Keeping a Diary

The Magician's Greatest Tool

Life passes by. Days become weeks become months, etc. Suddenly you find yourself thinking about life in terms of decades.

Memories are delightful. Well, if they are, that is. That of course depends on what exactly you’re remembering. But the mere fact that you can think back at some moment in time is an important fundament of daily life. Without references or previous learning, we are like children anew; without accessing pieces of experienced knowledge, we might hurt ourselves or do something wrong, or behave in an inappropriate manner.

As we all know, memories tend to morph with time: from detailed recollections to slightly more opaque ambiences or emotions. We maintain the accumulated experiences we need for survival but the slightly more ephemeral things and feelings are somehow allowed to drift further back. What we lose in detail might be retained in emotional intensity, and this creates for a development of the memory itself. This seems to be a natural process, perhaps stratified by “necessity” or “current relevance.”