Of quantum entanglement, memories and other connections that cause our future.

I will be short this week. There is a lot going on and honestly I didn´t have much time left to think and read and surely I do not have enough of it now to expand on things that happened. But if I look back on last week, I could say, it has been reeking of the past. Maybe reeking is a wrong word to use, but we all know how past can be haunting and sometimes “reek” is the only word capable of describing its emotional impact. It grasps the smell of regret and sorrow, weeping over years long gone, that remind us of growing old. Inevitably reaching the ending point we all are destined to meet. But sometimes, past can be fun to think of, bringing joy and sweet remembrance of the things that made this life worth living. However, sometimes these exact things can cause the previously mentioned bunch of “bad stuff”. May it be the latter or the first, one thing is undeniable. Past is long gone and it only exist in our memory. And this is what I got curious to talk about.

I am not interested in memory as such. We all know what it is. We all have it. For some it would be better to selectively forget it, for some that are suffering from its loss, the only wish is to regain it. Memory has this special sadistic personality to itself. It initiates a chain reaction of whatever one recalls. Once it starts, it is like Pandora´s box that should never have been opened in the first place. Memories of memories resurfacing one after another and sometimes even all at once. It would all be great, if the memories were nice, ironically this mostly happens, when one remembers embarrassment; something one pushes back, in order to forget. Then, it takes a great disciplinary act to shut it down. I found it helps, if I say LA-LA-LA aloud. This shoves them off quite successfully.

You can only imagine what kind of memories would be flashing through my mind, if I told you I had my class reunion last Saturday. Well, you would guess wrong. I was amazed how things that once put distance between us, were the exact things that brought us closer over time and space. What I found amazing was, that memory is the only real connection we will ever have. And I had one of the best times of my life. 

In quantum physics there is something called quantum entanglement. What it says is that once particles such as photons, electrons, molecules as large as buck balls, and even small diamonds interact physically and then become separated, that interaction is such that each resulting member of a pair is properly described by the same quantum mechanical description (state), which is indefinite in terms of important factors such as position, momentum, spin, polarization, etc. To say it in more readable language: once two particles interact, they become entangled in an invisible connection across the universe that makes them share same states. Or to say it even more plainly: once they interact and get separated, you can change one´s state and be sure the other member of that pair overtook the same state as well. No matter where and how far they are. That gave Mr. Einstein that gray and strawy hair, since nothing, not even information, can travel faster than light. But that is not the point. The point is, interaction matters.

I am not saying that we, on a bigger scale than particles, follow the same law, but it has a nice analogy to fact of life relations we have. Once we interact, we are connected. This connection made live by memory. Surely we do not share same states, when one of that pair changes his, but the matter of fact is, we know of each other´s existence and that makes it impossible for us to forget it, more so, impossible to erase.

We like to think we do not live in the past. Memory is all about that. It is the one connection to the past. Our past. Ever hippy dippy new age manual says we need to forget the past, let go of it and start living in the present. That is smart thing to do, as I have stated many times here in this blog. But, what “living in the past” means is not “not remembering” it, it is not evoking the emotion escorting it and then succumbing to it. However, memory is not only that. It is not only connection to the past, it is connection to the past we share. And that makes memory worth remembering.

With remembering we know where we came from. It gives us the sense of existence, sense of accomplishment. By remembering we know we came far and it should inspire us to go on, for if we have overcome troubles once, we can overcome them again. From remembrance value lessons emerge. Lessons that prevent us from repeating the same mistake again or recognizing the trap we might fall into. Remembering makes us cautious of life´s endearing baits. On the other hand, memory is something that brings two people together or pushes them even farther apart, when they choose to not let emotions go. People say, forgive and forget. I say forgive and remember. To share a memory is to find a common place.

So there I was, surrounded with people of my past, the only connection being shared memory of time spent together. And we did share quite an important chunk of it. The part when we grew up. However, past has not resurfaced to show us our differences, it came as a connection from which present moment was built and future planned. Without it, without that connection there would be no us, there would only be strangers that need to find their common ground first. For the first time in my life I sensed how space and time that were between us got lost in the moment we sat down at the same table. From that moment on the long gone pairs rejoined in a constellation of a strong unity. Quantum entanglement of each other´s molecules in our bodies had been proven working. 

We might get hurt many times in my life. Especially in romantic sense. Those are memories everyone would like to forget. I would like for them to stay with me until the day I die. I would like to forget the pain not the person that caused it. Love in that sense is the strongest of memories. I do not believe in endings, I believe in continuation of relation. We are like particles that never lose its pair once interfered with each other. We can claim we forgot, but really, we never did. It is not up to us to do so, because in the moment we meet, there is the past that resurfaces and reinvents our future.

I recall stating in the beginning of this blog I would be short. Well, let this memory be the one I intentionally forgot and may it stand as a proof that we cannot plan our future.

And there is that.