#memory theory

In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Cosmo Canyon suggests the Lifestream may not separate memory from dreams. If the Lifestream responds not just to memory, but to desire, trauma, hope, and refusal. Then Cloud is not simply losing his grip on reality, but unconsciously authoring a version of it?

That would mean the real fracture is not necessarily time itself. It could be will. A wanted reality where failure is deferred, loss is resisted, and the moment does not end where it was supposed to.

If this theory speaks to you, enter the FF7 collection here:

This piece leans perfectly into that reading. The blue is memory and resolve. The Buster Sword is burden and inheritance. The violent impasto feels like a psyche holding itself together so forcefully that the world around it begins to take on the shape of the struggle.

If we think that Metatron has the Book of Life and is editing it, see the theory here, then maybe the catalyst for Metatron's plan came about because of Gabriel's defection.

Look, Metaron obviously wants the Second Coming to happen, but then Gabriel as supreme Archangel says "nope, not doing that" it causes a huge problem, because he is the head of the heavenly host and almost all angels would listen to him. So Metatron convinces Micheal, Uriel, and Saraqael to put Gabriel on trial, and erase his memories, so Metatron can get everything back on track, but Gabriel makes a run for it, throwing Metatron's plan off again.

(Also, notice how there was no Sandalphon this season, I think Metatron has eliminated him from the Book of Life, because he was essentially Gabriel's right hand man.)

So, Metatron tells Micheal and company that they have to find Gabriel, while he starts putting things into motion behind the scenes. You see in Metaron's mind there is probably only three resolutions to the Gabriel problem, Heaven finds him and erases his memories, Hell captures him and he stays down there, or Gabriel escapes somewhere else.

At first I thought that Gabriel's memories with Beelzebub were fake ones implanted by Metatron, but now I don't think that is the case. I think Gabriel's memories were safely tucked away in the fly before Metaron started editing.

Now, Metaron probably knew after reading the book of life that Gabriel, if he wasn't captured by Heaven, would some how probably end up with Beelzebub, either by them being in Hell together or in some other fashion. So, he needs to find a replacement for Supreme Archangel that he can manipulate and control, and it can't be Michael or Uriel. Both Micheal and Uriel may not be the smartest tools in the shed, but they're not stupid. Uriel has always seemed assertive and a real solider of Heaven, and we see her argue with other angels, Michael for example, so not the easiest to control. Michael does question things a few times throughout the second season, about Job's children not being babies, about how strange it is that Aziraphale has an assistant, plus she feels like she knows Gabriel when they meet, even though she shouldn't be able to because of the miracle. Michael is willing to question things and might be stronger than she seems, so again possibly not the easiest to control.

All this leads up to Metaron picking Aziraphale to be his puppet leader. Metatron like the other angels probably doesn't think much of Aziraphale. He thinks he is soft, weak, and adverse to conflict. Therefore prefect for what Metatron needs. Also, Aziraphale was part of the reason that the first Apocalypse didn't happen, so Metatron needs to be able to monitor and control Azirphale's actions this time around. There is only one problem, Crowley. Crowley has too strong an effect on Aziraphale, so Metatron has to start making cracks in their foundation to break them apart, thus the memory manipulation.

since we’re dealing with anthropomorphicacations of a comprehensibly narrow aspect of personality, it would make sense that there would be places where their duties overlap, and honestly I think actual memory would be one of the biggest places.

You purposefully put things in your memory with logic and reasoning; nostalgia, as we’ve seen holds on to memories laced with feelings and emotions. related to that intense emotions of all kinds will do that, fear, shame, anxiety, etc, which bleeds into miss remembering things, as your creative mind remembers things differently than what actually happened as though it actually did- but the arts appreciative creative brain will also store away bits of dialogue from books and movies, snatches of songs; not a lot of organization but a lot of congress with the memory; not to mention how creative methods are used to purposefully  retain information that you’re trying to learn.

For the record, Cell Memory Theory is considered pseudoscience at the time of writing, and I’m not sure where I fall on believing it or disbelieving it. I find it to be fascinating, and I find the possibility of memory being held in places besides the brain possible, but I’m not certain how much, or how it transfers – if it could transfer.

To be fair, I’m not certain that if a brain was transferred to another body, it would work out to hold the person’s memories perfectly, either, since now it’s interacting with new organs and a new body. I do think that a whole memory, requires the whole body, though I have no scientific reason to back this up, so take these thoughts with a grain of salt as someone who is uneducated. That’s also not to say that your identity would be less with a brain transplant…just different.

The same way you are not less with a heart transplant, aging, or anything else. You’re just different.

My friend’s wife underwent a heart transplant in March. So far, so good, she’s survived and is still in recovery, working with her immune system so it doesn’t destroy the new heart. I know my friend’s been struggling with this, because no matter what, a heart transplant puts her life on a shorter timeline in general – though needing one and not getting it, would have also kept her time short. It’s a struggle for him to recognize that his time with the love of his life has gotten shorter than he anticipated it being.

That’s not to say she won’t surpass the odds and live much longer, and we’re all hoping for that.

One of the curiosities in this, is the curiosity of whether or not she will change any due to the “memories” the new heart might have. It’s something I’ll try to question, bit by bit, as things move forward.

It’s one of those thoughts I humor, a whether or not I could cheat death, at least for a little while longer, if one of my organs is put in someone else. Would “I” be aware of it? Would it be like “two people” in one body, or would it be more like one person with a book’s worth of knowledge suddenly shoved into their head all at once? Something known, but not something I am an active part of any longer?

Like Near Death Experiences, the experiences of those with transplants are subjective, and hard to be certain how “real” they are, and how much they did or didn’t know about the person they received an organ from prior to the changes. In my case, I know if I received an organ from someone, I’d want to know about them immediately. I’d want to connect with the family and loved ones they left behind, to honor them, in some way. I imagine I would rather consciously try to take on something of who they were, since a part of them was living inside me.

I’d rather hope if someone got a piece of me, they’d at least decorate with daffodils more. Or drink some lattes. Maybe watch some Star Wars, and put on some good candles. Definitely love cats more, give them some extra pats for me, since I can’t, anymore.

My mom is afraid of getting any transplants because of this “organ memory”. She doesn’t want to suddenly be someone else, or change. The movie Last Christmas helped her a little, since it was a good thing, but she worries about getting the heart of someone bad. Not that she’s in any need of it now, thankfully.

So I imagine it goes both ways, being worried of getting memories and being worried of passing memories on to someone.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was going through episode 8 again, and as I was going through the chapters a lot of things seemed really off to me in regards to Tohya and Eva’s general interactions, and all around actions as characters. So unlike a normal person and taking this as face value messy writing, I actually started researching memories after trauma and, boy, did I find some very interesting things I seriously did not expect. While I’m not sure if this was intentional writing, if it was Ryukushi did his research very well, and it definitely puts a different spin on just how much I now trust Tohya and even Eva’s recollections of just what happened on Rokkenjima. So just as I promised this is my memory theories and speculations, based around Tohya and Eva’s memory recall after their trauma. Be aware I will be citing (and pasting~) a lot of article tidbits so it may get a little lengthy. (PSH, it’s not even may, it’s definitely going to sorry! As this is speculation based primarily on research,text, and screenshots.)

Rereading Pierre Nora and Finally Remembering How on Earth I Pieced Together The Theory Behind a Really Old Piece of Original Research--

Céline Dion - It's All Coming Back To Me Now (by CelineDionVEVO)

“Memories and their emotions are not only that which gives us our essence. They are also a universal language.”

“… art is a universal current… emotion and art are nothing other than memories.”

“Without memories, a being cannot evaluate the condition of his or her body… and is thereby unable to emerge as a conscious being.”

“Memories are our existence, and art is their system of replication.”