Once in a while there are items of information that we hear, see, or otherwise learn, that may be utterly compelling, or completely innocuous and of exactly no interest. The new information may change our lives completely, with devastating effects that linger onward throughout our lives, or with stunningly profound improvements upon our existence. There is knowledge that can do both. I know of knowledge that has done both. Maybe we will get up tomorrow morning, and this kind of data will leap upon us, and course through our minds and change us forever. Or maybe the information ambush will cause no lasting effects in us at all. Indifference itself can tell us a lot about a person. You see, and I am sure that this you already know, the experience will not promise importance.
The truth is, we will never get up in the morning truly knowing if what we are to experience in this day will be at all redeeming. We have no promises. We only have the hope of a reinforcing experience during the day that will cause us to rise again in the next. We have the memories of yesterday as well. If one goes without these reinforcing experiences for a prolonged period of time, what is it that makes us rise from the bed in the morning and continue to strive for reward? We have no guarantee that this day will bring experiences that will not cause “all the songs to be about you” (Friesen, 1997, 1998). It would seem likely that we have a higher capacity for hope than some might believe.
Maybe there is this feeling within you. A sensation that pervades the daily existence. It is power, but that is not its name. It can create everything that you want. It can take it all away. You cannot control it, either get it to begin, or to get it to leave. You never want it to leave. It can take you from a moment of profound emptiness and ache and fill you with comfort and euphoria. It has done that, and you only hope that it will again in the same way. I meant this to be hope, but I guess it might, in some instances apply to love as well. To lose hope (or love) can have complete and utterly devastating effects upon “life”. This is not a condition that people seem to have all that often. Can we gain the needed experiences without really realizing it? Or are there not just experiences that either satiate or fail to get us this reward, but those that merely keep us going?
I think that it all depends upon yesterday. If yesterday was a complete experience, then maybe today will not have the same needs as if yesterday was not satisfying. Our memories keep us going. And one persons memory of the same event will ultimately have a different effect upon one person from another. A pertinent example of this would be a morsel of knowledge that I gleaned from my Environmental Toxicology class last week. It seems that the most “efficient” route for a poisonous or otherwise toxic substance to enter the male body via dermal exposure (through the skin) is through the scrotum. To me, this was not particularity interesting information. I am not one to whom knowing this has any perspective. However, if you happened to wake up this morning, a strange powdery, or perhaps liquid substance not where it should be, coupled with unusual bouts of nausea or intense sickness, the story may be different. This information may have been a stunning revelation. This may actually have changed your life. Maybe have caused you to limit somebodies access to this particular area of your frame. I don’t know. I just know that this was not exactly information that caused me to go one way or the other. This was not data of any importance. It all depends upon your perspective. New information can trigger a good, bad, or neutral memory experience for tomorrow.
There is information that I may learn and cannot begin to comprehend why I did not realize it before. For example, take the experience of the “9 Items or Less” lane at the local Crappymart. You know that you need to have “9 items or less” when you are in this lane. I think that you probably didn’t know that there are those out there who think that this would render all the other lanes “more than nine items”. Don’t you DARE take less than nine items through these other lanes you clumsy oaf! Imagine the tragedy of this mistaken assumption. So this information may have a rather forcible impact upon a persons grocery shopping experience. To others, this may be innocuous information. Tomorrow will tell.