09/06/24
"The most profound things are inexpressible" - Jenny Holzer
I wrote this entry last October:
I want to remember you for longer than I’ve known you.
But memory is a tricky thing. The more I try to articulate, the more I lose of the real thing, and the easier the details fade.
Maybe some things are meant to stay whole and untouched. It’s better for an old photograph to collect dust in the attic than for me to touch it, only for it to crumple.
There is a logical explanation for this. Profound things, such as important memories, are not linear like language. Instead, they are holistic and multidimensional, comprised of multiple aspects like sensory details, complex emotions, and context.
Memories are stored in various parts of the brain, and every time we recall a memory, our brain reconstructs it. When we verbalize it, new associations and unintentional emphasis can be placed on parts of the memories. This phenomenon is known as reconsolidation, where the act of remembering alters the memory itself, sometimes leading to a loss of the original details or the addition of new, inaccurate ones. Like most profound things, memories are not static and fixed but rather dynamic.
One might ask, what about poetry, and beautiful art and music that provoke thoughts and emotions within us? If these mediums, known for their ability to capture and express deep emotions and complex ideas, aren’t able to fully express the most profound things, then what are those things?
Art, music, and poetry can certainly come close to capturing these moments. However, even the most beautiful poem is still a translation, a representation of something that is, at its core, beyond words. The most profound things might be those that remain just out of reach, residing in the spaces between words, the feelings that can’t be fully articulated, and the memories that change each time we recall them. But it is this very mystery that is the essence of the human experience.