Karate Memories

Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

It is incredible the research results regarding human memory and how that memory works. Like our finger prints, memories are unique to the individual having them. Just to get you started on what I am trying to convey here are thee sources of memories to review, this does not count the research out there I have tried to study. 

Read “Unreliable Memory”; Read “Memory”; Read “The Reliability of Memory Theories…”; and Read “How Many of Your Memories are Fake.” 

It must be remembered that for humans memories are not infallible but fillable in nature, they are a compendium of old memories shapshifted by emotions and set by the current moment, etc. As you will be able to determine yourself in the above articles this is not how shapeshifting memories are because that is shapeshifting at each moment passed by each individual and so on.

Even those who have what some term, “Exceptional Memory Capabilities” tend to have erroneous facts for truth at about the same rate as people with normal memory. Hmmm, interesting. 

First person discussions and interviews are not factual but once again a compilation of both true and not quite accurate memories being compared, compiled and synthesized into the story, at that moment and subjected to other factors you can understand by reading the links above. 

No matter, in the world and communities of martial arts and karate, especially karate with its limited historical data, the only proof of things we have are the stories told by those who came before us. What to do, because those stories as affected by emotions, cultures, beliefs, perceptions and intent along with many other factors are created on the fly to fit and meet the needs of those asking and listening. Not to forget often karate enthusiasts tend to ask agenda driven leading questions that many Okinawans, due to cultural issues, will shape-shift just to meet the needs of cultural harmonious drives. 

One of the reasons one professional recommended and to which I wholeheartedly agree, a person studying history must read any given material several times, discuss that understanding with others who have committed to the same study and then discuss, compare, analyze with the hopes that mutual understanding and a more accurate historical rendering will occur. This in and of itself requires a certain open-minded flexible ability of mind, body and belief to make it work. 

Happy Hunting! Question, question and question; discuss with contemporaries, discuss and discuss some more; analyze, analyze and analyze some more and then with some confidence synthesize, synthesize and synthesize some more. This is how we learn and understand, this is how humans learn to survive and it is as natural as breathing BUT, our modern saturated overwhelming stimulus of society today has pushed us into a mechanical automatic click-n-whirr tape of conditioning that more often leads to falsehoods, etc. Think about it!

Bibliography (Click the link)

“In order for any life to matter, we all have to matter.” - Marcus Luttrell, Navy Seal (ret)