Thread: Memory: the Forgotten Fundamental

^^ Oops! You snuck in while I was drafting another lengthy post to SIlence11, Neo Neo... sorry to step on your post -- but I do appreciate your words and am glad you found the thread useful!


Silence11:

Hahaha indeed.

I'm beginning to feel like I'm being trolled here, and I really do not have time to spend on such things, so here is one more response and then I'm done; if anyone else wants to chime in, that's fine:

I'm not sure how many ways I can say it Silence, but I do believe that memorizing is not a priority in the overall process or development of LD'ing, since you would use basically the same memorization tools in a dream that you would in waking-life, should you ever feel a need to memorize something. But, since you're still asking:

Nonetheless, my question wasn't directed to those experiences at all, but to the number of instances where one would feel compelled to memorize: specific events that run parallel to those memorable experiences, but which are not as surreal or unique as them. Also, details within the dream that aren't easy to notice but might be of importance to the dreamer, details that could extend beyond what would be reasonably required to remember without intention. And what about dreams that extend for long periods of time (+ 10-20 min. to give an example), where the number of distractions will undoubtedly increase, or (and my personal favorite) using your creativity/imagination to create something you intend to recreate when awake.

If you are lucid, you can access whatever effective waking-life tools you already have to memorize specific things in a dream, short of writing them down or taking a picture. Wait, now that I think about it, writing things down or taking a picture might actually help too, since the metaphoric action of doing so might be enough to cause a memory to be recorded. Also, other waking-life memorization tools, like a memory cathedral, could actually work better in a LD, thanks to the relative ease of creating necessary imagery in a dream.

Also, just as waking-life is filled with subsequent distractions after we memorize something, and yet still we can memorize, if you are able to successfully memorize something in a LD, by definition you will retain it, regardless of how long or complex the rest of your dream may be. I think the point of memorizing is to retain a bit of information regardless of its initial obscurity or subsequent distractions, so I wouldn't worry about it.. what you do with that memory later, including skewing it or embellishing it, is more up to you than it is a consequence of the events in your dream.

Finally, here's one thing you might think about: if you actually spot "details within the dream that aren't easy to notice but might be of importance to the dreamer" and then decide to remember them, you have already made them important, and they will very likely be consigned to memory even if you don't go through a memorization process. Details, no matter how small or unimportant, become very large and important when you turn your attention to them in a dream; remembering them might not be an issue. That said, I will repeat once more that very complicated details, like text or specific things DC's say, might require some memorization (or a moment of wakefulness to physically write them down, in the extreme), so there might be times when you will find yourself needing to memorize something -- but again, that memorization can be done in the same way you do so in waking-life; no new skills ought to be needed.

So: If you are able to memorize an image in a LD, I would think its chances of survival in your memory are just as sound as they might have been if you had memorized it in waking-life, since waking-life abounds in new stimuli after the memorization happened, and that stimuli goes on for far longer than ten minutes. By the same token, simply prioritizing that image might be enough to see it stored in memory.

I do have one last question: for the sake of not letting this thread left forgotten, what do you think (or anybody else) would be another interesting topic for discussion?

Given this thread's age, length, my frequently referencing it to save time, and the fact it's been "stickyed," I have a feeling that it will manage to survive a little longer, even if posts are rare these days. I hope that's okay with you that I really do want it to remain focused on memory itself, and access to it during a LD. Since that in itself is a fairly expansive subject to me, maybe there is still more to be said without going off topic. [tl;dr: please keep this thread centered on the topic of memory itself, and access to it; thanks!]