{"id":113399,"date":"2025-10-25T15:10:51","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T21:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=113399"},"modified":"2025-10-25T15:10:51","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T21:10:51","slug":"the-persistence-and-the-absence-of-memories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2025\/10\/the-persistence-and-the-absence-of-memories.html","title":{"rendered":"The persistence (and the absence) of memories"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Tampere<\/a>
I took this photograph at the very beginning of a Latter-day Saint women\u2019s conference at the University of Tampere, in Finland, back in 2019. \u00a0Misery was everywhere. \u00a0I happened to be there for some other speaking engagements.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is great news: \u00a0\u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ Announces the Addition of 55 New Missions in 2026:\u00a0The new missions will help accommodate a rising number of missionaries and bring the worldwide total to 506 missions\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

And, from the Deseret News<\/em>, here\u2019s a bit more in response to the upcoming Bravo miniseries Surviving Mormonism<\/a> with Heather Gay<\/em>: \u00a0\u201c\u2018Surviving Mormonism\u2019 and it\u2019s just \u2026 a church member showing up with cookies\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 One inevitably thinks of the dying words of Mr. Kurtz in Joseph Conrad\u2019s 1902 novel\u00a0Heart of Darkness<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cThe horror! The horror!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Adolf Hitler with Hermann G\u00f6ring (front left), in Nuremberg in 1928. They are surrounded by members of the Nazi Party\u2019s \u201cSturmabteilung\u201d (SA), the so-called \u201cstormtroopers\u201d or \u201cbrownshirts,\u201d whose principal task was to rough up and intimidate opponents and to provide security at Party rallies. Herr Hitler would be elected chancellor of Germany in the elections of 1933. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps you\u2019ve recently seen, or soon will see, the film Truth and Treason<\/em><\/a>. \u00a0If so, this discussion will give you helpful background to the true account of Helmuth H\u00fcbener that is given in the movie. \u00a0Even apart from his sad story, though, I think you\u2019ll find this interesting. \u00a0And it might be useful, too: Latter-day Saints have been attacked from just about every conceivable angle and, frankly, from some angles that might have seemed inconceivable<\/em> until some creative critic experienced a new brainstorm. \u00a0(See, for example, the sublime specimen that I reviewed here<\/a>.) \u00a0In this regard, we\u2019ve been accused of being completely cozy with the Nazis and blissfully onboard with their racial ideology and with other aspects of their platform. \u00a0Anyway, I\u2019m happy to call this podcast to your attention: \u201cWere Latter-day Saints Nazis? Secret Files Revealed | Informed Saints\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Did the Church \u201csupport\u201d the Nazi regime\u2014or were members just trying to survive? In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot unpack Nazi secret police files, surveillance reports, banned books, arrests, and a high-level memo stating that Latter-day Saint doctrine is incompatible with National Socialism. We also add context to the infamous Heber J. Grant photo and highlight the story of Helmut H\u00fcbener. What you\u2019ll learn \u2022 How minorities navigated \u201cthree doors\u201d: resistance, collaboration, or neutrality \u2022 What Nazi reports say about Latter-day Saint beliefs and behavior \u2022 Why some local leaders tried to \u201cplay nice\u201d\u2014and why the regime still distrusted the Church \u2022 The reality behind viral claims and photos<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And, speaking of the late German F\u00fchrer<\/em> and his Third Reich: When you read of young Republican leaders laughing about Hitler and jokingly identifying themselves with Nazis, or about that Democratic candidate for the Senate in Maine who sports a Nazi Totenkopf tattoo on his chest, please remember this story<\/a>. \u00a0Nazis are not cool. \u00a0(I\u2019ll admit, though, that they can<\/em> be laughed<\/em> at. \u00a0See here for an example<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\"concert<\/a>
The main concert hall in Brigham Young University\u2019s Music Building, where Pablo S\u00e1inz-Villegas and Friends performed last night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ve really enjoyed being associated with Brigham Young University for most of my life, as student, faculty member, and neighbor. \u00a0There are always offerings of music, live theater, cinema, lectures, museum exhibits, and athletic events. \u00a0Even now, merely living near campus confers great benefits. \u00a0Last night, for example, my wife and I attended a Spanish-themed concert by \u201cPablo S\u00e1inz-Villegas and Friends\u201d \u2014 Pablo S\u00e1inz-Villegas<\/a> (Spain; guitar), Pedro da Silva<\/a> (Portugal; guitar), Jonathan Richards<\/a> (California; bass), and Diego Alvarez<\/a> (Venezuela, Spain, and California; percussion). \u00a0They started off with with three familiar pieces by Manuel de Falla, <\/span>Isaac Alb\u00e9niz, and, again, Manuel de Falla, then proceeded through a varied range of other pieces, including flamenco, Malague\u00f1a<\/em>, and an extraordinarily complex piece by Pedro da Silva himself, which he had specially arranged for last night\u2019s concert. \u00a0They finally broke with their Spanish theme when, for their second encore, they turned to Brazil for\u00a0<\/span>Tico Tico no Fub\u00e1<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>
Kleine Scheidegg, the ridge that separates Grindelwald from Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland\u2019s Berner Oberland region. \u00a0It\u2019s comforting to think that encounters with great beauty such as this, and moments of ineffable happiness, and memories of love, will not be lost forever. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recently finished Threshold: Terminal Lucidity and the Border of Life and Death<\/em>, written by Alexander Batthy\u00e1ny<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0 Some of what he reports about memory give me hope that such experiences as last night\u2019s concert (and a million other things) won\u2019t eventually fade altogether into permanent oblivion, but that they are preserved somewhere and will eventually be fully retrievable. \u00a0The commonly reported \u201clife review\u201d that occurs in connection with near-death experiences (NDEs) certainly seems to support that hope. \u00a0 The following reminiscences from people who experienced NDEs are cited by Dr. Batthy\u00e1ni:<\/p>\n

I remembered all. Every day of my life, every conversation, and every word \u2014 every word! \u2014 of books I had read, and I had read a lot. . . \u00a0I remembered poems I had not thought about for twenty or thirty years. \u00a0When I later checked whether I had remembered them correctly, it turned out I had. \u00a0There must be a second memory store somewhere in the universe, and I was accessing it without the slightest effort. . . . \u00a0It was like a flash drive and my entire life and family were plugged into me and downloaded. (183)<\/p>\n

My memory was vast. \u00a0I remembered everything, each little detail of my class rooms (thirty years ago!), the faces and names of my school teachers, every word I had written on my student assignments, every book I had read, what I wore on which day. \u00a0It was all there again. (189)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that in a number of cases, upon subsequent checking on the veracity of these memories, it turned out that these memories were true and not merely imagined or false memories. . . . \u00a0I knew things I didn\u2019t think I knew. \u00a0Perhaps I had forgotten what I knew, but for example my memory was astounding. \u00a0I later checked on a few of the episodes I remembered by going through my parents\u2019 photo album and confirmed these memories. (190)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 This is great news: \u00a0\u201cThe Church of Jesus Christ Announces the Addition of 55 New Missions in 2026:\u00a0The new missions will help accommodate a rising number of missionaries and bring the worldwide total to 506 missions\u201d And, from the Deseret News, here\u2019s a bit more in response to the upcoming Bravo miniseries Surviving Mormonism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":42837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[39281,900,903,39278,39284,28346],"class_list":["post-113399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-batthyani","tag-nde","tag-near-death-experience","tag-pablo-sainz-villegas","tag-pedro-da-silva","tag-terminal-lucidity"],"yoast_head":"\nThe persistence (and the absence) of memories<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"  This is great 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