In another thread, i asked Maia a question-
Say, someone will pronounce many user names of the members to you, one after another, without giving a break. That would not give your mind enough time to recall the conversation had with them, but you still will be able to recognize all user names because your mind has been made point of references to all of them and it needs not to go in the details all the time.
Maia, you have to introspect bit deeply for that. Try to see how your mind use to work and in what way that flash occurs about different things most of the time? Is it smell, sound or shape?
She replied-
When I read a user name the first thing that pops into my head (if anything) is snippets of remembered conversations. Not everything, and probably not verbatim either, but the general gist. This happens immedately, as soon as I encounter a particular user name.
I asked her again-
In your case, my guess is that you have to depend on hearing more than other senses, because that could be the only source by which you mind can recognize such remote things, which you cannot touch and smell. Secondly, eveything cannot be reognized by the touch and smell either. But, your mind can easily remember the sound of its name and use it to make reference point.
Am i right or wrong?
She answered-
The snippets of conversation pop into my mind instantaneously, or within a fraction of a second in other words.
Hearing is very important to me, but I cannot call it my dominant sense. When I think of an apple the first thing I think of is its shape, as with most objects, so in this case touch is the dominant sense.
My next question-
When i or other people think about any conceptual thing, say philosophy, the word philosophy flashes in the mind, not what any philosopher or what we discuss in it. Mind sees and read the word philosophy and the sound of that reading also makes an eco in the mind. Both things happen simultaneously. But, as your mind is unable to see that word written, thus i am assuming that the only thing that it can do to remember the sound of the word philosophy.
What is your take on it?
And, her answer now -
When I think of philosophy I don’t hear the word in my mind, nor do I imagine reading the word with my fingers, although now you have just mentioned it that’s exactly what I’ve done.
It was just you mentioning seeing the word appear, made me think of reading it (in Braille). It’s not something that I normally think of, when I think of a word.
Looking carefully to the underlined portions in the Maia’s reply, i realized my mistake.
Unknowingly, i planted a reference in her memory through my conversation, and now she has no option but to follow that very route.
This reminded me a very popular parable of Hinduism, which i also mentioned in the past in a different thread.
[i]Once there was a sage. He was very wise, learned and famous and people from all around the world use to come to him for advice and study.
He also had a son, who wanted to be as famous as his father but did not had the capacity of his father thus always looked for shortcuts. Someone told him that his father knows how one can be immortal. Knowing this, he asked his father to tell him its method but his father denied and said there is no such thing. But, the son kept insisting, so at last, seeing no other option, the father asked his son that he is ready to tell the secret to his son.
The sage said to his son that there is a sacred mantra, which should be repeated 100 times and the person would become immortal. Hearing this, the son becomes very pleased and get ready to become immortal. The sage told him some mantra but warned his son that there is one condition that should be fulfilled otherwise the mantra would not work.
He told his son that during repeating those mantras, the thought of monkey should not come in his mind at all, otherwise the mantras would not be effective.
The son said that this is not a issue at all. How can the thoughts about monkeys come to his mind, as he was neither interested in those nor it happened earlier ever?
The son sat down and started repeating mantras, but as soon as he started, monkey came to his mind from nowhere. He stopped for some time thinking that this may a temporary phenomenon, but this never went away. He kept trying this throughout his life but monkeys never left him alone.[/i]
The moral of the story is the references that mind uses as the representatives for any particular or set of events.
When mind comes across to any event or information, it records it and gives a particular reference, which is mostly the most important or noticeable short portion from that very memory. It is something like giving heading to an essay, in order to categorize and store it in suitable place.
It is not the job of conscious mind, as people think generally, but subconscious mind does it during the sleep, unless we do not pay much attention to that subject.
Advertizing uses this methodology of the mind. It tries to plant references for any subject through driving attention towards such things that we can follow easily.
with love,
sanjay