some things are worth remembering

Some things are worth remembering.
If you recognize a pattern you can predict the future.
Science measures to remember and compare
Testing outcomes against expectations.

Some things are best forgotten.
If you were to remember all the details
Of everything that happens in your life
You’d see too many trees but not the forest.

Some things are maybe imagined, maybe not.
If you remember later something you imagined
The memory can feel real, like being unsure
Did you only think of doing something or actually do it?

Memory is not just a time line into the past.
It is a timeless structure with unlimited rooms
Each room holding fragments of information
And ideas and imaginary constructs.

The use of memory is not just to retrieve information.
You can go there and wander from room to room
Thinking, meditating, making new connections
Getting a new understanding, solving problems.

Some people can do that in their sleep.
Even if you don’t remember the details of your dreams
Surely you remember being there in that place
Moving from room to room among the fragments.