~Is It True?~?

Question

What do you think about this little phrase:

When we are forgotten we cease to exists.

What does this mean to you? And is it true?
Would you like forgotten or remembered? Why? How?

I got this line from Merlin. It was just on the Sci-fi channel. Being forgotten was how Merlin destroyed Mab and how the Lady of The Lake was lost. They were forgotten by the people. Hope this helps.

future posthuman Archailect- Some believe we also fall in love three times. Just thought I'd tell you.

Answer 1

There are a people--I think it is the Aborigines of Australia--who believe that we die 3 times. The first death is when our physical body dies. The second is when we are buried in the ground, never to be seen again. And the third and final death is when the last memory of our existence fades and is gone.

Think of the billions of people who have died and been forgotten throughout history. After you die you will be remembered by your children, grandchildren and perhaps great-grandchildren, but beyond that, the memory of your life and of your very existence will itself cease to exist.

Personally, I'm OK with this. Maybe it's the anti-conformist in me, but I've never much cared for fame or being remembered; anonymity suits me just fine. What matters to me is my life in the here & now. Once I'm gone, I'm gone. As Woody Allen once said, "I don't want to achieve immortality through my works. I want to achieve it by not dying."

Answer 2

Lots of people make this question more difficult than it has any right to be. I guess because it's more fun philosophically. I'm very biologically-minded. If you were all by yourself alive and no one remembered you, you still exist. There is a reality outside of the perception of you and other people. Once you die, even if the entire world remembers you, you don't exist anymore. Your memory might exist... but peoples memories are not the true and present reality, and if you do not exist in the true and present reality, you do not really exist. (And even if you do, what's the point of that??)

Basically, the idea that you live your life so that your memory will live on is incorrect and frivilous to me. In stories, it's a common theme to gain immortality through memory. But when you really sit down to think about this, it's just another way that humanity fears and feverishly avoids death. So, that's what I think the quote means, and no, I do not agree with it. You live your life for two purposes: 1) so that by the end of it, you will have many great memories and 2) so that your children (or the next generation) are better off for it.

Answer 3

I think it is true. I read how science developed a pill that can make you forget. Maybe one night you had a transgression or worse a near death experience that could lead to years of treatment for PTSD. I have done so many things I wish I could forget and be new again. Then I think I should carry those mistakes as a reminder that I do exisist: cogito ergo sum. And in a perfect world have enough of those pills to give to everyone I meet after I do something dumb. I know it could change the outcome of history and that has always been the crux of time travel...but having people forget is not as messy as interupting the singing of the Declaration of Independence--because you could always slip the framers with that pill.

This means a lot to me as it underpins history. I would like forgotten because I can ease the pain of remembering. But I would have to be very selective because there are so many bad memories that are worth remembering and so many good memories that you would never want to forget.

I believe the existence of matter--the atom for example makes everything real. The table in the room is still there even after we have left. It is gone but not forgotten.

Answer 4

This is how the human ego thinks and why it forms relationships - to be cared about and remembered.

If you are conscious of NOT being your emotions and thoughts - the conditioned ego identity - you are fully present in the eternal now and able to serve the greater good with every choice, intention and decision you make.

It is our contribution - however small or large - of what we are passionate about that is significant. Being true to Self and giving all that we have to the world is our only purpose in each lifetime. Even the people who are remembered for a particular contribution after they die, will never again exist as that individual at that point in history. Every lifetime purpose changes as individuals evolve.

Being remembered is irrelevant. Actually contributing to the divine good is everything.

Answer 5

Indeed, we do cease to exist when we pass from memory. There are many who have left the conscious memory of all men and no longer exist to us. However, the mind of the Almighty still holds all of the souls He has created. In that way, we need never fear being lost or forgotten, or passing from existence.

Answer 6

Picture this..
You have no family, none whatsoever.. no friends, and no acquaintances
You live alone, maybe on the street and everyone you meet is a stranger.
Then you die...... Who will remember you?
Nobody, so did you really exist? Mean something to someone? Think about it.. If there is nothing in our lives we do to make an imprint on some body's mind.. then we have not existed in life at all, and will not be remembered in death..

I have my children and I know there will always be a part of me in them to be remembered.. as for everyone else, I hope they will remember me with a smile!

Answer 7

I believe that you will cease to exist as remembered in this lifetime, but that you will begin to exist in another until you have evolved sufficiently where you no longer need to have mortal lifetimes. I should think at that point you will have no concern about whether or not you are remembered by people in human bodies in any given lifetime.

Answer 8

I think it means that memory and perception are necessary conditions for existence. If we have no memory, and if were not perceived or remembered by other sentential beings then we do not exist.

No I do not agree with this statement. Memory, perception, reflection, etc... comes from human consciousness and intelligence. We have developed these characteristics through millions of years of evolutionary progression. Therefore memory and perception are not necessary conditions for existence - existence is a necessary condition for memory and perception.

Answer 9

Before you can even ask that question you have to have a firm understanding of what "I' is; that is, what does it mean to be.
I find it hard to accept that our being extends beyond our own bodies. So "I" is that sort of "I think therefore I am".
So I don't think there is any real meaning to being once we are dead. The memory of who we were before we die is static, it's unchanging, and certainly something we can't have any effect on, so I think that is separate from our being.

Answer 10

In human terms I suppose this would apply in a general way. But there is such a much bigger scheme that we are part of. A fabric that we help knit. Our features may become less distinct but our presence in the tapestry will always be.