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[Sushan]

This topic is about the December 2024 Philosophy Book of the Month, Connecting the Dots: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science by Lia Russ


Though recent viewpoints indicate that our bodies may also actively participate in retaining our emotional experiences, memory has always been thought to be a mental process. The chapter on somatic experiences offers an intriguing metaphor: memories—both good and bad—exist inside of us like "snow globes" that contain certain feelings, energy, and sensations.

AI Prompt : A woman looking emotionally at a thought bubble showing her old memories with her child
freepik__candid-image-photography-natural-textures-highly-r__50909.jpeg (67.76 KiB) Viewed 1719 times

From the perspective of self-healing, which is what much of this book is about, it is important for us to understand that all the feelings that we have ever experienced are stored in their entirety in the cells of our bodies. This includes pleasant snow globes as well as unpleasant ones.

(Kindle Version, page 52)

How does this alter our perception of ourselves if it is true? Does the body have a subtle but important role in defining who we are, or are we just the culmination of our conscious experiences and thoughts?

Can a person truly change or redefine their identity if their body retains the imprints of past experiences?