Myth and Reality Chp. 7

Now bear with me i dont have an iq of a genuis but ill try to write about chp. 7 in Myth and Reality.

       In the chapter it talks about memory and forgetfulness and starts off with the story of Matsyendranath and Gorakhnath, i will not tell the story in my blog since everyone should have read it and know the jist of the story, but i will take a excerpt from the story after Matsyendranath remembers his true identity.

"he understands that the 'way of the flesh' leads to death, that his 'oblivion' was, basically, forgetfulness of his true and immortal nature, and that the 'charms' of Kadali represent the mirages of profane life (115)."

     so what i processed out of this was that in our human forms we forget our true selfs which is a sin to what we really are and as soon as we remember our true identity then thats when we will become our true selfs; the cause for our forgetfulness is being 'reborn in life' and once that life has ended or we realize and remember or also anamnesis, thats when we finally see who we really are.

     After this story we talk about the indians and their images of forgetting and remembering leading to 'sleeping' as being equal to as 'forgetting' so then the story of the blindfolded man is told telling of ignorance that will make you forget of your true self. "His eyes are freed from the bandage of illusion created by ignorance...(117)." When reading this i thought that ignorance was also another way of forgetting and sleeping because your are ignorant of oneself so then blocking you from you true self also.

      Then it talks about greek mythology of memory and forgetfulness talking of people who have "prefect memory" to have the ability to recollect. After, they talk about the Goddess Mnesmosyne which in greek means "Memory" and talking of the muses that help artist with there creations. which then leads to the discussion of death in mythology and how its another way of losing memory because the memories of the souls in hades are being kept in the fountion of Lethe. But then they tell of how its reversed and how " The soul newly freed from the body no longer finds in its waters forgetfulness of earthly life (121)."

    Towards the end we get a philosphical point of view with plato and how he believes that "living intellegently, that is, learning to know and knowing the true, the beautiful, and the good, is above all remembering a disincarnate, purely spiritual existance (125)." which i thought meant if we learn about history and events and systems of other things from things that live on earth and to the things we make we truelly remember of our true selfs. which brought me to this last excerpt "philosophical anamnesis does not recover the memory of the events belonging to former lives, but of truths, that is, the structure of the real(125)."

    Now we come to the end... what i got from this whole entire chapter is this, ignorance, sleeping, forgetfulness blocks humans from knowing there true selfs losing who we are until we remember who we once were and in some cases we can if we just remember and have Knowledge; to not be blinded or oblivious to the fact that we lost who we trully are.... or be finally freed when we die.... its our choice.