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A Puzzling of History

The more I understand the critically thinking mind, the more I now fill those gaps in my flawed memory with the logical bits of deduction and reason, rather than invented concepts and explanations.

The recent celebration of The Girl’s first birthday gave me cause to take a couple hours to look back over the mountains of photographs we’ve accumulated over that short time. For those who don’t know me personally, one of my hobbies (outside of blogging) is amateur photography, and the introduction of that new, wee little subject has made for an incredible year for both. But in looking back over these photos recently I was given to (again) wonder at the complex fallibility of our limited perceptions — and particularly, how that relates to thinking about critical thinking and my own imagination — if only because I couldn’t believe how much change had happened over that short year. And in seeing The Girl, daily, I would have sworn — perhaps imagined — that she had always been a walking, babbling, little bundle of curiosity.

So, who was that little helpless infant in those photos from just a year ago?

I think photography has always fascinated me if only because I was born with such a chaotic memory. I have one of those brains that can stuff away trivia and data about some things, gorging on certain facts, but then failing me on others. If my memory had an appetite, it would be a vegetarian, ravenously consuming fruits and grains, but turning its nose at a steak. And unfortunately, the metaphorical steak is usually things like names, faces, anecdotes, jokes, and images. Actually, it’s like a jigsaw puzzle — and I can never quite build the sky parts. I compensate for that by taking photos and — for ill or not — relying on that to some quantity for those bits of my past that my brain sees fit to fog from my recollections.

As such, I flip through old pictures, or even photos taken just months ago, and (as with many others like me) wonder at how much has changed: the trees in the yard, the build-up of our neighborhood, and the face of this little girl who now lives at our house. And in certain moments — like this — it occurs to me to comment of the frailty of both our own perceptions of our reality and the ethereal quality of memory.

For many years I would fill in the gaps of these bits of foggy memory with one of two things; I would either construct a logical piece to fill the gap (which is likely why I enjoy games and puzzles to this day) or I would imagine something to fill the space, implementing a narrative in my mind to compensate for something that wasn’t there. And, like many who haven’t taken up the conceptual abstraction that is skepticism, my imagination often swayed to the supernatural or paranormal. I don’t think this is crazy — and while I wouldn’t have a clue where to start looking for hard evidence — my own observations of the world have afforded me a little comfort in the understanding that we’re all a little like this to certain degrees. And that said, the more I understand the critically thinking mind, the more I now fill those gaps in my flawed human memory with the logical bits of deduction and reason, rather than invented concepts and explanations. I’m not any better at building those metaphorical jigsaws, but I’ve built myself tools to compensate for that.

As a parent I wouldn’t have thought this would be of concern, but in some ways it does get me wondering: If our own perceptions of reality as logical adults, especially on such short timescales, are so inherently limited how do we expect our children to process information any better? And do we want to? I’ve constructed this blog and the idea of teaching critical thinking around a few pillars, and while that is not enough to hang onto the idea in and of itself, there may still be merit in the concept of encouraging imagination as one of those pillars. In fact, I myself imagine there is some worth in the claim that a good part of a healthy imagination is a balance between filling those gaps in our memory and understanding and the logic of filling them with a reality that advances (rather than hinders) our interaction with the world.

That said, I can go flip through strong proof of my own history, scrolling through databases worth of photographs from my personal past to fill in my own gaps in memory. I can confirm or deny if my mind is logical about my perceptions of that a walking, babbling, little bundle of curiosity. But with kids I’m not sure: is this a case of an easier jigsaw (the kind with chunky pieces and gently curving edges) — or are we missing pieces altogether? And understanding this bit of perception in our kids is going to be crucial in raising them deal with their own complex fallibility.

The SkepDad Blog is meant to casually reflect on questions surrounding parenting and raising kids to become critical thinkers by asking questions and examining parenting ideas with a skeptical eye for facts and science. Each article is one dad's personal opinion, backed (where relevant) by literature and published research, or otherwise based on personal experiences and insights. SkepDad welcomes balanced discussion, comments, and ideas.

September 26, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Skepdad thoughts

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