Pensieve

In the Harry Potter books, Dumbledore has a pensieve, in which he stores memories, kind of like a back-up memory. In both the books and the movies, the memories are characterized by silver threads which are extracted through the temple with a wand, and placed in a bowl, where they apparently take on a liquid form. (As an aside, perhaps a pensieve would come in handy for me as I write this. My exact recollection of the books/movie is foggy.) Dumbledore claims that it is easier to spot patterns and links when they are in the pensieve, apparently comparing this state against their natural state within his mind. Hence, I suppose, the name pensieve implies that it is an easy way to sort through memories.

While I understand the visual representation of a memory as a thread, I don't understand how a collection of threads becomes a liquid. I don't understand how submerging one's head in a bowl of jumbled and unrelated memories allows one to view a specific thread from a third person perspective. I don't understand how a pool of these random memories in any way sieves memories, or facilitates the identification of patterns and links. The memories are a homogeneous liquid, which, almost by definition, is hard to divide and categorize outside of the molecular level. There are no easily discernible patterns or links in a homogeneous liquid. In this capacity, the brain seems like an equally, if not more, suitable mechanism for organizing thoughts.

If I were to make a visual representation of memories--or thoughts, as memories are merely past thoughts--I think a web would be suitable. I can see where Rowling thought that thoughts can take a linear form (the silver thread). This can either imply that individual thoughts appear over a specific timeframe, represented by the beginning and the end of the thread, or that individual, instantaneous thoughts (such as visual memories, or specific smells or sounds) are bound together by a linear thread. This better takes into account that individual thoughts don't occur in vacuums. One thought naturally leads to another thought in some way. Our brains connect things we think or experience to past events in order to help us better understand the world. It's called a train of thought, because, like cars on a train, each thought occurs in succession one after another. At the conscious level, there are no diversions until the train ends.

So thoughts should be in some way linear. Rowling organizes these linear thoughts by simply throwing them into a bowl. I would spin them into a web. Even though thoughts are linear, there are countless points of divergence from the train of thought. Any given thought or memory has the possibility to be connected to countless other thoughts or memories through connections that your brain has made. We don't perceive all of these countless connections, because when all is said and done, all we've seen is the specific path that our brain chose to take through the web of our memories. What looks like a train--or a thread--to us is actually a complex web. The individual nodes of thought are connected by countless relationships that our brain makes...they aren't just aimlessly floating about. At any point along the web, you could have just as easily jumped off to another thought and come up with a completely different conclusion at the end of your thread or train.

The routes we take through our webs of thoughts are usually subconscious. They're determined by underlying factors like assumptions and moods. I can play through a scenario over and over in my mind and come up with completely different outcomes simply by changing my attitude towards the scenario. If I am approaching a scenario with a pessimistic disposition, I can easily convince myself that it won't work, or that it couldn't have worked, or that I shouldn't try, or whatever. If I use the same facts as before, but am more optimistic, I can gain instant (though admittedly potentially artificial/unwarranted) confidence.

I think that we have an extraordinary capability to affect our thoughts and behaviors simply by realizing that you can wake up every morning knowing that no one but you can make yourself feel the way you want to feel. A change of attitude can make a world of a difference.