After today's class, I asked the question, why did we have to have our memories of the pre-existence blocked in order to have this mortal experience.
I have come to understand that memory is one of the primary mechanisms that establishes the meaningful grounds for our choices. In the pre-existence, our memories were an outgrowth of enculturation in the pre-mortal realm (I do not remember what that was or what it was like...). Those memories and hence, those grounds for making my choices were not really my own, as I lived in the presence of God and my choices were in accordance with His will (thus I was allowed to remain in His presence - as opposed to the adversary and his followers who rebelled). This all related to true agency...
If my memories of my pre-existence had not been veiled, I would have continued to make decisions based on those that god wanted me to make. I have already spent a long time in His presence learning, experiencing, and most importantly, doing those things that He wants me to do (I did them because I love them - I believe). Now that those memories are not available to me, I have created the new grounds for my decisions from the experiences, choices, enculturation, etc. here in mortality. God has not left me alone here, so I am not totally excluded from His influence, but I experience His influence through faith and spiritual phenomenon, more than by direct sensory experience.
Memory preserves my intellectual history and developmental propensities, which in turn affect my choices. Memory is more than just fact recall - it is recall of sensory, emotive, social, spiritual and physical experience. It is immensely important to agency, volition, choice, and meaning...
I have come to understand that memory is one of the primary mechanisms that establishes the meaningful grounds for our choices. In the pre-existence, our memories were an outgrowth of enculturation in the pre-mortal realm (I do not remember what that was or what it was like...). Those memories and hence, those grounds for making my choices were not really my own, as I lived in the presence of God and my choices were in accordance with His will (thus I was allowed to remain in His presence - as opposed to the adversary and his followers who rebelled). This all related to true agency...
If my memories of my pre-existence had not been veiled, I would have continued to make decisions based on those that god wanted me to make. I have already spent a long time in His presence learning, experiencing, and most importantly, doing those things that He wants me to do (I did them because I love them - I believe). Now that those memories are not available to me, I have created the new grounds for my decisions from the experiences, choices, enculturation, etc. here in mortality. God has not left me alone here, so I am not totally excluded from His influence, but I experience His influence through faith and spiritual phenomenon, more than by direct sensory experience.
Memory preserves my intellectual history and developmental propensities, which in turn affect my choices. Memory is more than just fact recall - it is recall of sensory, emotive, social, spiritual and physical experience. It is immensely important to agency, volition, choice, and meaning...
