raising your little elephant

Chapter Nineteen- Memory

It is fleeting when we are babies. It is treasured if we had a happy childhood. It is blocked out if it brings us pain. Without it learning would be impossible. When we grow old it often fades. What is it? It is the title of this chapter. It is housed in our limbic system and it holds the key to our very identity. Concepts such as reincarnation tell a horrible story of being doomed to repeat history life after life. If true, reality would be nothing more than a cruel joke.

Memory however, can change everything. Years ago, I saw a humorous movie starring Bill Murry that explored, not recurring lives plagued with amnesia, but one recuring day with this one man's memories intact. I always enjoyed this movie, but I never realized how important the concept of a recuring day really was until I began exploring the topics we have been exploring in this book.

I have always been fascinated with the concept of time travel. Unfortunately, the paradox of intending to change the past makes the notion of time travel pointless because the timeline cannot be changed if no one goes back to fix an event because the timeline was fixed, which keeps it from being fixed. The result is a temporal loop.

Groundhog Day gets around this dilemma by resetting the same day over and over again until the main character can make a life- changing breakthrough. Bill Murry's character in this delightful film is a class "A" narcissist. His personality is cold as ice. To match his disdainful personality the entire town he is visiting is blanketed with snow every recuring day. This is a very interesting feature because in order to raise his little inner elephant he will have to grow beyond his self-centered ways. Whoever is behind this time prison seems unconcerned with rushing the lesson. Our main protagonist literally has as long as he needs to figure it out. Even death is not a viable exit strategy because he just wakes up in his bed the same morning no matter how he might have ended his recuring day.

As the story unfolds, he imagines that performing some selfless act will liberate him from his perpetual winter wonderland but nothing seems to satisfy his unseen captor. When he has exhausted all possible solutions, he decides to settle down and explore a relationship with a fellow coworker who seems quite challenging to pursue even with all the time in the world to get to know her.

During his seeming eternity he learns to play the piano, and a host of other skills including CPR. He eventually realizes that even pursuing the girl is vanity. He begins to accept that escape is impossible. Finally, after an unspecified period of time his narcissistic behavior begins to melt away. He is no longer isolated in his own self-centered little world. Even the woman whom he spent a lifetime pursuing in a single day was drawn to his community driven mindset. His ability to love without selfish motive finally results in a new day that shows the snow melting to reveal spring is on the way.

This corny story about two people finding love in a single eternal day is an excellent example of how unselfish love can grow beyond a narcissistic mindset if given enough time to grow.

So, how can this help us to raise our little elephant or limbic system? Throughout the story Ethos and Pathos were ignored. It was only when this man cared about other people as if they mattered and gained their trust that he was allowed to move forward. Our past memories may be trapping us mentally, forcing us to keep reliving past events. It is only when we turn our focus off of self and onto others that we begin to move beyond our past experiences.

The ability to recall may frighten us at times but choosing to learn from past events will give us a tool that can change lives, and raise others up in ways we may never have thought possible. Our limbic system is filled with endless potential. With it we can love and be loved in return. It allows us to learn. It allows us to remember what we learn. It also allows us to love what we learn.

Throughout this book we have referred to a man who lived thousands of years ago in the middle east. Was this man nothing more than a wise man with sage advice? How could one person know so much about the inner workings of the human personality. He repeatedly stated that he was not the source of his wisdom. Even in all his insight he remained modest. He had so much reverence for his creator who he would constantly refer to as his father. So, who was his father?

Few today have fond memories of their own parents. We live in a world of broken families. The word father has in many minds become a negative word to our little inner pachyderm. This is why Jesus' constant reference to his father in heaven may cause us to withdraw from embracing the concept that there is someone out there who could care for me personally.

If that wasn't challenging enough, the notion of a creator who could remember everything about me down to the last detail seems unbelievable. It is just easier to believe that the universe is random. Many have been disappointed so many times in their lives that it is just too painful to trust such a beautiful balanced existence as realistic.

At the end of the day, we will believe whatever we believe, not because it is true but because it fits the narrative we have chosen to believe. I don't blame you for not believing this story could be true. But what if it is? What if Jesus of Nazareth really could see something that no one else could see? What if he really is the key to raising our little limbic system to new heights?

If we never learn to love more than our neighbor as ourself, then our heart will never truly reach its full potential. In our next chapter we will discover the truth about our creator, and if you let it, your eyes will be opened to a future with endless potential that will fill you with a glorious hope beyond your wildest imagination.