we never not showered for 6 days... memory alters reality but i have
still to find a good definition of reality... sometimes when i think back of the time in south america, it all seems to hazy and dreamlike, like the one i was then does not really match the one i am now.
I'm talking about when we travelled from Bolivia to Chile, and then I carried on to travel through Peru to get to Ecuador. It was two to three days for you to Santiago but It was at least another 4 for me to Quito (4 days of playing Bingo on the coach with old women!!!). And how do you know that our present perception is any less distorted than the remembered past? We alter the 'information' from the world through a myriad of preconceptions and prejudices every second. Sometimes I think that the remembered past can be even pure than the present in this respect, because you can at least try to deconstruct a situation in past (within a certain framework)... To answer your reality question with solipsistic reply - there IS NO REALITY! :) Who we are now versus who we were then is a very old and therefore hard nut to crack (remember the 2nd year philosophy classes?). Maybe you simply remember less and therefore feel less 'connected' to who you were in the past, but that you are fundamentally similar to that person 4 years ago (o.k. somewhat more weathered!!!).
Posted by: ian on August 26, 2002 11:31 PM