Sleep and the Work

[Bar Kochba]

Gurdjieff says that true sleep comes when all connections between centers are broken. If there are still centers connected, then the person has dreams and is not resting the organism 100%. He also said, "Rest comes not from the quantity but from the quality of sleep...sleep little without regret." He seemed to think very little of dreams, that they were useless. What are some of the forum members' veiws on what Gurdjieff taught regarding sleeping soundly and dreaming? If this has been covered, i apologize. I use the mobile internet which has no search function option.

 

[Ellipse]

About sleep Cayce usually advice eight hours when asked.

For example :
READING 2772-3

(Q) How many hours of sleep do I require to be thoroughly rested?
(A) Seven and a half to eight hours should be the normal amount for this body.

READING 2448-1

(Q) How much sleep do I need?
(A) Eight hours - each twenty-four.

 

[Buddy]

What are some of the forum members' veiws on what Gurdjieff taught regarding sleeping soundly and dreaming?

I think modern sleep studies have filled in many details of what Gurdjieff was trying to communicate. You should be able to go to sleep at night without regrets from failure to work towards your aim, failure to use self-discipline to exercise some control over yourself and in your relationships with others.

Also, you need to be able to reach that deepest level of restorative sleep, when all but the instinctive center is disconnected so that your nervous system can 'unlatch' and release all your experiences of the day into long-term chemical storage/memory. I really don't know what evidence supports this second sentence; it just seemed to 'be there' as I was thinking and typing, so just fwiw, if anything.

 

[mada85]

I thought the following information might be interesting. It’s not directly related the Work, rather it is a description of general sleep habits in past times. It is taken from At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, by A. Roger Ekirch. At Day’s Close is a fascinating book, and gives a real glimpse into an aspect of ordinary peoples’ lives at a time when artificial light, at night, was a much more scarce and expensive commodity than it is today.

Before our modern times, people generally had two periods of sleep at night, with a period of quiet waking between. This was well-known; so well known in fact that it was hardly remarked upon. Here’s Ekirch on the subject:

Until the close of the early modern era, Western Europeans on most evenings experienced two major intervals of sleep bridged by up to an hour or more of quiet wakefulness. In the absence of fuller descriptions, fragments in several languages in sources ranging from depositions and diaries to imaginative literature give clues to the essential features of this puzzling pattern of repose. The initial interval of slumber was usually referred to as ‘first sleep’, or, less often, ‘first nap’ or ‘dead sleep’. in French the term was premier sonneil or premier somme, in Italian, primo sonno or primo sono, and in Latin, primo somno or concubia nocte. The succeeding interval of sleep was called ‘second’ or ‘morning’ sleep, whereas the intervening period of wakefulness bore no name, other than the generic term ‘watch’ or ‘watching’. Alternatively, two texts refer to the time of ‘first waking’.

Both phases of sleep lasted roughly the same length of time, with individuals waking sometime after midnight before returning to rest. Not everyone, of course, slept according to the same timetable. The later at night that persons went to bed, the later they stirred after their initial sleep; or, if they retired past midnight, they might not awaken at all until dawn. […]

Men and women referred to both intervals as if the prospect of awakening in the middle of the night was common knowledge that required no elaboration. ‘At mid-night when thou wak’st from sleepe,’ described the Stuart poet George Wither; while in the view of John Locke, ‘That all men sleep by intervals’ was a normal feature of life […]. […]William Harrison in his Description of England (1557) referred to ‘the dull or dead of the night, which is midnight, when men be in their first or dead sleep.’

Customary usage confirms that ‘first sleep’ constituted a distinct period of time followed by an interval of wakefulness. Typically, descriptions recounted that an aroused individual had ‘had’, ‘taken’, or ‘gotten’ his or her ‘first sleep’.

 

[anart]

Gurdjieff says that true sleep comes when all connections between centers are broken. If there are still centers connected, then the person has dreams and is not resting the organism 100%. He also said, "Rest comes not from the quantity but from the quality of sleep...sleep little without regret." He seemed to think very little of dreams, that they were useless. What are some of the forum members' veiws on what Gurdjieff taught regarding sleeping soundly and dreaming? If this has been covered, i apologize. I use the mobile internet which has no search function option.

Hi Bar Kochba, it would help when you reference things G supposedly said to quote the passage to which you are referring. This helps because it removes any misunderstanding in interpretation and we can go from there.

 

[anart]

What are some of the forum members' veiws on what Gurdjieff taught regarding sleeping soundly and dreaming?

I think modern sleep studies have filled in many details of what Gurdjieff was trying to communicate.

Can you explain what you mean, citing the studies?

You should be able to go to sleep at night without regrets from failure to work towards your aim, failure to use self-discipline to exercise some control over yourself and in your relationships with others.

It sounds like you're trying to say that one should be able to go to sleep without thinking with the energy from the emotional center - without the intellectual center usurping the energy of the emotional center - but I'm not certain of your exact meaning.

Also, you need to be able to reach that deepest level of restorative sleep, when all but the instinctive center is disconnected so that your nervous system can 'unlatch' and release all your experiences of the day into long-term chemical storage/memory.

Could you provide some data to back this idea up? At what point does only the instinctive center run sleep and what is this release of experiences into 'long-term chemical storage'?

I really don't know what evidence supports this second sentence; it just seemed to 'be there' as I was thinking and typing, so just fwiw, if anything.

It sounds like word salad to me. You aren't usually in the habit of just posting something, as if it were fact, because it seems to 'be there' in your head. What's up?

 

[Buddy]

My wife spent the weekend at a sleep study center almost a year ago where she was diagnosed with sleep apnea and was prescribed a C-PAP machine. She brought a lot of info home about those studies. I'll see if I can dig them up and post the references.

The comment about regrets was just my understanding about the relationship between having a more or less clear conscience when going to bed in order to keep emotional issues from hindering a deep, restful sleep. I could be wrong about that, of course, and I should have stated so.

I had gathered that the instinctive center runs sleep at the point where the other centers had disconnected. That idea comes from here:

[quote author=Jean Vaysse]
Sleep is, however, a very important state. Aside from the fact that man spends a third of his time in it, it is the state in which his organic nature-like everything endowed with organic life-restores the energies needed for existence in the waking state. It can be said that sleep recharges the accumulators of energy associated with the centers (which we will study in detail in the next chapter). The presence of man in the state of sleep is purely passive, and all the more so according to the depth of his sleep (for in man there are various levels of sleep).

The body is more or less reduced to its instinctive functionings-completely so in the deepest sleep. The centers with their particular features-the inner being of man-are there, but either receive no impressions at all or else do not respond to any that do by chance reach them.. Even if one of them does occasionally respond, this leads to no associated response from the other functions. Only the instinctive center functions fully, freed (at least in deepest sleep) from any other influence or connected only with the corresponding instinctive-motor parts of the other centers.

During sleep, though the instinctive functions operate fully and freely, the other functions are at rest, and the associations between them, depending on the depth of sleep, are more or less completely disconnected from each other. Because of this the two “energy accumulators” attached to each of the centers (which we will study later) are not called on to supply any energy other than for the instinctive work, and the centers are therefore free to tap directly the central source of being energy, by means of which they communicate with each other.

A free circulation of energy is established, and when nothing happens to disturb it (as in deep sleep), the reserves of the specific energy required by each of the centers and the balance between these energies are restored without hindrance. In fact, however, there are many intermediate states between the waking state and the state of deep sleep, the true sleep. What characterizes sleep is that the centers are disconnected from one another, and at the same time their ability to manifest is suspended. But in ordinary man most often these disconnections are incomplete. Since ordinary man lives in five centers, any one of the five may or may not be disconnected.

His sleep is usually an intermediate state in which one or several of the connections, but not all, are broken. Sleep generally begins with the disconnection of the thinking center, that is, the ordinary mental activity we live with; this is what we customarily call going to sleep. But it is not always this way; one or more of the other parts may be cut off while the mental activity goes on. In general, however, such intermediary states were not recognized as sleep, and according to current notions the disconnection of the mental faculties is what differentiates the waking states from sleep. The center which is disconnected next, or at the same time as the thinking center, is the moving center. Man and most animals lie down to sleep. Then the other centers are disconnected, but not always. In fact, many modes of disconnection are possible; the breaks and the order in which they occur depend on individual habits and circumstances.

One can sleep standing up; walk in one’s sleep, make love in one’s sleep, talk in one’s sleep, and so on. At the opposite extreme is the instinctive center, which is the last to be disconnected, and, what is more, is never disconnected without special-and dangerous-work and even then (as long as life lasts) only at certain of its levels, for complete and definitive disconnection leads to organic death. Although constitutional predispositions often enter in, all this is subject to constant change-asleep-walker, for example, neither walks in his sleep every night, nor all night long.

The state of deep sleep has a significance and importance which ordinary man does not as a rule suspect. In ancient traditions, the Hindu tradition in particular, it occupies a major place as a state in which the subject no longer experiences any desire and has not a single dream, and thus may be regarded as a return to the primordial state of serenity. The being (the essence) withdraws into the primordial formless realm-the source of future manifestations in the other states-where, all conflict of form having died down, it enjoys in “bliss” (Ananda) the fullness of itself and returns in itself to the realm of pure being (Ishwara). In this state the different modes of manifestation, including those proper to its individuality, are not annihilated, but remain potentially in the integral whole of all possibilities, in which the individual being has rejoined universal Essence. Because it keeps enough consciousness of its own possibilities, it retains a connection with its form of being and is able to return to its own way of manifesting in the realm of form.

This connection, however, may be lost during certain school exercises related to deep sleep: that is one of the risks of such exercises. Fully developed beings can consciously break this connection when they choose. We are told that they know, or choose, the moment of their physical death.

Toward Awakening, Jean Vaysse pgs. 51-54
[/quote]


About the phrase: 'long-term chemical storage', I honestly don't know. Perhaps I shouldn't have posted it. I was hoping that if someone was familiar with this kind of idea they might chime in. It was an all of a sudden thing that seemed like: "that's the reason for the centers to be disconnected...to discharge and store something and then recharge with the new energy". It's probably nothing, and no, I haven't been 'experimenting' with drugs or channeling or anything...I just somehow thought it was important to post it for some reason.

Any way, from now on, I will refrain except in a more relevant context such as a question posted for feedback purposes or something.

 

[anart]

My wife spent the weekend at a sleep study center almost a year ago where she was diagnosed with sleep apnea and was prescribed a C-PAP machine. She brought a lot of info home about those studies. I'll see if I can dig them up and post the references.

That would be interesting - especially as they relate to the esoteric understanding of sleep, which is what you implied.

The comment about regrets was just my understanding about the relationship between having a more or less clear conscience when going to bed in order to keep emotional issues from hindering a deep, restful sleep. I could be wrong about that, of course, and I should have stated so.

If you mean what I referred to above - that intellectual loops should not be running (intellect fueled by the energy of the emotional center) then that makes some sense - not sure it directly relates to a 'clear conscious' - but perhaps that is a figure of speech.

I had gathered that the instinctive center runs sleep at the point where the other centers had disconnected. That idea comes from here:

[quote author=Jean Vaysse]

[/quote]


Well, in my personal opinion, from what you've quoted here, Vaysse, while hitting a few key points, misses the boat. He appears to be limiting his understanding of sleep to the lower centers, which, while literally applicable, might be a bit limiting. This is just my personal take, however, and I could be mistaken. He also has a tendency, from what you've posted here, and in other threads, to speak is circles and not very clearly, in my estimation. He strikes me as yet another example of someone who is interpreting Gs information with his own understanding, as is quite common, but in that understanding, he limits the signal - while capturing a point here and there. He also conflates physical sleep with esoteric sleep which muddies the water terribly. His mention of the Hindu state of 'bliss' - (which is really the ultimate in contraction/non-being) as a positive - as the primordial formless state borders on creepy, considering what we know about the importance of consciousness, awareness, creation and expansion.

It is my personal understanding that the farther away one gets from words that Gurdjieff wrote himself, the more noise is introduced into the equation and Vaysse appears to be a case in point. I'm not saying he is entirely incorrect, but I am saying that he takes certain ideas and runs with them - away (in my understanding) from G's line of force.


I could go through what you've posted here line by line, but it's late and I have a LOT to do before I can sleep.

About the phrase: 'long-term chemical storage', I honestly don't know. Perhaps I shouldn't have posted it. I was hoping that if someone was familiar with this kind of idea they might chime in. It was an all of a sudden thing that seemed like: "that's the reason for the centers to be disconnected...to discharge and store something and then recharge with the new energy".

I think the core idea that 'your experiences' need to be unlatched and stored is a bit difficult to follow, at least how you've explained it - and I may simply be misunderstanding your explanation. First of all, wouldn't the centers be directly related to these experiences, having basically created and interpreted them? Thus, if all but the instinctive center were 'disconnected' how do these experiences get 'transferred'? (what is missing here?)

Secondly, it's been my personal experience that there is awareness in sleep - significant awareness not at all reflective of merely the instinctual center. Again, as I stated, I think Vaysse may be focusing on lower centers and his own experience/understanding, which, likely, does not reflect the whole.

His interpretation, to my understanding, is limiting, to say the least - but that is just my take on it. There is, of course, always a possibility that I'm completely misunderstanding you, and, if so, apologies.

It's probably nothing, and no, I haven't been 'experimenting' with drugs or channeling or anything...I just somehow thought it was important to post it for some reason.

That is a very interesting thing to say, considering I never mentioned, or thought about, channeling or drugs.

Any way, from now on, I will refrain except in a more relevant context such as a question posted for feedback purposes or something.

Not sure what you mean by this - refrain from what? Refrain from posting at all, or posting creative ideas (ideas are good!)? Bud, these posts of yours have an unusual flavor, so, again, I ask 'what's up'.?

 

[Buddy]

Esoteric sleep? I thought we were discussing actual sleep? I don't know what to say. I haven't felt so discombobulated since I read Vaysse's book. Perhaps I need to think about all this for a bit.

 

[Bar Kochba]

I will post quotes from Gurdjieff to illustrate what I paraphrased when I have more time. Again, I am limited because I have no cut and paste function and must type the quote direct from the book, "ISOTM." The old fashioned way.

 

[aragorn]

I thought the following information might be interesting. It’s not directly related the Work, rather it is a description of general sleep habits in past times. It is taken from At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past, by A. Roger Ekirch. At Day’s Close is a fascinating book, and gives a real glimpse into an aspect of ordinary peoples’ lives at a time when artificial light, at night, was a much more scarce and expensive commodity than it is today.

Before our modern times, people generally had two periods of sleep at night, with a period of quiet waking between. This was well-known; so well known in fact that it was hardly remarked upon. Here’s Ekirch on the subject:

Until the close of the early modern era, Western Europeans on most evenings experienced two major intervals of sleep bridged by up to an hour or more of quiet wakefulness. In the absence of fuller descriptions, fragments in several languages in sources ranging from depositions and diaries to imaginative literature give clues to the essential features of this puzzling pattern of repose. The initial interval of slumber was usually referred to as ‘first sleep’, or, less often, ‘first nap’ or ‘dead sleep’. in French the term was premier sonneil or premier somme, in Italian, primo sonno or primo sono, and in Latin, primo somno or concubia nocte. The succeeding interval of sleep was called ‘second’ or ‘morning’ sleep, whereas the intervening period of wakefulness bore no name, other than the generic term ‘watch’ or ‘watching’. Alternatively, two texts refer to the time of ‘first waking’.

Both phases of sleep lasted roughly the same length of time, with individuals waking sometime after midnight before returning to rest. Not everyone, of course, slept according to the same timetable. The later at night that persons went to bed, the later they stirred after their initial sleep; or, if they retired past midnight, they might not awaken at all until dawn. […]

Men and women referred to both intervals as if the prospect of awakening in the middle of the night was common knowledge that required no elaboration. ‘At mid-night when thou wak’st from sleepe,’ described the Stuart poet George Wither; while in the view of John Locke, ‘That all men sleep by intervals’ was a normal feature of life […]. […]William Harrison in his Description of England (1557) referred to ‘the dull or dead of the night, which is midnight, when men be in their first or dead sleep.’

Customary usage confirms that ‘first sleep’ constituted a distinct period of time followed by an interval of wakefulness. Typically, descriptions recounted that an aroused individual had ‘had’, ‘taken’, or ‘gotten’ his or her ‘first sleep’.

Very interesting! Maybe one isn't supposed to sleep like a log the whole night through after all? This week sleeping has got more difficult for me too, as members reported in the 'Staying focused...' thread.

 

[mada85]

Very interesting! Maybe one isn't supposed to sleep like a log the whole night through after all? This week sleeping has got more difficult for me too, as members reported in the 'Staying focused...' thread.

This was peoples' usual sleep pattern before the introduction of artificial lighting. Ekirch quotes a modern study where people slept in total darkness, and they naturally reverted to the pattern of first sleep and second sleep.

In past times, the waking interval was used for various purposes. Some would talk to friends (sharing bedrooms was very common), some would contemplate deeper questions, others would get up and visit friends.

The human body, imho, evolved under the experience of almost complete darkness at night. Of course, some nights would be brighter than others due to phases of the moon, cloud cover and so on. But generally speaking, I think it would be reasonable to say that the natural way of sleeping is in total or near-total darkness.

Regarding difficulty sleeping, I have read (I don't have a reference to hand right now) that sleeping with a low power blue light helps insomnia.

 

[Buddy]

My wife spent the weekend at a sleep study center almost a year ago where she was diagnosed with sleep apnea and was prescribed a C-PAP machine. She brought a lot of info home about those studies. I'll see if I can dig them up and post the references.

That would be interesting - especially as they relate to the esoteric understanding of sleep, which is what you implied.

Here, I just need to know where I implied that anything I wrote about sleep studies has anything to do with esoteric sleep.

The comment about regrets was just my understanding about the relationship between having a more or less clear conscience when going to bed in order to keep emotional issues from hindering a deep, restful sleep. I could be wrong about that, of course, and I should have stated so.

If you mean what I referred to above - that intellectual loops should not be running (intellect fueled by the energy of the emotional center) then that makes some sense - not sure it directly relates to a 'clear conscious' - but perhaps that is a figure of speech.

Yes, that was the best 'figure of speech' I could think of at the time since the referent was mechanical man (as I understood the original subject of inquiry), which I could also have gotten wrong.

It's probably nothing, and no, I haven't been 'experimenting' with drugs or channeling or anything...I just somehow thought it was important to post it for some reason.

That is a very interesting thing to say, considering I never mentioned, or thought about, channeling or drugs.

I know. It was just a failed attempt at a joke. Probably due to the missing smiley :D. Just a light-hearted comment. Apologies for the confusion.

Any way, from now on, I will refrain except in a more relevant context such as a question posted for feedback purposes or something.

Not sure what you mean by this - refrain from what? Refrain from posting at all, or posting creative ideas (ideas are good!)? Bud, these posts of yours have an unusual flavor, so, again, I ask 'what's up'.?

I just meant that I realize that the next time I want to post a comment such as this that might cause difficulty, it would be better to do it something like ..."hey, I just had this idea that seems to make some sense but I can't find any reference. Has anybody ever heard of this idea..." (That kind of thing is what I meant, that's all.)

Having slept on things overnight, it seems I lost my self-observing and had become identified with an approach that stimulated something in me that seems like "I would THINK I know what I'm talking about." Perhaps I picked it up from the book or the attitude was triggered by something therein that I believed without validation. Not quite sure, but I will continue to observe myself for more data.

I am really sorry about you having to spend your energy trying to get to the bottom of my post, but I also appreciate the time you spent doing so. If there are any other questions, I will try and answer them the best I can.

In the meantime, I apologize to Bar Kochba for projecting an understanding that I apparently did not have. :(


Edit: grammar

 

[anart]

Here, I just need to know where I implied that anything I wrote about sleep studies has anything to do with esoteric sleep.

My apologies, I obviously misunderstood you. It was this sentence that gave me that impression, but I must have missed your point:

I think modern sleep studies have filled in many details of what Gurdjieff was trying to communicate.

Yes, that was the best 'figure of speech' I could think of at the time since the referent was mechanical man (as I understood the original subject of inquiry), which I could also have gotten wrong.

No, I think that makes sense.

I know. It was just a failed attempt at a joke. Probably due to the missing smiley :D. Just a light-hearted comment. Apologies for the confusion.

Good to know! I was clearly missing you on a few points. Again, apologies for that, and for confusing things further.

 

[RyanX]

[quote author=K]What are some of the forum members' veiws on what Gurdjieff taught regarding sleeping soundly and dreaming?[/quote]

This goes a little beyond Gurdjieff, but the original question in this thread reminded me of this session from the C's:

[quote author=session 020713]
Q: (A) Now, I was reading in the transcripts that sleep is necessary for human beings because it was a period of rest and recharging. You
also said that the SOUL rests while the body is sleeping. So, the question is: what source of energy is tapped to recharge both the body and
the soul?
A: The question needs to be separated. What happens to a souled individual is different from an organic portal unit.
Q: (L) I guess that means that the life force energy that is embodied in Organic Portals is something like the soul pool that is theorized to exist
for flora and fauna. This would, of course, explain the striking and inexplicable similarity of psychopaths, that is so well defined that they only
differ from one another in the way that different species of trees are different in the overall class of Tree-ness. So, if they don't have souls,
where does the energy come from that recharges Organic Portals?
A: The pool you have described.
Q: Does the recharging of the souled being come from a similar pool, only maybe the "human" pool?
A: No - it recharges from the so-called sexual center which is a higher center of creative energy. During sleep, the emotional center, not
being blocked by the lower intellectual center and the moving center, transduces the energy from the sexual center. It is also the time during
which the higher emotional and intellectual centers can rest from the "drain" of the lower centers' interaction with those pesky organic portals
so much loved by the lower centers. This respite alone is sufficient to make a difference. But, more than that, the energy of the sexual
center is also more available to the other higher centers.
Q: (L) Well, the next logical question was: where does the so-called "sexual center" get ITS energy?
A: The sexual center is in direct contact with 7th density in its "feminine" creative thought of "Thou, I Love." The "outbreath" of "God" in the
relief of constriction. Pulsation. Unstable Gravity Waves.
[/quote]

This is probably the best explanation I've read of what happens with the various Centers during sleep, but I'm not sure if this is really that important to know.

I think it's difficult to argue that one should get anything but a full night sleep unless one is in some extreme situation that calls for constant attentiveness. I think quality of sleep (feeling fully restored in the morning) is very important and in my experience, can be dramatically improved by improving one's diet and eating habits.

I'm curious why you brought up this question about sleep and dreams in relation to Gurdjeiff? You're right, he doesn't seem to say much about sleep and dreams. I can't recall any quotes of his regarding this, but I can understand why he would consider sleep and dreams to be not important. To participate in the Work, one must be able to Self Remember, which is impossible to do when one is physically sleeping. Dreams tend to be so subjective, that they could easily throw the beginner askew into wild fantasy lands. I think there still might be some uses for dreams and remembering one's dreams, but I think this has to be in conjunction with Work in the waking state. So as far as Gurdjeiff goes, there is little he needed to say about sleep and dreams - it obviously wasn't a big component of the Work.

After reading Meetings with Remarkable Men, I was amazed at Gurdjieff's ability to function on such little sleep (such as his time during the institute). Perhaps when one is that far along in the Work as he was, sleeping becomes even secondary to one's aim? I can't see being as sleep deprived as he was is a positive thing for the average person though.

[quote author=Bud]Also, you need to be able to reach that deepest level of restorative sleep, when all but the instinctive center is disconnected so that your nervous system can 'unlatch' and release all your experiences of the day into long-term chemical storage/memory. I really don't know what evidence supports this second sentence; it just seemed to 'be there' as I was thinking and typing, so just fwiw, if anything.[/quote]

As far as Bud mentioning "Long Term Chemical Storage", I think this is similar to some theories on sleep/dreams/memory that I have read. The "Chemical" part of that phrase is odd and I don't think I've ever heard anybody use that term in relation to these theories. I'm not even sure if it's been definitively shown that memories are stored via chemical or organic means in the brain or if they reside "elsewhere". FWIW, I dug up this study that seemed to fit what you described, but I haven't read through it in much detail yet.

_http://www.journaloftheoretics.com/Articles/6-6/Zhang.pdf

Memory Process and the Function of Sleep

Abstract: This work outlines a theory for a new human memory model. The model is based on two hypotheses: the temporary memory hypothesis and the function of sleep hypothesis. The author proposes that there is a temporary memory stage to bridge the gap between short-term memory and the long-term memory. During our waking time, the memory formed from the working memory is not saved directly into the long-term memory; instead it is saved into a temporary memory. The function of sleep is to process, encode and transfer the data from the temporary memory to the long-term memory. To test this new memory model, some well-known research and observational

From what I've skimmed over so far, it sounds like a rather limited theory when one considers all the dream and/or memory anomalies that have been described elsewhere. It doesn't explain stuff like dream precognition or memory anomalies such as why we tend to remember "where we were/what we were doing" during major world events. FWIW.