Originally Posted by
Ginsan
Actually....
"If you know what it is like to be you, period, then it will not be difficult to know what it was like to be you a few moments ago (or a year ago, or ten years ago, etc). "
Is this really the case? I mean... You have these random thoughts, interests, desires, bodily sensations, pleasures, motivations, things that excite you in different ways. Being fully immersed in a Beethoven sonata, following the melodies, rythms, notes, the way different passages interact with one another, the way the instruments interact with one another, the overarching "story" or progression of the piece, the changes in all these things, all these things are going through my head with varying intensity and I take note of a different thing at a different time, sometimes I miss some things, sometimes I think about something random and forget the music altogether. Headbanging to a heavy metal piece is very different, though sometimes just as immersive, experience. Reading fiction is different from these 2 in a completely different way than the 2 genres are different from each other. Gaming is also a completely different experience, swimming, bicycling, lifting weights, reading not fiction but a letter, writing fiction/a letter is different from reading it, playing chess, having a discussion about the ethical implications of abortion is different from talking about that time you tried to kiss that cute girl, which is different from cracking jokes, sparring...
And very importantly, thinking about these things, or remembering them is a completely different combination of thoughts, pleasures, desires, goals, sensations than actually doing them. Right now I'm wondering "so what the hell is the point?", well... The point is... That a moment is a rich thing, in terms of the things that go on in your consciousness, and remembering them is very different than being in them. It's one thing to remember being very immersed in any of the above mentioned activitied and it's a completely different thing to be in that moment.