Read a fascinating article in the latest issue of National Geographic, all about memory and how the brain functions. I already knew that the brain was a mysterious organ, but it was enlightening to learn just how little we really know about it, how it works, its potential, the way it processes input and records or doesn't record memories. There was one old man who is incapable of recording new memories -- he lives solely in the present, sometimes eating breakfast three times in a morning because he has no recollection of having eaten! Yet on some level his brain functions normally -- he can go for a walk in his neighbourhood and find his way back home every time; he doesn't remember any of his neighbours consciously, but he knows he should feel comfortable around them, as he would with friends. There was another lady who can remember every day of her life since about the age of 10 or 11 -- if you ask her what she watched on TV on a certain day 30 years ago, she can tell you!!! Those of you who have read Bec will know why that bit intrigued me so much!

Memory, the brain, and experience of time have always captivated me. I get asked all the time "Where do your ideas come from?" But I can never give an interesting answer because the question that needs to be answered first, and which nobody can answer properly, is "Where do IDEAS come from?" Conscious thought - and imagination on any level - is an incredible achievement. Awareness of time, the past, the future, death ... the mind boggles when we try to analyse these capabilities. In some strange ways we know more about the world and the universe than we do about our own minds. We're like a computer that has been programmed to react to input in certain ways. But computers don't KNOW that they've been programmed. They're not self-aware. YET. Maybe they will be one day. Maybe they'll evolve. And maybe that's how we started out, programmed by a higher force, aliens, the universe ... who knows?!?

We explore our minds as best we can, probing for answers in a variety of ways. Science is one way, of course, but I believe literature is another, and perhaps offers far more insights than science ever will. I have a theory that mankind's growth and evolution can directly be linked to the story-telling process, that our brains have developed through use, by making up stories. Imagine it -- primitive man, sitting in a cave late at night, wondering what's outside in the darkness. If he only ever thought of real answers -- bears, tigers, other people -- I think we'd still be sitting in caves, not much more advanced than any other species. But by using his imagination ... picturing monsters or demons or giant animals ... putting himself into stories where he had to use more than his common wits to survive ... learning to weave memories and facts into those stories ... passing on his knowledge to his children through stories, and interacting with them that way ...

That's where I think society as we know it really got going. Stories are what propelled us forward, what still drive us on. They're at the heart of who we are and how we came this far. If we're to go further, it will be because our imaginations demand it. If our brains develop even more, it will be because we bombard them with stories and demand more of them. We advance when we rise to meet challenges, but the world can only challenge us to a limited extent. Stories, on the other hand, can keep the challenges coming, generation after generation, each more advanced and demanding than the one before. I don't fully understand where those stories come from -- nobody does -- but I'm sure they're the key to unlocking the mysteries of our minds, and from there the universe. And after that? Well, I'm willing to bet there's even more to discover. The thing about stories is, they never end. There's no stop to them. And the next one always has to be bigger and better than the ones before if it's to entertain and enlightened and intrigue.

Memories and stories. They're the building blocks of who we are and whatevr we might go on to achieve. Don't ever forget it!!!!!