{"id":"01KJR8Q6ENVCD0P9NXPDAXBXY3","cid":"bafkreifjmm274xuxkjs65vusetcnnlufer45ydtbveutzzqiredhtl5oru","type":"text_chunk","properties":{"char_end":385465,"char_start":377466,"chunk_index":53,"chunk_total":89,"estimated_tokens":2000,"source_file_key":"confessions","text":"I recognise what I name. And where do I recognise it, but in the memory\r\nitself? Is it also present to itself by its image, and not by itself?\r\n\r\nWhat, when I name forgetfulness, and withal recognise what I name?\r\nwhence should I recognise it, did I not remember it? I speak not of the\r\nsound of the name, but of the thing which it signifies: which if I had\r\nforgotten, I could not recognise what that sound signifies. When then I\r\nremember memory, memory itself is, through itself, present with itself:\r\nbut when I remember forgetfulness, there are present both memory\r\nand forgetfulness; memory whereby I remember, forgetfulness which I\r\nremember. But what is forgetfulness, but the privation of memory? How\r\nthen is it present that I remember it, since when present I cannot\r\nremember? But if what we remember we hold it in memory, yet, unless we\r\ndid remember forgetfulness, we could never at the hearing of the name\r\nrecognise the thing thereby signified, then forgetfulness is retained by\r\nmemory. Present then it is, that we forget not, and being so, we forget.\r\nIt is to be understood from this that forgetfulness when we remember it,\r\nis not present to the memory by itself but by its image: because if\r\nit were present by itself, it would not cause us to remember, but to\r\nforget. Who now shall search out this? who shall comprehend how it is?\r\n\r\nLord, I, truly, toil therein, yea and toil in myself; I am become a\r\nheavy soil requiring over much sweat of the brow. For we are not now\r\nsearching out the regions of heaven, or measuring the distances of the\r\nstars, or enquiring the balancings of the earth. It is I myself who\r\nremember, I the mind. It is not so wonderful, if what I myself am not,\r\nbe far from me. But what is nearer to me than myself? And lo, the force\r\nof mine own memory is not understood by me; though I cannot so much as\r\nname myself without it. For what shall I say, when it is clear to\r\nme that I remember forgetfulness? Shall I say that that is not in my\r\nmemory, which I remember? or shall I say that forgetfulness is for this\r\npurpose in my memory, that I might not forget? Both were most absurd.\r\nWhat third way is there? How can I say that the image of forgetfulness\r\nis retained by my memory, not forgetfulness itself, when I remember it?\r\nHow could I say this either, seeing that when the image of any thing is\r\nimpressed on the memory, the thing itself must needs be first present,\r\nwhence that image may be impressed? For thus do I remember Carthage,\r\nthus all places where I have been, thus men's faces whom I have seen,\r\nand things reported by the other senses; thus the health or sickness of\r\nthe body. For when these things were present, my memory received from\r\nthem images, which being present with me, I might look on and bring\r\nback in my mind, when I remembered them in their absence. If then this\r\nforgetfulness is retained in the memory through its image, not through\r\nitself, then plainly itself was once present, that its image might\r\nbe taken. But when it was present, how did it write its image in the\r\nmemory, seeing that forgetfulness by its presence effaces even what it\r\nfinds already noted? And yet, in whatever way, although that way be\r\npast conceiving and explaining, yet certain am I that I remember\r\nforgetfulness itself also, whereby what we remember is effaced.\r\n\r\nGreat is the power of memory, a fearful thing, O my God, a deep and\r\nboundless manifoldness; and this thing is the mind, and this am I\r\nmyself. What am I then, O my God? What nature am I? A life various and\r\nmanifold, and exceeding immense. Behold in the plains, and caves, and\r\ncaverns of my memory, innumerable and innumerably full of innumerable\r\nkinds of things, either through images, as all bodies; or by actual\r\npresence, as the arts; or by certain notions or impressions, as the\r\naffections of the mind, which, even when the mind doth not feel, the\r\nmemory retaineth, while yet whatsoever is in the memory is also in the\r\nmind--over all these do I run, I fly; I dive on this side and on that,\r\nas far as I can, and there is no end. So great is the force of memory,\r\nso great the force of life, even in the mortal life of man. What shall I\r\ndo then, O Thou my true life, my God? I will pass even beyond this power\r\nof mine which is called memory: yea, I will pass beyond it, that I may\r\napproach unto Thee, O sweet Light. What sayest Thou to me? See, I am\r\nmounting up through my mind towards Thee who abidest above me. Yea, I\r\nnow will pass beyond this power of mine which is called memory, desirous\r\nto arrive at Thee, whence Thou mayest be arrived at; and to cleave unto\r\nThee, whence one may cleave unto Thee. For even beasts and birds have\r\nmemory; else could they not return to their dens and nests, nor many\r\nother things they are used unto: nor indeed could they be used to any\r\nthing, but by memory. I will pass then beyond memory also, that I may\r\narrive at Him who hath separated me from the four-footed beasts and made\r\nme wiser than the fowls of the air, I will pass beyond memory also,\r\nand where shall I find Thee, Thou truly good and certain sweetness? And\r\nwhere shall I find Thee? If I find Thee without my memory, then do I not\r\nretain Thee in my memory. And how shall I find Thee, if I remember Thee\r\nnot?\r\n\r\nFor the woman that had lost her groat, and sought it with a light;\r\nunless she had remembered it, she had never found it. For when it was\r\nfound, whence should she know whether it were the same, unless she\r\nremembered it? I remember to have sought and found many a thing; and\r\nthis I thereby know, that when I was seeking any of them, and was asked,\r\n\"Is this it?\" \"Is that it?\" so long said I \"No,\" until that were offered\r\nme which I sought. Which had I not remembered (whatever it were) though\r\nit were offered me, yet should I not find it, because I could not\r\nrecognise it. And so it ever is, when we seek and find any lost thing.\r\nNotwithstanding, when any thing is by chance lost from the sight, not\r\nfrom the memory (as any visible body), yet its image is still retained\r\nwithin, and it is sought until it be restored to sight; and when it is\r\nfound, it is recognised by the image which is within: nor do we say\r\nthat we have found what was lost, unless we recognise it; nor can we\r\nrecognise it, unless we remember it. But this was lost to the eyes, but\r\nretained in the memory.\r\n\r\nBut what when the memory itself loses any thing, as falls out when we\r\nforget and seek that we may recollect? Where in the end do we search,\r\nbut in the memory itself? and there, if one thing be perchance offered\r\ninstead of another, we reject it, until what we seek meets us; and when\r\nit doth, we say, \"This is it\"; which we should not unless we recognised\r\nit, nor recognise it unless we remembered it. Certainly then we had\r\nforgotten it. Or, had not the whole escaped us, but by the part whereof\r\nwe had hold, was the lost part sought for; in that the memory felt that\r\nit did not carry on together all which it was wont, and maimed, as it\r\nwere, by the curtailment of its ancient habit, demanded the restoration\r\nof what it missed? For instance, if we see or think of some one known\r\nto us, and having forgotten his name, try to recover it; whatever else\r\noccurs, connects itself not therewith; because it was not wont to be\r\nthought upon together with him, and therefore is rejected, until that\r\npresent itself, whereon the knowledge reposes equably as its wonted\r\nobject. And whence does that present itself, but out of the memory\r\nitself? for even when we recognise it, on being reminded by another, it\r\nis thence it comes. For we do not believe it as something new, but,\r\nupon recollection, allow what was named to be right. But were it utterly\r\nblotted out of the mind, we should not remember it, even when reminded.\r\nFor we have not as yet utterly forgotten that, which we remember\r\nourselves to have forgotten. What then we have utterly forgotten, though\r\nlost, we cannot even seek after.\r\n\r\nHow then do I seek Thee, O Lord?"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KJR8NK5DAD726FMQ6JCHGZ5R","peer_label":"confessions","peer_type":"text","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KJR8M0JHPZXCPKJ34HTYXSWW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KJR8RFN8T5QSA2YVRC0YB8R0","peer_label":"carthage","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"ancient_city","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFNWG2X8T00NW85WN134","peer_label":"god","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"divine_entity","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFP077001SRT2VY58M53","peer_label":"image mental representation","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"mental_representation","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFNGDMDZGD1W9TFKM649","peer_label":"forgetfulness","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cognitive_state","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFMM5VH589N8HRFJ5K6W","peer_label":"memory","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"cognitive_faculty","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RFSVC3MX3FSBJ12PB16T","peer_label":"lost thing concept","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"abstract_concept","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RGB8CP05Z8JBP5NBE5H8","peer_label":"beasts and birds","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"animal_kingdom","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}},{"peer":"01KJR8RG7ZYXEZ3C7V7481GZ1F","peer_label":"the narrators mind","predicate":"extracted_entity","properties":{"entity_type":"philosophical_subject","extracted_at":"2026-03-02T21:55:10.828Z"}}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-03-02T21:54:24.853Z","ts":"2026-03-02T21:55:11.673Z","edited_by":{"method":"system","user_id":"01KJ60XQBHJ0GBGTP9X8HXAPPM"}}