Are Memories Temporary?

[Unclean]

We are often told things like "you'll see [the recently deceased] in heaven" as a method of comfort. Is this truly an accurate saying, though? Assuming there are souls, and heaven, how do we know that we'd be able to recognize our loved ones and enjoy heaven as we picture it now?

 

After all, victims of blunt force trauma to the head experience massive memory loss. Those that suffer from Alzheimers lose their memory.

 

With that in mind, is memory tied to the physical body, and therefore not "carried over" to the spiritual realm after death?

[Norguard]

Personally, I think that memory, long-term and short-term are muscles. They're tools, along with the rest of our body to accomplish things. As such, I think they're totally fallible, and prone to injury.

 

I've burned myself out on late nights, way too many retail/customer service hours per week, and memorizing 300 songs, or so. Now my short term memory is shot, and I'm 22...

 

There are past events engrained in our long-term memories - some good, some bad. They help to define and shape our unique personalities. No different from a well defined bicep, or an unsightly ligament tear.

 

If you're coming from a Judeo/Christian standpoint (...actually, let's just stick with Christian, as there are some Mosaic Judeic laws in this regard which contradict Christian belief... ...more on that later, if necessary), in the afterlife, Christians are promised a total renewal, and a new, perfect body (wether physical, metaphysical, etherial, we don't know, and I'd rather not argue it, because that'd be history repeating itself, 2000 years later)... ...it's also mentioned that there will be full-disclosure:

 

Not some event where the entire ensemble of heaven points and laughs at all of your faults, but an understanding of everything that your actions/inactions have produced...

 

So I believe that if a Christian car crash victim can expect to recieve a new body, I beleive that he can also recieve back the memories that were jarred when the lump of watery fat in his head was concussed in the impact.

Edited October 22, 2005 by Norguard