Memories. Gone forever.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

That is what art is for. That is why people paint pictures, make music, write books and poetry, sculpt and dance. They are all trying to show you what they see, what they feel, their own unique perspective on the world. ...

Damned well said.

Thank you.

[Red Katie]

You're not the first to snag on the idea of what's lost when you die. Here's what Emily Dickinson had to say on the subject:

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers--
Untouched by Morning
And untouched by Noon--
Sleep the meek members of the Resurrection--
Rafter of satin,
And Roof of stone.

Light laughs the breeze
In her castle above them--
Babbles the Bee in a stolid Ear,
Pipe the Sweet Birds in ignorant cadence--
Ah, what sagacity perished here!

J216 (Franklin doesn't give this version.)

[Beelzebub2]

My favourite quote:

That which is inexhaustible is ever new, and that which has continuance is ever in the fear of ending.
That which ends knows the eternal beginning of love.

[Animavore]

[to the OP]

If that makes you sad then this won't cheer you up at all.
Not only will that person's memories be gone but eventually all memories of that person will be gone too

[charlou]

Yes, I know that, but a religionist will believe those memories will last forever. That has an appeal to me, but as an atheist I know it's not so. That's why I say it's a curse. Living a life that ends when we die!

The illusion of survival is all they have, and they have all the baggage that goes with that delusion. Abraham would have snuffed Isaac in the name of that delusion. Whence Isaac's memories then?

This thread is not about delusions, but about our real life memories being deleted. Gone forever. No pictures on the internet. No photo's on the wall.
You can tell me about one of your memories, but I'm not you. It's your memory. It dies when you die. No one will ever know of that memory.
The more I think of tis, the more it scares me. I have some very happy memories, but when I die, those memories will be no more.
My memories. No one will know them.

No one sees into your mind so will not know your thoughts, experiences and memories as you do anyway, DSI ... neither after you die, nor now in life. You take it with you, either way. Even the christian notion of an afterlife does not allow for post death insight into the minds of others so there's no christian belief that the memories become available to all, living or dead. Other religious and supernatural notions, such as universal consciousness and reincarnation do have an opinion on this - rather vague, fuzzy, illogical ideas about what happens to consciousness after death.

I take comfort in knowing that my mind, my thoughts, experiences and memories are private and always will be. Religious belief in a being who has access to your thoughts is fucking intrusive and perverse, and is among the delusions I felt great relief in leaving behind. I share what I want to share and make the best effort I can to impart what I want to offer to others. I feel fortunate that I have that relative luxury because not all people have that freedom, now or historically, for various religious, political, technological and personal reasons.

That is what art is for. That is why people paint pictures, make music, write books and poetry, sculpt and dance. They are all trying to show you what they see, what they feel, their own unique perspective on the world. We are all alone but some of us try building bridges - however flimsy and inadequate.

Beautifully put, XC.

[Trolldor]

Fuck, part of my memories are already gone, got a whole year of shit I can't recall (Not even the non-specifics, like laying in bed for a whole week. Repeatedly.) My grandma is losing them while she's still alive.

Memories are an illusion, a recreation of an event. A photograph and a word can mean everything to someone and nothing to everybody else. Mostly no matter how 'important' that moment is to someone, there's a thousand other moments like that out there. The horrible and the profound. When you're dead you're dead, that's it. Living is the only thing worth considering out of the two.

[Thinking Aloud]

My memories will never be seen by anyone else - but then who would want to sit and watch my memories? OK, so we all like to pull out some old photographs from time to time, even of long-dead relatives who we never knew, but while of fleeting interest, ultimately the context is lost.

Even if my memories were preservable and accessible, who would take the time to view them, and why? And if they did, wouldn't they just choose a selection of highlights anyway? Would those highlights have any meaning if they didn't view the whole of what led up to them? Who could give it that much time?

How much do we really remember? As I try to recollect the mundane things I was doing an hour ago when I woke, I can pull back a number of specific views; a number of feelings; a handful of words, but no fully formed memories. I can recall a bare handful of events from my childhood, but for many moments it's just luck that I have photographs that help me remember a particular day or a particular mood. Without those aides, I doubt those moments would have stayed with me.

Maybe no-one else will ever know exactly how I felt that day on the train, when I felt my heart had been ripped out of my chest, but they will have their own experiences of equal intensity in their own lives.

I pity God, who has to monitor all 7 billion of us, in full high-res colour, 24/7 our whole lives, while crafting snowflakes and powering electrons so that our mobile phones work.

[Hermit]

What happens to all those memories? They die with the person.

Yes, and eventually - when everything has turned to stardust - memories of humankind itself will be utterly gone as well.

None of this fills me with sadness. When contemplating the ultimate annihilation of everything I find solace in the fact that I will have been a teensy weensy link in the great chain of being that also produced such ethereal works as The Art of the Fugue. The fact that they too will have tracelessly vanished one day is of no import to me. It is sufficient for my peace of mind that they were once created.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Lawrence Krause, et al., point out that we beat incredible odds to be here at all. "Most of the people who ever were, never were." saith the Dawk. I'm good with that I got, for as long as I get it.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

The OP reminded me immediately of this scene:-

[FedUpWithFaith]

I don't believe in an afterlife or anything like that but I do believe information is never lost, and if true, that may lead to some exciting unexpected things. In my view, everything we are is part of the fabric of a multiverse where time may be the great delusion. I don't believe the past is ever "lost" nor do I think the future is waiting to happen in the larger scheme of things. Can or will we find a way through science and technology to get a glimpse of this wider reality? I don't know. But I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel for a fascinating convergence and reconciliation of physics and mathematics with competing philosophies of existence. I hope I live to see what falls out of it.