Within the field of applied cognitive psychology it is noted that memory fragments are components of our autobiographical knowledge. It is noted that some autobiographical memories may be stand-alone snippets of one’s past, ‘fragment memories’ or memories of particular moments, ‘free fragments’.

I am acquainted with a mind filled with multiple crosscurrents of unfinished thoughts, stifled emotions, and passing moods. There is also a growing recognition that at times I am overwhelmed by discursive thoughts that are formed by habitual ways of thinking, led by my own various prejudices, impacted by personal preferences or aversions, colored by laziness or selfishness, and intensified by faulty or superficial observations. Sometimes I awaken to myself to find that while engaged in a behavior, my mind has entered a dreamlike state, and therefore events and conversations are vague and fragmentary. 

The feeling of an “I” emerges from a reflection of the stream of experiential consciousness that awakens when I becomes aware of being observed by an internalized watcher or seer who is felt but never known.   Therefore, there is no denying that there is a wavering consciousness, an “I”, that knits together streams of memories, thoughts, feelings, and interactions in such a manner that I am able to formulate an awareness of identity, continuity, striving, as well as an sense of myself and others.

… when we hold a flower we see that it is composed of multiple elements, some tangible – leaves, stem, thorns, petals, stamens – and others intangible – scent, color, memories.   If you were to remove any of these constituent parts, would you find a known entity? As we are unable to find the flower in the absence of any one of these parts, we are also unable to find an enduring solid flower in any one of these elements.   Hence the belief in a permanent solid self proves to be a mere illusion as we find a self riddled with gaps and ambiguities that appear coherent because of the monologue we keep repeating, editing, censoring, and embellishing in our minds.

This week’s lens-artists’ photo challenge – bushboys world – is indeed a challenge as I found myself tossed back into a couple of graduate school psych classes.