The Power of MEMORY shows why remembering is the core of identity, learning, and survival. Memory is not a snapshot or a record of reality. From ancient myths, cultural traditions from around the world, body art, Tibetan mandala, to modern neuroscience, it explores how cultures preserve memory and how the brain encodes, reshapes, and sometimes loses it. Drawing on anthropology, evolution, and science, the episode highlights the fragility and power of memory.

The Power of Memory – Main Themes and Topics

• Introduction & Personal Motivation

  • Childhood trauma as the origin of curiosity about memory

  • Memory as identity and survival

• Leonardo da Vinci and Early Memory Research

  • His anatomical studies of the brain’s ventricles

  • Experiments with ox brains and molten wax

  • Memory as perception and creative process

• The Nature of Memory

  • Memory as selective reconstruction, not recording

  • False memories and eyewitness reliability

  • Emotion and its effect on recall (Paul Ekman, flashbulb memories, mood-congruent recall)

• Cultural and Religious Memory Systems

  • Mystery cults and early Christianity as custodians of sacred memory

  • Comparative memory traditions in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

• Oral Memory Traditions

  • Greek Mnemosyne and the Bards (Aoidoi)

  • Irish and Welsh bardic schools, poetic memory techniques (alliteration, rhythm)

  • Aboriginal Songlines as oral maps

  • Native American Winter Counts

  • Polynesian navigation and stick charts

  • West African griots as living libraries

• Body, Art, and Ritual as Memory Archives

  • Dogon Sigui festival and masked dances

  • Body art as memory (Māori tā moko, Samoan tatau, Yoruba scars, Amazigh tattoos, henna rituals, etc.)

  • Theyyam in Kerala as living visual memory

  • Tattoos as autobiographical archives and witnesses to trauma

• Written and Symbolic Memory Systems

  • Oracle bones, runes, and Inca quipus

  • Chinese proverb: “The palest ink is better than the best memory.”

  • Tuareg and Amazigh symbolism as cultural archives

• Neuroscience & Buddhist Traditions

  • Tibetan monks’ memorization practices

  • Gamma/theta waves, neuroplasticity, tukdam phenomenon

  • Sand mandalas and impermanence

  • Tulku reincarnation system

• Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphogenetic Field Theory

  • Morphic resonance and collective memory

  • Criticism and artistic perspective

• Scientific Memory Research

  • Brain structures: hippocampus, amygdala, prefrontal cortex

  • Role of sleep, neuroplasticity, and astrocytes

  • Forgetting as essential function

  • Fergus Craik’s cognitive model of encoding–storage–retrieval

• Epigenetic & Transgenerational Memory

  • Rachel Yehuda’s studies on inherited trauma

  • Mark Wolynn’s “It Didn’t Start with You”

• Cultural and Historical Dimensions of Memory

  • Egyptian “Book of the Dead” and immortality through remembrance

• Art, Flow, and Personal Creation

  • Art as memory for the future

  • Flow state and creative possession

• Future of Memory: AI & Neurotechnology

  • Brain–computer interfaces, memory editing, nootropics

  • Ethical questions of erasing trauma and eternal memory

• Personal Healing & AI as a Tool

  • Breathwork and AI image generation to reframe trauma

• Conclusion: The Paradox of Memory

  • Fragility vs. power

  • Biological and cultural layers

  • Memory as foundation of humanity