember having drunk the entire drink either. Maybe they do not even remember drinking it at all, and only know they did from seeing the cup empty.
We do not induce in our brains the memory of every moment that we experience, instead only taking a snapshot of memory into our brains for future reference. This snapshot is not the event that took place in physicality, but an interpretation from the individual who had the experiences. This interpretation is often based on interest that a person has, or choice of what they wish to focus on.
A person will not notice something if they have no interest in it. They might be at a party and all night long they do not even remember having seen certain people there. This does not at all mean that these people were not at the party in that moment in time, but it simply emphasizes that the past within our brains is but choice based depending on the viewer and what they wish to remember.
Does past really exist? Can we really determine past by our thoughts alone as being factual when in all essence it is only but a small interpretation of the event having taken place?
These questions could easily be asked especially when it comes to creative interpretation. Everyone knows that they have the ability to create within their minds, and at many times in their life they will be confronted with this when it comes to interpreting an event that occurs between friends. A single event may have been experienced by three different friends, but each one could have a totally different perspective on what was seen. One might say that they thought the person they were talking to was laughing too much and that they were not taking the information seriously. The other friend might say that they were merely a very happy and friendly person. The third might then say that they did not notice anything that the person said but instead thought that the clothes that they were wearing were a very good style. Each person has interpreted the event in a different way. Two though expression and one through pure physical observation.
If each three people were to be told to describe the event in detail, from one single moment in memory to the next, each would tell a different story. There would be three totally unique and creative interpretations of the event having taken place. If someone has also the capability to lie and interpret things in their own way, this can also impact the result of what is remembered.
Often people are confronted with this when someone accuses them of a crime that they did not commit. They know they did not do it, but if the person believes that this event took place and makes up a story with their mind and stores it in their brain, it then becomes just as viable as a memory that people store from physical experiences. It becomes a stored memory, having also pictures that a person has envisioned as a real event. This can lead in some cases to where people start to even believe that lies have factual basis. They may then not know what really occurred and can only base past experiences on what they have stored within their brains as memory.
What this means is that memory being past related can not at all be factual in nature. Memory thus is an interpretation of the event and not the actual event that took place in its entirety. If we were to base things on past through memory as being factual it would be like saying that the portion of the event is then the whole. The eyes of a person are not the whole of who they are, just as the ears, the mouth, arms and other body parts. All the parts together make up the whole, showing us that memory could not and will never be considered evidence for factual reality.
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