A memory is not always relevant. It usually has a reason.

Relevance is local and temporary: whether this toward, in this scene, requires it. Reason is why it formed, or why it remains, even when it should not be shown. Confusing the two produces either a stage crowded with unused guns or a system that discards what is merely out of season.

Weather has a kind of inevitability that work does not. Some fronts arrive whether one attends or not: a deadline, a relationship, a season of a life. The memory that belongs to that front has a reason before it has a use.

The reason may be a cause in the world that is not yet placeable. It may also be a role the memory will play when its weather returns. Both can be true. Clarity can arrive later without the earlier presence having been a mistake.

Chekhov still holds. One does not put the storm on stage until it breaks. One also does not throw away the barometer because it is not raining.

A philosophical exploration in memory systems, part 8. Terms · Previous: Weather · Next: Emotion