What does remember mean?

Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.

Published on www.acadun.com

The Netherlands

23th November 2013

What does remember mean?

Remember means to recall from memory. But what does man remember? Man remembers to do what is expected of him in his daily life. It may be either important or trivial, nevertheless encouragement, praise and even applause sometimes prevail, especially within a family and between friends and colleagues. Happiness is assured for the future and great expectations are hoped for. Man is oblivious to the fact that many things happen in daily life, and life goes on despite man not remembering to do them.

Remember refers to behaviour too, because man is appreciated for remembering to do, speak or think appropriately. It never becomes an issue if he remembers to behave as he is expected to. If people with minimal or mediocre intellect are asked to remember, it makes sense. But even the intellectual and geniuses fail to remember. Therefore, it is not up to intellect to remember, and so it is not wise to ask people to remember. It would be wise to understand what remember means.

The fundamental factors involved are intellect, memory and the capacity to recall, because the word ‘remember’ implies intellect, memory and the capacity to recall. Intellect is an inherent characteristic of man, due to which memory and the capacity to recall happened to man. Hence, man can neither control intellect, memory or the capacity to recall, but he believes he can. Just as words happened to man, beliefs, ideas and memory happened too, and man does not make them happen. He erroneously believes that he can recall from memory, but he does not: recollection from memory happens to man at the precise moment. Similarly, man erroneously believes that he does actions, but he does not, though it appears so. Life is a singular movement that transforms mysteriously as actions in the human mind, precisely at the right moment.

In nature different sounds happen and they are never the same. They appear mysteriously and disappear too. Similarly, different sounds appear mysteriously to the human mind, and never the same sound, and disappear too. These sounds mysteriously transform as words, beliefs, and ideas as memory. When words mysteriously appear man believes he remembers them. When he understands that words, beliefs, ideas, memory and actions mysteriously happen, and he does not recall them from memory, he will be grateful.

If man were honest, he would realise he remembers mysteriously. He needs to understand that man is not the doer, and he need not recall anything from memory in order to do; it all happens to him mysteriously. Life makes man remember at the right moment, if he is meant to remember. He should be grateful to life that it makes him remember and does everything for him that is meant to happen to him. He just needs to be patient. If man understands what remember means, gratitude to life will always exist in the family and between friends and colleagues.

So what does remember mean? Remember means, man needs to be grateful and patient with life.

Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar.
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2013

Editor’s Note:
The need to remember is impressed upon the minds of the young from an early age. Pride is the prize for parents whose child registers high marks at school in tests and exams in which the benefit of a ‘good’ memory is to receive good grades and the head teacher’s commendation. Little wonder that remembering is also an asset in the workplace where it is held as a mark of reliability and in the home for an harmonious life. However, failure and success in remembering have no place in life’s world – only in man’s imagination.
Julian, UK

German Translator’s Note:
When something is forgotten, man leaves no stone unturned in order to remember and – suddenly out of nowhere – he remembers mysteriously. However, man is not aware as yet that it happens to him spontaneously and to remember is not brought about by the mind‘s strategies to recall what seemed to be lost in the memory bank, though it may appear like that. Therefore he is disturbed and doubts his mind‘s intelligence. But does anybody know the exact moment when something is forgotten? No, would be the honest answer. And does anybody know the exact moment when something is remembered? No, would be the honest answer, too. With the help of this article man will be able to understand that to remember is as illusory as to forget and both happen according to life‘s intelligence and are not up to the mind. 
Marcus Stegmaier, Germany

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