Mystery of Memory

People generally think little about the meaning of the
memory in connection with the life of the spirit, and yet
it has a great, and even a mysterious meaning.
During his carnal life, a man only occasionally reaches
that elevation of comprehension which alone gives the
meaning and true joy of his life.
This condition is not uninterruptedly maintained in
our soul. It bursts forth from time to time and Illumines
our path, as though by disconnected flashes of
another, higher life. Why is this so ? Why do we not
always maintain ourselves on that height of spiritual
illumination to which we have risen ?
This is due to the defect of memory.
Something distracts our attention and we forget.
When we again rise to that height, we recall the former
occasions when we were in the same condition, and then
all the former illuminations of our spirit blend for us into
the one, true life outside time and space. Then the offences
of the carnal life again distract our attention, and
we again disappear from the sphere of the true life and
forget it. In respect to the true life we fall into a state
of thoughtlessness, from which we again awaken, when
with the new elevation of the spirit memory returns to us.
Now, with our carnal existence, this phenomenon presents
itself to us in the form of memory ; but when we
leave the limits of the carnal life, that which is in the
memory will be life itself.


Tolstoy