"Partial images slide through my mind, a scattering of words spoken. Neurobiologists say that memory isn’t the replay of a video camera, but instead a pastiche of neuronal fragments gathered from here and there, wandering smells, oddly cut visual scraps, translucent experiences laid on top of one another. It’s all in the electrical currents and flow of particular molecules."
— Lightman, Alan (b. 1948)
Author
Date
August, 22, 2015
Metaphor
"Partial images slide through my mind, a scattering of words spoken. Neurobiologists say that memory isn’t the replay of a video camera, but instead a pastiche of neuronal fragments gathered from here and there, wandering smells, oddly cut visual scraps, translucent experiences laid on top of one another. It’s all in the electrical currents and flow of particular molecules."
Metaphor in Context
I am trying to remember where I came from this morning — another city, another house, my wife, what precisely she said as I packed my small bag. I try to picture her face, her hair, what clothes she was wearing. I try to remember what we ate for dinner last night. Partial images slide through my mind, a scattering of words spoken. Neurobiologists say that memory isn’t the replay of a video camera, but instead a pastiche of neuronal fragments gathered from here and there, wandering smells, oddly cut visual scraps, translucent experiences laid on top of one another. It’s all in the electrical currents and flow of particular molecules. Neurobiologists say that connections between the billions of neurons in a human brain change over time. If so, the universe shifts and shifts and shifts in our minds.
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Alan Lightman, "The Ghost House of My Childhood," The New York Times (August, 22, 2015). <Link to NYTimes.com>
Date of Entry
08/23/2015
