BEYOND-MEMORY: The Missing Part of Human Consciousness
“Memory never captures the essence, the present intensity,
the concrete reality of an experience. It is, as it were, the
corpse of an experience, from which the life has vanished.”
-- Alan Watts
The Wisdom of Insecurity
“Memory has a place at a certain level. In everyday life we could not function without it. But there is a state of mind where it has very little place. A mind which is not crippled by memory has real freedom.”
-- J. Krishnamurti
Freedom from the Known
TRANSCRIPT with Links:
For over 2500 years, we have sought the part of the world that can't be talked about. The world “Outside of Talking.” On the assumption and the hope that this is the place where our human completeness resides.
From the Taoist Lao-Tzu in 500BC to Plato and the Neoplatonists, from Zen Buddhism and the Medieval Christian Mystics to the Islamic Sufi poets, on down to 20th-century depth psychology and Western philosophy’s “unsayable”, to modern “Be-Here-Now,” presence in the moment, and Mindfulness.
But we still haven't found our homes as humans. We haven’t yet found our completeness. The Wholeness of Our Human Consciousness.
So in the late 20th Century, we began a new quest to find ourself in the World Outside of Memory.
To find the part of ourself that can’t be remembered.
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In 1980, Jiddu Krishnamurti said the following:
The whole of my existence, the whole content of me, is put together by Memory. I am a structure made by Memory. Do you know what this means? It means one has to reject psychologically everything that Memory has put together.
https://youtu.be/FWuD1Sh1GYY?si=1BmBn4LcIznQXy-C, around minute 3.
Mr. Krishnamurti considered this discussion “much too radical,” and refused to talk about it.
It’s now time to talk about it.
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The Thumbnail drawing to this adventure tells the tale.
The drawing shows how Talking is a subset of Memory, and Memory is a subset of Human Consciousness.
It also illustrates a part of the world that is Outside of Talking, and how this part of the world is still within Memory.
But, perhaps surprisingly, it predicts that there is also a part of Human Consciousness that can’t be remembered. It can’t be remembered, because it is Outside of Memory.
It seems we have ignored this part of Human Experience since, well, forever.
Talking, Memory, Outside of Memory.
All of these together create the wholeness of Human Consciousness,
if we will have it.
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Memory seems to make up a massive portion of our human life. It makes so many things possible, that we can't even conceive how we would do without them. Things like talking to each other and thinking and writing and planning and agreeing on things and making rules and enforcing those rules, to name just a very few.
These are all things that are dependent on Memory. They are 100% “products of Memory,” and these are all things that make civilized human life possible.
In fact Memory is so broad and so pervasive in the human experience that we never even “consider the possibility” that there's a part of us that’s Beyond-Memory.
Why would we even think of asking such a question?
But once we do get around to asking the question, it’s impossible to return to the partial and limited view of ourselves that Memory covers all there is.
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Like it or not, we have to face the captivating possibility that there’s something Outside of Memory. Something we can’t talk about, and something we can’t even remember – it’s Outside of Memory after all!
We have to consider whether the “missing” part of ourselves, this part that we have sought for all this time, is a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory.
And that the realm Outside of Memory may be the home that we came from. And the home that we long to return to. And even that it can be our home right now, if we would allow it.
How can we possibly “move Memory aside” to explore what’s Outside of Memory? And what will we find when we do that?
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A quick glance at our Thumbnail shows that Memory is bigger than talking. That there is a world outside of talking but still within Memory.
And this is the realm that we have mistakenly sought for thousands of years as “our true home” and the “seat of our ultimate Human consciousness.”
I say “mistakenly,” since simply moving outside of talking still leaves us within the World of Memory. And just like Talking, Memory itself is also limited.
And if Memory has limits, that means that there is a part of Human Experience that is Outside of Memory. So just moving from the realm of talking into the realm of Memory-without-talking will not get us to our goal of the completeness of Human Consciousness.
We need to take the next step, and move Beyond-Memory itself.
And that is the subject of our adventure.
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You might notice that we are doing an awful lot of talking about something that can’t be remembered, and so it certainly can’t be talked about. How does that work?
For the last 10 years, I have been looking into the possibility of talking and writing about the part of the world that can’t be talked about. Some folks laughed and said, “You can’t do that!” And they are right.
But I discovered that there is something I can do, and that is that I can talk about talking. If there is anything for sure that I can talk about, it is talking. And in particular I can talk about the nature of talking and I can talk about the limits of talking. There’s nothing very mysterious about that.
But if talking has limits, then there must be something outside of the limits of talking. The part of the world that “can’t be talked about”!
What gives me the confidence to “talk about” what is Outside of Memory, is this same process. If memory has limits, then what is outside of the limits of Memory is the “World Outside of Memory.” It is Beyond-Memory.
While I can’t remember what is Outside of Memory, I can remember about memory, and I can remember about the limits of memory. Just as I can talk about talking and talk about the limits of talking. And this can lead us right up to the threshold of Beyond-Memory.
Then it is simply up to us to take the next step.
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Let’s start by looking at the limits of talking.
Talking has very specific rules. It requires distinct and different words with distinct and different definitions, and there must be gaps between the different words. And the words must be arranged in straight lines from beginning to end, that is, in sentences, according to the rules of grammar.
So the limits of talking are that it must include distinct elements and gaps, and that it is one-dimensional and one-directional. Without these talking would not exist.
But it is very clear that there remains a part of the world that is outside of these limits, and therefore outside of talking. It is a part of the world, for example, that may have no distinct elements, no gaps, many dimensions, and many directions.
In other words, reality.
So, reality is bigger than talking.
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But the limits of memory and the limits of talking are not the same. We can be outside the limits of talking, and still within the limits of Memory. In other words, Memory is bigger than talking.
This is an important aspect of our discussion -- that some of what is outside of talking, remains inside of Memory. It is a realm that can’t be talked about, but it can be remembered.
What might we experience in this part of the world?
We can watch a sunset without saying what it is. Just watching with a quiet mind, with no thinking. Thinking is a product of talking – it really amounts to talking to ourself. Watching the sunset without talking, without thinking, without a word to be found. There are no words in our mind, but we remember the beauty of the sunset.
Or looking at a baby as the baby looks back at us. There are no words in the baby’s mind. But the baby can recognize us and remember who we are.
And it is almost a truism by now, that over 70% of human interaction is “non-verbal.” Meaning of course, that it does not involve talking.
This is the world outside of talking, but inside of memory. It is a world of recognition without words. It is the most natural and common thing that we know. How can we have ignored it for so long?
Now we can stop ignoring it, simply by focusing on the limits of talking, and thus on the world outside of the limits of talking.
The next question then becomes, are there limits to Memory in the same way that there are limits to talking? Is there something that is bigger than Memory, in the way that Memory is bigger than talking?
In other words, is there a part of the world that is Beyond-Memory?
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So let’s go ahead and have a look at that part of our Human reality that is Outside of Memory.
What do we mean by "Beyond-Memory"?
We don't mean that Memory is not important.
We don't mean that Memory doesn't exist or that it is illusory.
We don’t even mean that we must put Memory totally aside and try to function without it.
All we mean is that there is more to life than Memory.
That our totality as human beings, and therefore our "true self" must also include something other than Memory.
Memory is important. Memory is essential. Memory is complicated. Memory underlies and makes possible all of the aspects that go into creating our human life, from talking to creativity to civilization.
But there is something else besides.
Something in our totality as human beings that is not encompassed by Memory.
Something that is Beyond-Memory.
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So what exactly is the World Outside of Memory? What is “Beyond-Memory”?
We might start by asking what is Memory?
Memory as we are considering it, is not just “memories.” It is not just the part of the world or the events and things and people that I remember.
Rather, Memory is the skill, the ability, the capability to remember. The ability to have and to use memories, and to create the “products of memory” – which are the things we can do and make using memory. Things like houses and institutions and talking, that would not exist if we did not have the ability to remember.
And Beyond-Memory is not just the part of the world that I choose not to remember. It is the part of the world that is, by its very nature, incapable of being remembered.
Memory accounts for just about everything in human life.
Perhaps the most important product of memory is talking itself. We have to remember the individual words, their sound and their spelling, their definitions, and the rules for stringing them together in a meaningful way. And you and I have to remember the same things about these. Then we have to remember what we said before and what others have said before. Without the ability to remember, talking would simply not exist.
In the same way, Memory uses the tool of talking to create many more “Products of Memory” that we use in everyday life. Things that would not exist if not for Memory and talking:
Writing, thinking, symbols, mathematics, rules, plans and procedures, coordination and agreements, contracts and laws, art, music, culture, institutions, religion, trade, money, ownership, technology, indeed the very complex cooperation of Civilization.
Not only this, but the things of human intelligence all require Memory. Things like knowledge, learning, definitions, descriptions, explanations, opinions, categories, comparison, analysis.
And even things related to emotion such as expectations and knowledge of our feelings, and things related to perception itself, such as recognition.
Then there are the Big Concepts, the Big Words – words that have no limited definitions. We use these words, even though we can’t really say what they are. But we all know that they exist and that they are an important part of who we are as humans.
They are words that are outside of talking -- or rather, they are names for things that are outside of talking but can still be remembered. It’s amazing to me how many of these we have:
Life, Love, Time, Tradition, Identity, Family, Friendship, Justice, Truth, Goodness, Evil, Beauty, Wisdom, Desire, Spirit, Freedom, Oneness, Eternity, Happiness, Dignity, Essence, Harmony, Charity, Imagining, Perception, Expansion, Enlightenment, Mind, Reality, Hope, Simplicity, Wholeness, Infinity.
And perhaps even, although I am not yet prepared to say this for sure: Soul, Divinity, Heaven, Hell
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All of these amazing things are part of human life because of Memory. What would our life be without them? It would be very poor indeed.
However, just because they are so important and even necessary for our human existence, that does not mean that there is nothing else in our human experience other than Memory and these products of Memory.
And if there is something in the human experience that is Outside of Memory, don’t we need to be aware of that part as well in order to be “Complete Human Beings,” and to experience our “Complete Human Consciousness”?
Of course we do.
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So let’s ask the question: “Does Memory have limits?” To do this, let’s have a little look at Time and identity in relation to Memory.
If nothing else, Memory requires Time. Memory means that we experience something at a certain time, then recall the experience at a later time. This is the definition of Memory. Without Time there would be no Memory.
Not only that, if we did not remember the past, there could be no present, and no conception of “the future.” There could be no Time.
So Memory requires Time, and Time requires Memory.
In addition, for Memory to exist, we must distinguish between different memories, one from another. And there has to be a distinction between one entity that remembers, and other entities that are being remembered. We must distinguish ourselves from the things that we remember.
In other words, Memory requires some form of identity, and identity requires Memory.
Without these, Memory would not exist.
Time and identity are among the limits of memory.
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So to experience Beyond-Memory, we must first leave behind our beloved Time and identity. Is it any wonder that we’ve ignored it forever? Is it any wonder that we will do anything we can, anything at all, to avoid knowing about this part of ourselves?
Our problem, and maybe our only problem, is that we have not even given the first nanosecond of a tenth of a brain cell to the idea that there is something Outside of Memory.
There’s really no reason why we couldn’t have gotten to this point in our understanding long ago, if we wanted to. My conclusion is that we didn’t want to.
Why? Well, if nothing else, Memory, creating with Memory, interacting with each other using Memory, growing ourselves beyond what we are now, grappling with Memory and all the wonderful products of Memory, are just way too much fun.
So we don’t want to hear anything against it!
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Perhaps we will finally want to know about this part of ourself, once we understand what it is, and we understand that it’s unavoidable.
Perhaps we will feel comforted if we know that we don’t have to give up any of the fun stuff, in order to access that part of ourself.
Maybe we can just add it to what we already are. We don’t have to lose anything, just add something that is real, and fundamental to our totality.
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What we are as Humans, is Talking + Memory + Beyond-Memory. There’s really nothing odd or threatening or difficult about that.
In other words, all we have to do, is to add this missing part that will make our Human Consciousness whole. The missing part that is not at all like the other parts of ourself. The part that is not like the other parts of ourself, because it can’t be remembered.
And then we can keep all the rest, just the way it is!
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I use a number of ways to name this missing part of Human Consciousness. All of them refer to Memory:
Beyond-Memory
There’s more to Life than Memory
The World Outside of Memory
The Part of Ourself that Can’t Be Remembered
Memory and I Are Not One
Or the simple, two-part word which I like the best, “Not-Memory”
I find these to be the most honest ways to refer to this part of reality, even if they might not perhaps be as entirely poetic as we would like.
Coming at Human Consciousness from the point of view of Beyond-Memory, transforms many of our enigmatic spiritual descriptions over the centuries about the “non-physical” part of reality and of the Human Experience, turning them from mystical statements to perfect common sense.
For example, the statement that the world outside of everyday life is “timeless” becomes a simple statement that Beyond-Memory is also beyond time, because time is needed for memory to exist, and memory is needed for time to exist. The “mystical” element is removed, and this becomes a simple statement about the nature of the Human Experience and Human Consciousness that we all share and know so well.
In the same way, the concept of Not-Memory might explain nearly everything that has ever been said about this realm of reality, from the Oneness of All Humans, to Universal Love and Peace, to Timelessness, to the futility of trying to talk about it, as well as the fact that our different traditions have used such a range of complex and unfamiliar words and concepts to name and talk about and explain what really is one and the same reality. The theory is that these unfamiliar words and concepts will lead us to the part of the world that has been missing from our life.
But now we can leave all of those unfamiliar words and concepts behind. “Not-Memory,” “Beyond-Memory,” “Outside of Memory” is so simple, so reasonable, so familiar, so accessible to everyone.
It is a straightforward, approachable and immediate way to access that part of ourself.
And I for one find that to be very appealing, and very inspiring.
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In order to add “Beyond-Memory” to our existing world of talking and Memory, there are a couple of ways we might approach this.
One way would be to drag our talking- and Memory-selves kicking and screaming into the world that is beyond talking, and Beyond-Memory. This may possibly disrupt our daily lives, since the world Beyond-Memory, the realm that can’t be remembered, is so different from our daily world.
But there may be another way, a gentler way. And that way is to simply punch a few “air-holes” in the solid wall of talking and Memory, to let in a little air and light from the World Outside of Memory.
Let it infiltrate our daily world, let it remind us that the world we are living in using talking and Memory is only a part of the wholeness of reality. And to remember that there is a very important part of ourselves that can’t be remembered.
To do that, and then simply see what happens.
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If we allow into our daily life, the part of ourselves that can’t be remembered, that just means that we take a pause in our remembering. A pause in remembering the past, remembering that this thing here is a present moment, remembering that we will have a future.
So in a way, we step outside of time, and we step outside of identity, in order to be aware of that part of ourself. In order to be aware of our Wholeness as a Human Consciousness.
This can be very liberating, if we do it without worrying that Memory will somehow desert us, or “get back at us” for abandoning it. It will not.
Then, after we take that pause, we can resume talking and remembering.
And then we can remember to take another little memory-and-time-pause when have the chance.
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We have seen that the things of human life are made up of talking and of Memory, and that there is also a part of “being human” that is outside of talking and Outside of Memory. But when we look Outside of Memory, it may seem to us as if there is nothing there!
As Mr. Krishnamurti said:
“There's absolutely nothing I have to learn about myself, because myself is nothing!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWuD1Sh1GYY&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNYY8jLhPURXHYrL0Vnd6dpZ&index=5, around minute 0
The part of life that is Outside of Memory, even when it appears that there is nothing there, is what we are calling “Beyond-Memory.”
It is real, but we can’t talk about it. It is real, but we can’t remember it. So we pretend to ignore it.
But it is real. And it is there. And it is necessary for our “completeness” as human beings.
As illustrated in our Thumbnail.
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Some folks say that this part of reality is the part that makes our heart beat, and makes the sun come up in the morning. These statements are highly mystical, referring to a hidden part of reality that some claim to know about, even if we don’t. But of all the words and phrases that have ever been used in relation to this part of reality, none of them have ever remotely mentioned memory.
Perhaps we could change these statements just a little, to cast the descriptions in terms of Memory, and the World Outside of Memory.
Not only would this be more accurate, but it would also recognize that this part of the world is not owned by any one section of humanity. Rather, it is something that is a part of us all, something that we all know about, and something that we all can comprehend with just a little bit of patience and practice.
So we might contemplate ideas like this one:
Our heart beats without the intervention of Memory.
Like when we are sleeping. Or when our brains are damaged.
Or just -- every moment of every day of our lives.
Even if we “remember” that our heart is beating, it is not Memory that makes it beat. It is something other than Memory.
But that is still a part of our life. It is still a part of our Human Consciousness. We could not be conscious without it. We could not even be alive without it.
It is -- if you forgive me for using my own terminology -- it is Beyond-Memory.
So how can we possibly say that there is not a part of us that is Outside of Memory?
Here it is.
Right here.
“Our heart beats.”
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It makes perfect sense that there is a part of the World Outside of Memory.
It also makes perfect sense that we have never, ever even conceived the existence of a “World Outside of Memory.” That is because our conceptions, even our very talking, are dependent on Memory.
In order to comprehend a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory, we have to comprehend something that is outside of talking, and outside of comprehension itself.
How can we do this?
I don’t know. We just can.
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In the World Beyond-Memory, we can have a different type of interpersonal connection, a kind of Universal Oneness, which is beyond individual identity, judgments and differences. We all share the part of ourself that is outside of Memory, the part that cannot be distinguished one-from-the-other. And we have this with every other person, not just those that are dear to us. As well as every other aspect of creation, from the natural world to the artificial constructions of civilized life.
We experience the “Universal Oneness of All Things” that we hear about so often as the highest aspiration of Human Consciousness. We experience it, not just as a theory or as an assumption or a hope. We experience it directly and personally.
A powerful example of this may be our relationship with a loved one who has lost the use of their memory due to illness. While we may feel cut off from them in one way, we still share a connection with them that is Outside of Memory. That connection has always been there of course. But now it has become more apparent, and more important, because the Memory-connection that we have always relied on has been lost. We can finally see unmistakably the direct connection that we have to others through the part of ourself that is Outside of Memory.
Their Memory may be lost, but they are not “lost to us.” Or to themselves. We remain connected in the World Outside of Memory.
And that is, I reckon, quite a blessed thing.
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Perhaps the most amazing outcome of opening our human experience to the World Outside of Memory, is that we can have a simultaneous and complete awareness of everything around us, that includes both the individual contents of our talking- and Memory-World, plus a sense of the wholeness and interconnectedness that is the key feature of Beyond-Memory. An awareness of the Totality, Unity and Completeness of the world around us, that is continuous with and includes ourselves. That transcends time, and talking, and remembering. That goes to the very essence of existence itself. And we can have all of that, right here in the world as we know it.
I am not aware of any practical, religious, intellectual, spiritual, rational, mystical, philosophical, or enlightened wisdom, in relation to Human Existence, that is as Universal, complete and accessible as this is.
As I sit on this bench, looking out at grass and trees and birds and animals and buildings and people passing by. At the clouds and the water and the sky and the sun. Breathing the air, hearing the sounds and feeling the warm sunlight and the cool breeze.
There are parts of this delightful scene that I can talk about and think about. There are parts that I can remember and that I recognize. And there is a pervading atmosphere that is Beyond-Memory, that unifies all the parts together, to each other, and to myself as well.
I bask in this uniquely human experience, that is filled with the totality of Human Consciousness, which includes talking, memory and not-Memory.
I experience my totality, our unity, and the wholeness of Life itself.
What could be better than that?
We might smile and say to ourselves, “I feel so alive.” We don’t really know what this means, in the sense that we can’t define it. Yet we all do know what this means, because we have all had that experience to one extent or another.
We can’t recall the experience, but we can recreate it at any time we like. This is important. We don’t remember “Beyond-Memory,” but Beyond-Memory is always with us, so we don’t really have to remember it. We can “return to the experience” rather than “recall the experience” at the drop of a hat, so to speak.
We think of it, and there it is. This doesn’t mean we create the experience with thinking. It doesn’t mean that the experience will “suddenly appear out of nowhere.” Rather, it simply means that we “suddenly become aware of it.” We remind ourselves to stop thinking and stop remembering, and simply experience what is Beyond-Thinking and Beyond-Memory. We cut that hole in the wall of Memory, and we experience Beyond-Memory.
Beyond-Memory is always there. But our little thought opens our awareness to it for a moment or two. Or if we are lucky, for even longer than that.
“I feel alive” -- it is an experience that is Outside of Memory. But an experience that we have access to at any time.
As long as we don’t think too much about it.
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A key feature of the path to Beyond-Memory, is that the World Outside of Memory is a world outside of striving.
Striving requires time. We are something now, and we strive to become something else in the future.
And striving requires remembering. We remember that there is something we want or something that we should be, and we also remember that we do not yet have it, or that we are not yet that person.
So the timeless World Beyond-Memory cannot be pursued or found by striving.
We can’t reach it by trying.
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Where there is no time, there are no regrets.
There may not be any goals in the world Outside of Memory, but we still have plenty of goals insidec the world of Memory. And we can live in both of those worlds together. We can have goals, and have no goals, all at once.
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Beyond-Memory may also be a world outside of conflict.
Conflict requires separate entities. It requires Memory.
Conflict is often a battle between sets of memories.
If we can all get in touch with Beyond-Memory, it will no longer matter how different our sets of memories are.
Mr. Krishnamurti said it this way:
“I've stated that I am memories; but there is in me the feeling that I'm not all that. There's something else that's observing. So is the observer different from the observed?
“When you realise this fact, something extraordinary happens. Not something mysterious, not parapsychological, and so on. Something which ends conflict, which is far more important. As long as there is division between the memories and the observer, this division creates conflict.”
https://youtu.be/LLUWZemMd0Q?si=xIauDgt4NEolrEp0, around minute 6
So if Memory is the source of conflict, Beyond-Memory may be a world “Beyond-Conflict.”
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Accepting that there is more to life than memory can challenge everything we know about ourselves, about our world, about existence.
It can, but it doesn’t have to. It can be a very lazy-mugg, gentle sort of transition. Understanding that there is a World Outside of Memory doesn’t have to replace Memory. It doesn’t have to replace anything that we love or enjoy. Not our understandings, our beliefs, our relationships, our view of the world.
Our World of Memory, and the way we function within the World of Memory, must go on.
But these have to make room for what else there is. Memory and the products of Memory have to make room for “not-Memory.” For the part of ourselves and the part of the world that is Outside of Memory.
That’s one of the great things about this new way of looking at human awareness. We don’t have to lose anything we already have in order to accept that there is an additional part of ourselves. We can just add it to what’s already there.
For example, we might just change a word or two about how we talk about our own human experience. Instead of saying “I am a thoughtful person,” we might say that “I am a thoughtful person in the World of Memory.” Instead of saying “the world has definite objects that interact,” we might say that “the World of Memory has definite objects that interact.”
This reminds us that the World of Memory is not all there is. It does not take away from anything that we know or believe or experience in that world. It just recognizes that knowledge and belief and experience are all things that occur within the World of Memory. The fact that there is also something outside the World of Memory, does not change any of this.
It’s like cutting a window in the wall of our cozy but stuffy house, which had no windows before. We don’t lose the house by cutting a window!! We just bring in a little light, and a little fresh air.
The advantage of opening a window in the solid wall of Memory, is that it lets us have a little peek through. So we can convince ourselves that there is indeed something on the other side of the veil of Memory.
And it will let some of that good clean fresh air into our little air-tight box that we call Memory.
If we do these two simple things – know that there is something on the other side of Memory, and know that it must be something completely different from Memory, that’s really all we have to do.
We can go about our daily lives like before, but a little bit closer to who we truly are. A little bit closer to “human completeness.”
And then just let whatever happens, happen.
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The products of Memory encompass everything in human experience, as Mr. Krishnamurti said. But he also said this means we have to “reject psychologically everything that Memory has put together.”
https://youtu.be/FWuD1Sh1GYY?si=1BmBn4LcIznQXy-C, around minute 3.
But this might not be so.
Perhaps all we have to reject is the exclusiveness of everything that Memory has put together. And simply accept that there is more to human life than Memory.
So if we fear that our identity will disappear when we move Memory aside, the answer is this:
The only thing that will disappear is the exclusiveness of our Memory-identity, which is not our complete identity after all. So we are really not losing anything.
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Mr. Krishnamurti also said this, about perceiving the natural world, including ourselves:
“The moment that recognition takes place … you take it back into memory … and then you are not knowing yourself at all ... That means learning about yourself afresh each time.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOqVcSFdsAM&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNYY8jLhPURXHYrL0Vnd6dpZ&index=1, around minute 23+
It’s easy to see that perception combined with recognition is Memory. But to know ourselves and the natural world, we must also know the part that is Outside of Memory. That part can’t be remembered, so we must learn about it without any recognition whatsoever. We have to learn about it again and again, afresh, and anew.
And this is the only way to experience it -- without having Memory involved. It is, after all, the World Outside of Memory.
We can’t avoid it. Our consciousness must include the part of reality that can’t be remembered, or else consciousness is only partial.
And something that is only partial leaves something missing. It leaves us “wanting more.”
A human life of Memory-only is a life of “always wanting more.”
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Perhaps the point is, instead of moving aside Memory and talking, we simply add not-Memory to our already-existing human World of Memory and talking.
In other words, the completeness of our Human Consciousness is made up of all three nested spheres of Talking, Memory, and Consciousness. We cannot reject one in favor of the other.
We need all three, working in concert, each doing its own job, in its own place, toward our Human completeness.
This is represented in the Thumbnail drawing, which includes all of these nested spheres.
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If we go on living our lives as if talking and Memory were the only parts of ourselves that exist, and completely ignoring and denigrating the part of ourself that is Outside of Memory -- the part in fact that is responsible for our direct connection to each other -- we will continue to behave in “inhuman” ways.
Can I really hope that all it takes to overcome “man’s inhumanity to man” is to admit and incorporate into our existence, the part of ourselves that is Beyond-Memory?
Do I really think it is this simple?
Well, perhaps not, but only because I think all of us doing this together is not at all simple. Perhaps it is impossible.
But we can give it a good try, and see what happens!
Why not?!?!
>>><<<
Consider how vast and powerful talking is. Consider how vast and powerful Memory is.
Then consider the World Outside of Memory, which is even more vast than the World of Memory. And presumably even more powerful. It makes the sun come up in the morning, after all!
Then consider what we are as humans, being a mix of all three of these vast and powerful realms.
And we have this mix simply as our human birthright, and our heritage.
We need the World of Memory in order to be human.
And we need the World Outside of Memory in order to be complete.
How immense and amazing this combination is, for us as humans!
It boggles a lazy mugg’s mind.
>>><<<
Maybe we can think about this new idea in this way:
Can we honestly say that there is no consciousness without Memory?
Put that way, it sounds absurd.
And that is all we are saying – it is absurd to think that there is no consciousness Outside of Memory.
We are simply saying that there is a part of Human Consciousness that is Beyond-Memory. Consciousness is bigger than Memory, just as Memory is bigger than talking.
We can access Beyond-Memory merely by opening our awareness to the possibility that it exists. We can cut a window in the walls of Memory that we have used as our house. We can let the clean fresh air, and the sweet light, into our abode.
And we can lean out of the window to breathe in the new air. We don’t have to leave the house behind. We don’t even have to leave the house at all.
In fact, we may not even have to cut a window, in a pinch. If we simply accept the concept that there may be a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory, that may be enough of a start to participate in this new adventure. To open up the World of Memory, to open up our own conception of the World of Memory, to make a little bit of room at least for just the idea that there is a part of the world that is Outside of Memory.
We might even discover that “Beyond-Memory” has also been “inside” of our House-of-Memory all along!
That awareness itself, the mere awareness of the possibility that there is more to life than Memory, even if we never actually access that part of the world for ourselves, may change how we conceive about, how we feel about, and how we live our human life for the time that we have it.
And that is, after all, what it’s all about, isn’t it?
We just have to let the missing part of ourselves join us in some way. In any way.
To join us in our wonderful, complex and overwhelmingly mysterious experience that we call Human Life.
>>><<<
The World Outside of Memory may seem mysterious. But isn’t Memory itself just as mysterious? We wonder what Memory is. We evaluate ourselves and each other, based on how much and how accurately we remember things. We use tricks and games to improve our Memory. We grieve when Memory fails us, or fails our loved ones. We investigate how Memory works, why we have it and why we lose it.
But Memory is as mysterious as life itself. For example, what is it that accounts for the difference between someone like me who is naturally forgetful, and someone who has a highly accurate photographic memory? No one knows. It’s a mystery.
Memory is so mysterious that even some scientists are starting to look for Memory outside of the human body. Why are they doing this? Because they can’t find it in the physical brain!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqjywqvfPCM&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNbDunX4k6y9P7cKss7Fe7Al&index=3
We simply accept the reality of this mysterious thing we call Memory. So why should it be hard to accept the reality of the part of us that is other than Memory? Is it really that much more mysterious?
Still, we never, never, never even harbor the slightest idea that “there is something Outside of Memory.” Or if we do, we rationalize it away with thought (which is a product of Memory) or talking (which is a product of Memory). We fill in the gap with Memory. We pave it over with more Memory.
Of course, Memory is what makes us do this. Memory is uncomfortable with the absence of Memory. So Memory tells us that there is nothing but Memory.
What else would Memory say?
>>><<<
So the Missing Part of Human Consciousness, namely Beyond-Memory, is now available to us, through the extraordinary and unprecedented idea that there is a World Outside of Memory.
It is a part of us that can’t be remembered, but it shouldn’t be ignored.
A realm of peace and contentment, that we can conjure up with two little words: Beyond-Memory. Who’da thunk!
This path to our complete self is available to every one of us without exception, and available immediately without any effort once we grasp this new approach to human awareness.
We also understand that our true home is not just the missing part of Human Consciousness that is Beyond-Memory.
Our true home is the totality of Human Consciousness, which includes Talking, Memory, and Beyond-Memory.
This comes from the understanding that there are three important Parts of our Human Experience, three nested spheres, namely
Talking
Memory, and
Consciousness
Mr. Krishnamurti considered this discussion as too radical, and he refused to talk about it. The only difference here is that (1) although we agree that the discussion may be radical, (2) we are talking about it.
Talking
Memory Outside of Talking
Human Consciousness Outside of Memory
That’s all we need to know, to finally reclaim the missing part of Human Consciousness, Beyond-Memory.
The rest, as they say, will come of its own.
“Memory never captures the essence, the present intensity,
the concrete reality of an experience. It is, as it were, the
corpse of an experience, from which the life has vanished.”
-- Alan Watts
The Wisdom of Insecurity
“Memory has a place at a certain level. In everyday life we could not function without it. But there is a state of mind where it has very little place. A mind which is not crippled by memory has real freedom.”
-- J. Krishnamurti
Freedom from the Known
TRANSCRIPT with Links:
For over 2500 years, we have sought the part of the world that can't be talked about. The world “Outside of Talking.” On the assumption and the hope that this is the place where our human completeness resides.
From the Taoist Lao-Tzu in 500BC to Plato and the Neoplatonists, from Zen Buddhism and the Medieval Christian Mystics to the Islamic Sufi poets, on down to 20th-century depth psychology and Western philosophy’s “unsayable”, to modern “Be-Here-Now,” presence in the moment, and Mindfulness.
But we still haven't found our homes as humans. We haven’t yet found our completeness. The Wholeness of Our Human Consciousness.
So in the late 20th Century, we began a new quest to find ourself in the World Outside of Memory.
To find the part of ourself that can’t be remembered.
>>><<<
In 1980, Jiddu Krishnamurti said the following:
The whole of my existence, the whole content of me, is put together by Memory. I am a structure made by Memory. Do you know what this means? It means one has to reject psychologically everything that Memory has put together.
https://youtu.be/FWuD1Sh1GYY?si=1BmBn4LcIznQXy-C, around minute 3.
Mr. Krishnamurti considered this discussion “much too radical,” and refused to talk about it.
It’s now time to talk about it.
>>><<<
The Thumbnail drawing to this adventure tells the tale.
The drawing shows how Talking is a subset of Memory, and Memory is a subset of Human Consciousness.
It also illustrates a part of the world that is Outside of Talking, and how this part of the world is still within Memory.
But, perhaps surprisingly, it predicts that there is also a part of Human Consciousness that can’t be remembered. It can’t be remembered, because it is Outside of Memory.
It seems we have ignored this part of Human Experience since, well, forever.
Talking, Memory, Outside of Memory.
All of these together create the wholeness of Human Consciousness,
if we will have it.
>>><<<
Memory seems to make up a massive portion of our human life. It makes so many things possible, that we can't even conceive how we would do without them. Things like talking to each other and thinking and writing and planning and agreeing on things and making rules and enforcing those rules, to name just a very few.
These are all things that are dependent on Memory. They are 100% “products of Memory,” and these are all things that make civilized human life possible.
In fact Memory is so broad and so pervasive in the human experience that we never even “consider the possibility” that there's a part of us that’s Beyond-Memory.
Why would we even think of asking such a question?
But once we do get around to asking the question, it’s impossible to return to the partial and limited view of ourselves that Memory covers all there is.
>>><<<
Like it or not, we have to face the captivating possibility that there’s something Outside of Memory. Something we can’t talk about, and something we can’t even remember – it’s Outside of Memory after all!
We have to consider whether the “missing” part of ourselves, this part that we have sought for all this time, is a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory.
And that the realm Outside of Memory may be the home that we came from. And the home that we long to return to. And even that it can be our home right now, if we would allow it.
How can we possibly “move Memory aside” to explore what’s Outside of Memory? And what will we find when we do that?
>>><<<
A quick glance at our Thumbnail shows that Memory is bigger than talking. That there is a world outside of talking but still within Memory.
And this is the realm that we have mistakenly sought for thousands of years as “our true home” and the “seat of our ultimate Human consciousness.”
I say “mistakenly,” since simply moving outside of talking still leaves us within the World of Memory. And just like Talking, Memory itself is also limited.
And if Memory has limits, that means that there is a part of Human Experience that is Outside of Memory. So just moving from the realm of talking into the realm of Memory-without-talking will not get us to our goal of the completeness of Human Consciousness.
We need to take the next step, and move Beyond-Memory itself.
And that is the subject of our adventure.
>>><<<
You might notice that we are doing an awful lot of talking about something that can’t be remembered, and so it certainly can’t be talked about. How does that work?
For the last 10 years, I have been looking into the possibility of talking and writing about the part of the world that can’t be talked about. Some folks laughed and said, “You can’t do that!” And they are right.
But I discovered that there is something I can do, and that is that I can talk about talking. If there is anything for sure that I can talk about, it is talking. And in particular I can talk about the nature of talking and I can talk about the limits of talking. There’s nothing very mysterious about that.
But if talking has limits, then there must be something outside of the limits of talking. The part of the world that “can’t be talked about”!
What gives me the confidence to “talk about” what is Outside of Memory, is this same process. If memory has limits, then what is outside of the limits of Memory is the “World Outside of Memory.” It is Beyond-Memory.
While I can’t remember what is Outside of Memory, I can remember about memory, and I can remember about the limits of memory. Just as I can talk about talking and talk about the limits of talking. And this can lead us right up to the threshold of Beyond-Memory.
Then it is simply up to us to take the next step.
>>><<<
Let’s start by looking at the limits of talking.
Talking has very specific rules. It requires distinct and different words with distinct and different definitions, and there must be gaps between the different words. And the words must be arranged in straight lines from beginning to end, that is, in sentences, according to the rules of grammar.
So the limits of talking are that it must include distinct elements and gaps, and that it is one-dimensional and one-directional. Without these talking would not exist.
But it is very clear that there remains a part of the world that is outside of these limits, and therefore outside of talking. It is a part of the world, for example, that may have no distinct elements, no gaps, many dimensions, and many directions.
In other words, reality.
So, reality is bigger than talking.
>>><<<
But the limits of memory and the limits of talking are not the same. We can be outside the limits of talking, and still within the limits of Memory. In other words, Memory is bigger than talking.
This is an important aspect of our discussion -- that some of what is outside of talking, remains inside of Memory. It is a realm that can’t be talked about, but it can be remembered.
What might we experience in this part of the world?
We can watch a sunset without saying what it is. Just watching with a quiet mind, with no thinking. Thinking is a product of talking – it really amounts to talking to ourself. Watching the sunset without talking, without thinking, without a word to be found. There are no words in our mind, but we remember the beauty of the sunset.
Or looking at a baby as the baby looks back at us. There are no words in the baby’s mind. But the baby can recognize us and remember who we are.
And it is almost a truism by now, that over 70% of human interaction is “non-verbal.” Meaning of course, that it does not involve talking.
This is the world outside of talking, but inside of memory. It is a world of recognition without words. It is the most natural and common thing that we know. How can we have ignored it for so long?
Now we can stop ignoring it, simply by focusing on the limits of talking, and thus on the world outside of the limits of talking.
The next question then becomes, are there limits to Memory in the same way that there are limits to talking? Is there something that is bigger than Memory, in the way that Memory is bigger than talking?
In other words, is there a part of the world that is Beyond-Memory?
>>><<<
So let’s go ahead and have a look at that part of our Human reality that is Outside of Memory.
What do we mean by "Beyond-Memory"?
We don't mean that Memory is not important.
We don't mean that Memory doesn't exist or that it is illusory.
We don’t even mean that we must put Memory totally aside and try to function without it.
All we mean is that there is more to life than Memory.
That our totality as human beings, and therefore our "true self" must also include something other than Memory.
Memory is important. Memory is essential. Memory is complicated. Memory underlies and makes possible all of the aspects that go into creating our human life, from talking to creativity to civilization.
But there is something else besides.
Something in our totality as human beings that is not encompassed by Memory.
Something that is Beyond-Memory.
>>><<<
So what exactly is the World Outside of Memory? What is “Beyond-Memory”?
We might start by asking what is Memory?
Memory as we are considering it, is not just “memories.” It is not just the part of the world or the events and things and people that I remember.
Rather, Memory is the skill, the ability, the capability to remember. The ability to have and to use memories, and to create the “products of memory” – which are the things we can do and make using memory. Things like houses and institutions and talking, that would not exist if we did not have the ability to remember.
And Beyond-Memory is not just the part of the world that I choose not to remember. It is the part of the world that is, by its very nature, incapable of being remembered.
Memory accounts for just about everything in human life.
Perhaps the most important product of memory is talking itself. We have to remember the individual words, their sound and their spelling, their definitions, and the rules for stringing them together in a meaningful way. And you and I have to remember the same things about these. Then we have to remember what we said before and what others have said before. Without the ability to remember, talking would simply not exist.
In the same way, Memory uses the tool of talking to create many more “Products of Memory” that we use in everyday life. Things that would not exist if not for Memory and talking:
Writing, thinking, symbols, mathematics, rules, plans and procedures, coordination and agreements, contracts and laws, art, music, culture, institutions, religion, trade, money, ownership, technology, indeed the very complex cooperation of Civilization.
Not only this, but the things of human intelligence all require Memory. Things like knowledge, learning, definitions, descriptions, explanations, opinions, categories, comparison, analysis.
And even things related to emotion such as expectations and knowledge of our feelings, and things related to perception itself, such as recognition.
Then there are the Big Concepts, the Big Words – words that have no limited definitions. We use these words, even though we can’t really say what they are. But we all know that they exist and that they are an important part of who we are as humans.
They are words that are outside of talking -- or rather, they are names for things that are outside of talking but can still be remembered. It’s amazing to me how many of these we have:
Life, Love, Time, Tradition, Identity, Family, Friendship, Justice, Truth, Goodness, Evil, Beauty, Wisdom, Desire, Spirit, Freedom, Oneness, Eternity, Happiness, Dignity, Essence, Harmony, Charity, Imagining, Perception, Expansion, Enlightenment, Mind, Reality, Hope, Simplicity, Wholeness, Infinity.
And perhaps even, although I am not yet prepared to say this for sure: Soul, Divinity, Heaven, Hell
>>><<<
All of these amazing things are part of human life because of Memory. What would our life be without them? It would be very poor indeed.
However, just because they are so important and even necessary for our human existence, that does not mean that there is nothing else in our human experience other than Memory and these products of Memory.
And if there is something in the human experience that is Outside of Memory, don’t we need to be aware of that part as well in order to be “Complete Human Beings,” and to experience our “Complete Human Consciousness”?
Of course we do.
>>><<<
So let’s ask the question: “Does Memory have limits?” To do this, let’s have a little look at Time and identity in relation to Memory.
If nothing else, Memory requires Time. Memory means that we experience something at a certain time, then recall the experience at a later time. This is the definition of Memory. Without Time there would be no Memory.
Not only that, if we did not remember the past, there could be no present, and no conception of “the future.” There could be no Time.
So Memory requires Time, and Time requires Memory.
In addition, for Memory to exist, we must distinguish between different memories, one from another. And there has to be a distinction between one entity that remembers, and other entities that are being remembered. We must distinguish ourselves from the things that we remember.
In other words, Memory requires some form of identity, and identity requires Memory.
Without these, Memory would not exist.
Time and identity are among the limits of memory.
>>><<<
So to experience Beyond-Memory, we must first leave behind our beloved Time and identity. Is it any wonder that we’ve ignored it forever? Is it any wonder that we will do anything we can, anything at all, to avoid knowing about this part of ourselves?
Our problem, and maybe our only problem, is that we have not even given the first nanosecond of a tenth of a brain cell to the idea that there is something Outside of Memory.
There’s really no reason why we couldn’t have gotten to this point in our understanding long ago, if we wanted to. My conclusion is that we didn’t want to.
Why? Well, if nothing else, Memory, creating with Memory, interacting with each other using Memory, growing ourselves beyond what we are now, grappling with Memory and all the wonderful products of Memory, are just way too much fun.
So we don’t want to hear anything against it!
>>><<<
Perhaps we will finally want to know about this part of ourself, once we understand what it is, and we understand that it’s unavoidable.
Perhaps we will feel comforted if we know that we don’t have to give up any of the fun stuff, in order to access that part of ourself.
Maybe we can just add it to what we already are. We don’t have to lose anything, just add something that is real, and fundamental to our totality.
>>><<<
What we are as Humans, is Talking + Memory + Beyond-Memory. There’s really nothing odd or threatening or difficult about that.
In other words, all we have to do, is to add this missing part that will make our Human Consciousness whole. The missing part that is not at all like the other parts of ourself. The part that is not like the other parts of ourself, because it can’t be remembered.
And then we can keep all the rest, just the way it is!
>>><<<
I use a number of ways to name this missing part of Human Consciousness. All of them refer to Memory:
Beyond-Memory
There’s more to Life than Memory
The World Outside of Memory
The Part of Ourself that Can’t Be Remembered
Memory and I Are Not One
Or the simple, two-part word which I like the best, “Not-Memory”
I find these to be the most honest ways to refer to this part of reality, even if they might not perhaps be as entirely poetic as we would like.
Coming at Human Consciousness from the point of view of Beyond-Memory, transforms many of our enigmatic spiritual descriptions over the centuries about the “non-physical” part of reality and of the Human Experience, turning them from mystical statements to perfect common sense.
For example, the statement that the world outside of everyday life is “timeless” becomes a simple statement that Beyond-Memory is also beyond time, because time is needed for memory to exist, and memory is needed for time to exist. The “mystical” element is removed, and this becomes a simple statement about the nature of the Human Experience and Human Consciousness that we all share and know so well.
In the same way, the concept of Not-Memory might explain nearly everything that has ever been said about this realm of reality, from the Oneness of All Humans, to Universal Love and Peace, to Timelessness, to the futility of trying to talk about it, as well as the fact that our different traditions have used such a range of complex and unfamiliar words and concepts to name and talk about and explain what really is one and the same reality. The theory is that these unfamiliar words and concepts will lead us to the part of the world that has been missing from our life.
But now we can leave all of those unfamiliar words and concepts behind. “Not-Memory,” “Beyond-Memory,” “Outside of Memory” is so simple, so reasonable, so familiar, so accessible to everyone.
It is a straightforward, approachable and immediate way to access that part of ourself.
And I for one find that to be very appealing, and very inspiring.
>>><<<
In order to add “Beyond-Memory” to our existing world of talking and Memory, there are a couple of ways we might approach this.
One way would be to drag our talking- and Memory-selves kicking and screaming into the world that is beyond talking, and Beyond-Memory. This may possibly disrupt our daily lives, since the world Beyond-Memory, the realm that can’t be remembered, is so different from our daily world.
But there may be another way, a gentler way. And that way is to simply punch a few “air-holes” in the solid wall of talking and Memory, to let in a little air and light from the World Outside of Memory.
Let it infiltrate our daily world, let it remind us that the world we are living in using talking and Memory is only a part of the wholeness of reality. And to remember that there is a very important part of ourselves that can’t be remembered.
To do that, and then simply see what happens.
>>><<<
If we allow into our daily life, the part of ourselves that can’t be remembered, that just means that we take a pause in our remembering. A pause in remembering the past, remembering that this thing here is a present moment, remembering that we will have a future.
So in a way, we step outside of time, and we step outside of identity, in order to be aware of that part of ourself. In order to be aware of our Wholeness as a Human Consciousness.
This can be very liberating, if we do it without worrying that Memory will somehow desert us, or “get back at us” for abandoning it. It will not.
Then, after we take that pause, we can resume talking and remembering.
And then we can remember to take another little memory-and-time-pause when have the chance.
>>><<<
We have seen that the things of human life are made up of talking and of Memory, and that there is also a part of “being human” that is outside of talking and Outside of Memory. But when we look Outside of Memory, it may seem to us as if there is nothing there!
As Mr. Krishnamurti said:
“There's absolutely nothing I have to learn about myself, because myself is nothing!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWuD1Sh1GYY&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNYY8jLhPURXHYrL0Vnd6dpZ&index=5, around minute 0
The part of life that is Outside of Memory, even when it appears that there is nothing there, is what we are calling “Beyond-Memory.”
It is real, but we can’t talk about it. It is real, but we can’t remember it. So we pretend to ignore it.
But it is real. And it is there. And it is necessary for our “completeness” as human beings.
As illustrated in our Thumbnail.
>>><<<
Some folks say that this part of reality is the part that makes our heart beat, and makes the sun come up in the morning. These statements are highly mystical, referring to a hidden part of reality that some claim to know about, even if we don’t. But of all the words and phrases that have ever been used in relation to this part of reality, none of them have ever remotely mentioned memory.
Perhaps we could change these statements just a little, to cast the descriptions in terms of Memory, and the World Outside of Memory.
Not only would this be more accurate, but it would also recognize that this part of the world is not owned by any one section of humanity. Rather, it is something that is a part of us all, something that we all know about, and something that we all can comprehend with just a little bit of patience and practice.
So we might contemplate ideas like this one:
Our heart beats without the intervention of Memory.
Like when we are sleeping. Or when our brains are damaged.
Or just -- every moment of every day of our lives.
Even if we “remember” that our heart is beating, it is not Memory that makes it beat. It is something other than Memory.
But that is still a part of our life. It is still a part of our Human Consciousness. We could not be conscious without it. We could not even be alive without it.
It is -- if you forgive me for using my own terminology -- it is Beyond-Memory.
So how can we possibly say that there is not a part of us that is Outside of Memory?
Here it is.
Right here.
“Our heart beats.”
>>><<<
It makes perfect sense that there is a part of the World Outside of Memory.
It also makes perfect sense that we have never, ever even conceived the existence of a “World Outside of Memory.” That is because our conceptions, even our very talking, are dependent on Memory.
In order to comprehend a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory, we have to comprehend something that is outside of talking, and outside of comprehension itself.
How can we do this?
I don’t know. We just can.
>>><<<
In the World Beyond-Memory, we can have a different type of interpersonal connection, a kind of Universal Oneness, which is beyond individual identity, judgments and differences. We all share the part of ourself that is outside of Memory, the part that cannot be distinguished one-from-the-other. And we have this with every other person, not just those that are dear to us. As well as every other aspect of creation, from the natural world to the artificial constructions of civilized life.
We experience the “Universal Oneness of All Things” that we hear about so often as the highest aspiration of Human Consciousness. We experience it, not just as a theory or as an assumption or a hope. We experience it directly and personally.
A powerful example of this may be our relationship with a loved one who has lost the use of their memory due to illness. While we may feel cut off from them in one way, we still share a connection with them that is Outside of Memory. That connection has always been there of course. But now it has become more apparent, and more important, because the Memory-connection that we have always relied on has been lost. We can finally see unmistakably the direct connection that we have to others through the part of ourself that is Outside of Memory.
Their Memory may be lost, but they are not “lost to us.” Or to themselves. We remain connected in the World Outside of Memory.
And that is, I reckon, quite a blessed thing.
>>><<<
Perhaps the most amazing outcome of opening our human experience to the World Outside of Memory, is that we can have a simultaneous and complete awareness of everything around us, that includes both the individual contents of our talking- and Memory-World, plus a sense of the wholeness and interconnectedness that is the key feature of Beyond-Memory. An awareness of the Totality, Unity and Completeness of the world around us, that is continuous with and includes ourselves. That transcends time, and talking, and remembering. That goes to the very essence of existence itself. And we can have all of that, right here in the world as we know it.
I am not aware of any practical, religious, intellectual, spiritual, rational, mystical, philosophical, or enlightened wisdom, in relation to Human Existence, that is as Universal, complete and accessible as this is.
As I sit on this bench, looking out at grass and trees and birds and animals and buildings and people passing by. At the clouds and the water and the sky and the sun. Breathing the air, hearing the sounds and feeling the warm sunlight and the cool breeze.
There are parts of this delightful scene that I can talk about and think about. There are parts that I can remember and that I recognize. And there is a pervading atmosphere that is Beyond-Memory, that unifies all the parts together, to each other, and to myself as well.
I bask in this uniquely human experience, that is filled with the totality of Human Consciousness, which includes talking, memory and not-Memory.
I experience my totality, our unity, and the wholeness of Life itself.
What could be better than that?
We might smile and say to ourselves, “I feel so alive.” We don’t really know what this means, in the sense that we can’t define it. Yet we all do know what this means, because we have all had that experience to one extent or another.
We can’t recall the experience, but we can recreate it at any time we like. This is important. We don’t remember “Beyond-Memory,” but Beyond-Memory is always with us, so we don’t really have to remember it. We can “return to the experience” rather than “recall the experience” at the drop of a hat, so to speak.
We think of it, and there it is. This doesn’t mean we create the experience with thinking. It doesn’t mean that the experience will “suddenly appear out of nowhere.” Rather, it simply means that we “suddenly become aware of it.” We remind ourselves to stop thinking and stop remembering, and simply experience what is Beyond-Thinking and Beyond-Memory. We cut that hole in the wall of Memory, and we experience Beyond-Memory.
Beyond-Memory is always there. But our little thought opens our awareness to it for a moment or two. Or if we are lucky, for even longer than that.
“I feel alive” -- it is an experience that is Outside of Memory. But an experience that we have access to at any time.
As long as we don’t think too much about it.
>>><<<
A key feature of the path to Beyond-Memory, is that the World Outside of Memory is a world outside of striving.
Striving requires time. We are something now, and we strive to become something else in the future.
And striving requires remembering. We remember that there is something we want or something that we should be, and we also remember that we do not yet have it, or that we are not yet that person.
So the timeless World Beyond-Memory cannot be pursued or found by striving.
We can’t reach it by trying.
>>><<<
Where there is no time, there are no regrets.
There may not be any goals in the world Outside of Memory, but we still have plenty of goals insidec the world of Memory. And we can live in both of those worlds together. We can have goals, and have no goals, all at once.
>>><<<
Beyond-Memory may also be a world outside of conflict.
Conflict requires separate entities. It requires Memory.
Conflict is often a battle between sets of memories.
If we can all get in touch with Beyond-Memory, it will no longer matter how different our sets of memories are.
Mr. Krishnamurti said it this way:
“I've stated that I am memories; but there is in me the feeling that I'm not all that. There's something else that's observing. So is the observer different from the observed?
“When you realise this fact, something extraordinary happens. Not something mysterious, not parapsychological, and so on. Something which ends conflict, which is far more important. As long as there is division between the memories and the observer, this division creates conflict.”
https://youtu.be/LLUWZemMd0Q?si=xIauDgt4NEolrEp0, around minute 6
So if Memory is the source of conflict, Beyond-Memory may be a world “Beyond-Conflict.”
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Accepting that there is more to life than memory can challenge everything we know about ourselves, about our world, about existence.
It can, but it doesn’t have to. It can be a very lazy-mugg, gentle sort of transition. Understanding that there is a World Outside of Memory doesn’t have to replace Memory. It doesn’t have to replace anything that we love or enjoy. Not our understandings, our beliefs, our relationships, our view of the world.
Our World of Memory, and the way we function within the World of Memory, must go on.
But these have to make room for what else there is. Memory and the products of Memory have to make room for “not-Memory.” For the part of ourselves and the part of the world that is Outside of Memory.
That’s one of the great things about this new way of looking at human awareness. We don’t have to lose anything we already have in order to accept that there is an additional part of ourselves. We can just add it to what’s already there.
For example, we might just change a word or two about how we talk about our own human experience. Instead of saying “I am a thoughtful person,” we might say that “I am a thoughtful person in the World of Memory.” Instead of saying “the world has definite objects that interact,” we might say that “the World of Memory has definite objects that interact.”
This reminds us that the World of Memory is not all there is. It does not take away from anything that we know or believe or experience in that world. It just recognizes that knowledge and belief and experience are all things that occur within the World of Memory. The fact that there is also something outside the World of Memory, does not change any of this.
It’s like cutting a window in the wall of our cozy but stuffy house, which had no windows before. We don’t lose the house by cutting a window!! We just bring in a little light, and a little fresh air.
The advantage of opening a window in the solid wall of Memory, is that it lets us have a little peek through. So we can convince ourselves that there is indeed something on the other side of the veil of Memory.
And it will let some of that good clean fresh air into our little air-tight box that we call Memory.
If we do these two simple things – know that there is something on the other side of Memory, and know that it must be something completely different from Memory, that’s really all we have to do.
We can go about our daily lives like before, but a little bit closer to who we truly are. A little bit closer to “human completeness.”
And then just let whatever happens, happen.
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The products of Memory encompass everything in human experience, as Mr. Krishnamurti said. But he also said this means we have to “reject psychologically everything that Memory has put together.”
https://youtu.be/FWuD1Sh1GYY?si=1BmBn4LcIznQXy-C, around minute 3.
But this might not be so.
Perhaps all we have to reject is the exclusiveness of everything that Memory has put together. And simply accept that there is more to human life than Memory.
So if we fear that our identity will disappear when we move Memory aside, the answer is this:
The only thing that will disappear is the exclusiveness of our Memory-identity, which is not our complete identity after all. So we are really not losing anything.
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Mr. Krishnamurti also said this, about perceiving the natural world, including ourselves:
“The moment that recognition takes place … you take it back into memory … and then you are not knowing yourself at all ... That means learning about yourself afresh each time.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOqVcSFdsAM&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNYY8jLhPURXHYrL0Vnd6dpZ&index=1, around minute 23+
It’s easy to see that perception combined with recognition is Memory. But to know ourselves and the natural world, we must also know the part that is Outside of Memory. That part can’t be remembered, so we must learn about it without any recognition whatsoever. We have to learn about it again and again, afresh, and anew.
And this is the only way to experience it -- without having Memory involved. It is, after all, the World Outside of Memory.
We can’t avoid it. Our consciousness must include the part of reality that can’t be remembered, or else consciousness is only partial.
And something that is only partial leaves something missing. It leaves us “wanting more.”
A human life of Memory-only is a life of “always wanting more.”
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Perhaps the point is, instead of moving aside Memory and talking, we simply add not-Memory to our already-existing human World of Memory and talking.
In other words, the completeness of our Human Consciousness is made up of all three nested spheres of Talking, Memory, and Consciousness. We cannot reject one in favor of the other.
We need all three, working in concert, each doing its own job, in its own place, toward our Human completeness.
This is represented in the Thumbnail drawing, which includes all of these nested spheres.
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If we go on living our lives as if talking and Memory were the only parts of ourselves that exist, and completely ignoring and denigrating the part of ourself that is Outside of Memory -- the part in fact that is responsible for our direct connection to each other -- we will continue to behave in “inhuman” ways.
Can I really hope that all it takes to overcome “man’s inhumanity to man” is to admit and incorporate into our existence, the part of ourselves that is Beyond-Memory?
Do I really think it is this simple?
Well, perhaps not, but only because I think all of us doing this together is not at all simple. Perhaps it is impossible.
But we can give it a good try, and see what happens!
Why not?!?!
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Consider how vast and powerful talking is. Consider how vast and powerful Memory is.
Then consider the World Outside of Memory, which is even more vast than the World of Memory. And presumably even more powerful. It makes the sun come up in the morning, after all!
Then consider what we are as humans, being a mix of all three of these vast and powerful realms.
And we have this mix simply as our human birthright, and our heritage.
We need the World of Memory in order to be human.
And we need the World Outside of Memory in order to be complete.
How immense and amazing this combination is, for us as humans!
It boggles a lazy mugg’s mind.
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Maybe we can think about this new idea in this way:
Can we honestly say that there is no consciousness without Memory?
Put that way, it sounds absurd.
And that is all we are saying – it is absurd to think that there is no consciousness Outside of Memory.
We are simply saying that there is a part of Human Consciousness that is Beyond-Memory. Consciousness is bigger than Memory, just as Memory is bigger than talking.
We can access Beyond-Memory merely by opening our awareness to the possibility that it exists. We can cut a window in the walls of Memory that we have used as our house. We can let the clean fresh air, and the sweet light, into our abode.
And we can lean out of the window to breathe in the new air. We don’t have to leave the house behind. We don’t even have to leave the house at all.
In fact, we may not even have to cut a window, in a pinch. If we simply accept the concept that there may be a part of ourselves that is Outside of Memory, that may be enough of a start to participate in this new adventure. To open up the World of Memory, to open up our own conception of the World of Memory, to make a little bit of room at least for just the idea that there is a part of the world that is Outside of Memory.
We might even discover that “Beyond-Memory” has also been “inside” of our House-of-Memory all along!
That awareness itself, the mere awareness of the possibility that there is more to life than Memory, even if we never actually access that part of the world for ourselves, may change how we conceive about, how we feel about, and how we live our human life for the time that we have it.
And that is, after all, what it’s all about, isn’t it?
We just have to let the missing part of ourselves join us in some way. In any way.
To join us in our wonderful, complex and overwhelmingly mysterious experience that we call Human Life.
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The World Outside of Memory may seem mysterious. But isn’t Memory itself just as mysterious? We wonder what Memory is. We evaluate ourselves and each other, based on how much and how accurately we remember things. We use tricks and games to improve our Memory. We grieve when Memory fails us, or fails our loved ones. We investigate how Memory works, why we have it and why we lose it.
But Memory is as mysterious as life itself. For example, what is it that accounts for the difference between someone like me who is naturally forgetful, and someone who has a highly accurate photographic memory? No one knows. It’s a mystery.
Memory is so mysterious that even some scientists are starting to look for Memory outside of the human body. Why are they doing this? Because they can’t find it in the physical brain!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqjywqvfPCM&list=PLfD6S5ewUGNbDunX4k6y9P7cKss7Fe7Al&index=3
We simply accept the reality of this mysterious thing we call Memory. So why should it be hard to accept the reality of the part of us that is other than Memory? Is it really that much more mysterious?
Still, we never, never, never even harbor the slightest idea that “there is something Outside of Memory.” Or if we do, we rationalize it away with thought (which is a product of Memory) or talking (which is a product of Memory). We fill in the gap with Memory. We pave it over with more Memory.
Of course, Memory is what makes us do this. Memory is uncomfortable with the absence of Memory. So Memory tells us that there is nothing but Memory.
What else would Memory say?
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So the Missing Part of Human Consciousness, namely Beyond-Memory, is now available to us, through the extraordinary and unprecedented idea that there is a World Outside of Memory.
It is a part of us that can’t be remembered, but it shouldn’t be ignored.
A realm of peace and contentment, that we can conjure up with two little words: Beyond-Memory. Who’da thunk!
This path to our complete self is available to every one of us without exception, and available immediately without any effort once we grasp this new approach to human awareness.
We also understand that our true home is not just the missing part of Human Consciousness that is Beyond-Memory.
Our true home is the totality of Human Consciousness, which includes Talking, Memory, and Beyond-Memory.
This comes from the understanding that there are three important Parts of our Human Experience, three nested spheres, namely
Talking
Memory, and
Consciousness
Mr. Krishnamurti considered this discussion as too radical, and he refused to talk about it. The only difference here is that (1) although we agree that the discussion may be radical, (2) we are talking about it.
Talking
Memory Outside of Talking
Human Consciousness Outside of Memory
That’s all we need to know, to finally reclaim the missing part of Human Consciousness, Beyond-Memory.
The rest, as they say, will come of its own.
