Perchance to Dream

When I was younger, I used to come up with all kinds of stories about my other self. There was a city, a system of government, an environment, names of my friends and foes, and all kinds of fascinating and dramatic things happened there. But over the years, the stories would change. For the sake of making a coherent story, I made up some of the details, and as years passed it was hard to remember which parts were gap fillers and which parts where inspired. So I can't really take it as memory at all.

But revisiting the idea, I had a thought. What if these things do not actually represent memory, but are more in tune with the subconscious thoughts of my other self? The stories do tend to follow the same themes, and I can probably learn more from studying the general themes than in trying to remember somebody's exact name or appearance. In other words, if my other self were asleep and dreaming, these are the things s/he might dream about.

If an image or idea or "memory" keeps popping into your head, all you can say is that it keeps popping into your head.

There are various reasons why this might be. One is actual bona fide memories of things that happened. Another is metaphor of some kind.

If the images/ideas/memories took work to get straight, seem very coherent or significant, or seem to have any real meaning, then I would lean very strongly towards the metaphor end of the scale.

I think I get ya.

Like, these ideas would merely be representative of how your kin side thinks/acts/feels?

If that's what your getting at, I can see how it'd work. I also would understand how these would still be valuable learning opportunities, even if they aren't actual memories. If your kin side is distinctly separate from you, and operated from a completely different perspective than you do now, certain bits and pieces of things popping up would help you figure out how you perceived things before being human?

Even if your other self is merely a facet of you, it still helps.

Then again, you said you were making it up; you in this mindset and not operating under that different perspective... so would it still fall under wishful thought?

I know I've had all sorts of jazz about that. I've wished I knew more about my surroundings and where and when I was at, etc. But I really don't, and I'm always worrying that if I try to push myself towards thinking about it that my mind will make something up and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. DX

Then again, there are things that I know I have made up that helped me understand how I perceived things before getting here. Little weird connections like that.

I don't really know what to tell you or what answer to give, only that if this happens to be the case, I hope it helps you learn about yourself. XD

That is kind of how I'm taking it. Regardless of whether it's 'true' or not, it came from a certain mindset that I associate with my kin side. So by studying it, I can learn more about myself. Even the 'made up' bits had to follow the theme and basically fit in place. For all I know, some of those might even be accurate. Probably what I end up with is a hybrid of now and then. I'm sure if I actually met someone from that timeline I would be very surprised at which parts were literal and which parts were not. From where I stand now though, there's no way of knowing, but I have seen the themes reflected elsewhere since then, so I believe they are important.

Motley Wrote:That is kind of how I'm taking it. Regardless of whether it's 'true' or not, it came from a certain mindset that I associate with my kin side. So by studying it, I can learn more about myself. Even the 'made up' bits had to follow the theme and basically fit in place. For all I know, some of those might even be accurate. Probably what I end up with is a hybrid of now and then. I'm sure if I actually met someone from that timeline I would be very surprised at which parts were literal and which parts were not. From where I stand now though, there's no way of knowing, but I have seen the themes reflected elsewhere since then, so I believe they are important.

In which case, it just comes down to a matter of choice. If you choose to perceive these themes as important, then they will be, and if not, then not.

Even if they lead you to a conclusion that your kin side really likes the color purple, it's still something you've learned, eh?