On Not Forgetting (Or, Remembering)

            I am, admittedly, on a Josef Pieper kick. In his essay “Remembrance: Mother of the Muses,” the author laments “There are, indeed, large areas of reality in danger of being…forgotten” (Only the Lover Sings 62). What are these alleged “large areas of reality” that are slipping through the collective memory/imagination of humankind? Well, for one thing, can anyone remember what happens when one stands in a meadow at dusk?

            Although a bit dramatic, Jason Schwartzman’s character in I Heart Huckabees, makes a strong point. The metaphorical “strip malls” of our high-tech, high-stress reality are making it almost impossible for human beings to remember the “meadows at dusk” of reality. In a similar vein as the thesis of Pieper’s previous essay, it is important to note that the human mind/imagination is not infinite; it is limited it the amount of data it can store. With so much external stimuli being thrown at human beings daily (and limited opportunities to duck/get out of the way) it is only natural that certain information gets accepted into our thought life while other information gets rejected/discarded.

            Since mental storage space is limited, it’s important for human beings to make it a discipline to hold on to the good stuff in reality (things that make them more compassionate, enlightened, and forward-thinking human beings) and reject the useless stuff (things that make them lazy, ignorant, and unproductive/destructive human beings). Deciphering what is good for one’s psyche, and is thus cleared for mental storage, from what is bad for one’s psyche, and should thus be rejected mental entrance, can be difficult. Since this deciphering is not the focus of this essay (and since it is a topic the author struggles with personally and doesn’t feel ready to fully comment on at length) suffice it to say: if external stimuli are difficult, make one question his/her preconceived notions, push one to be a more compassionate person, and/or stretch one to previously unknown ethical and intellectual limits, it is likely stuff that should be stored in the mind. If the stimuli make one feel cold, apathetic, bored, and slightly gassy, one would be wise to reserve one’s mental storage space for a more efficacious brand of data.

            What Pieper is most interested in in “Remembrance” is not how one should decide what to remember and what to forget (in terms of vital and expendable Knowledge), but how one can go about remembering vital Knowledge that was at one time forgotten or unknowingly replaced. To use the Huckabees example once more, Pieper would ask, “What should one do once one has forgotten what it feels like to stand in a meadow at dusk?” The obvious answer is: stand in a meadow at dusk and feel to one’s heart’s content. But there is a suburban-sprawl-sized roadblock to this solution: the meadow has been destroyed and replaced with a strip mall, remember?

            Now the would-be meadow stander/feeler is in deep existential shit. She desires to stand in a meadow and feel whatever the experience has to offer. If she recognizes that the strip mall has destroyed her chance to physically stand in the meadow, she at least desires to remember what it feels like to stand in the meadow. But the passage of time and the accruing of expendable knowledge has left the meadow-memory in the dust. She can’t experience the meadow directly; she can’t experience the meadow viscerally. What is she to do?

            Pieper says, “Enter the artist, the great rememberer/reminder!” For Pieper, the artist’s job is to remember life/reality as it can/should/will be and remind her audience of her own visions. The artist looks at reality (sees it in an intense and critical way) and then creates work that displays this vision. The resulting work is shown to an audience who can then not only remember reality as it was before expendable knowledge (sports statistics, stock exchange figures, world news headlines, 401(k) dividends, GPA points, etc.) took over their mental real estate, but also be encouraged to clear more creative landscapes for future vital Knowledge intake.

The artist must say, “Here is my work. Here is my vision of reality. Take a look at it, brother and/or sister. If it challenges you to be a better human being, make space for it in your mind. Perhaps this space can be found by clearing out the junk-data that makes you feel like shit. Maybe my vision will remind you of your own vision, even if you think your vision is long forgotten. Welcome your vision back. See reality again for the first time.”

             The artist must not be afraid to remember what it means to be human. In remembering, and creating from her memory, she can remind others. And this reminding can uplift and enliven the masses.