Good Morning,

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s settling in nicely after the two straight holiday weeks. You’re likely back to feeling your first full week of work in a couple weeks, which is usually characterized by a disrupted routine. Let’s stay grounded together as we return to normalcy.

We’re going to do something a little different. We usually stick to formal philosophers to supply the ingredients that make up our Thought Breakfast. However, we’re going to consider the thoughts of a French poet today. It’s not an analysis of poetry, but a consideration of the philosophical implications of this poet’s work. A slightly different flavor than what usually coats our palate, but I’m excited to see where it takes us. Let’s get into it.

For our main course, we’re going to see how the work of Marcel Proust ties to our week’s theme of time and its meaning. Burning that off, we’re going to do a short and simple reflection. Finishing off with our Book Nook, we’re going to read a passage from Proust’s In Search of Lost Time and reflect.

Pull up your seat, Thought Breakfast is served!

Yesterday, we talked about time as something that we inhabit and live inside of. Today, we’re shifting the frame and considering time as something that returns to us through memory. We don’t simply move forward through time; parts of the past stay very alive inside of us.

Most people view memory as an archive, a storage of experiences that we can selectively call upon when we need to bring something from the past to use in the present. Marcel Proust, in his writing, says that memory is embodied, emotional, and brings time back to life. The past doesn’t simply stay behind us, but frequently reappears inside the present moment. Proust highlights this by simply describing the taste of cake. In Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, he references how the taste of a madeleine cake dipped in tea triggers a flood of involuntary and vivid childhood memories. This dips into sensory memory and, ultimately, nostalgia. We can all relate to those smells, sounds, or tastes that make the past alive inside of us.

A little deeper thought on this tears down our perception of time as linear movement. While we still experience the clock ticking, Proust invites us to experience time as moments that echo from the past, feelings that always return, and memories that deepen as we age. Memory, then, creates meaning across time. Proust’s deepest claim is that we only understand moments in retrospect. The meaning of our experiences only unfolds after they take place. Our memory is time interpreted into meaning.

This ultimately shapes our identity. We aren’t just what we feel now or what we plan for tomorrow. We are the stories that we preserve. We are the moments we revisit. We are the people that we continue to remember. Identity, then, is a narrative across time. Two people can live the same experience, interpret it differently, and become different people because of it. So the next time you call on the past, don’t just ask what happened. Ask yourself: “Which memories have I chosen to carry forward?”

Bring to mind one core memory that still returns to you.

Ask yourself:

Then, for deeper reflection:

“And suddenly the memory revealed itself.
The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine
which on Sunday mornings at Combray my aunt Léonie used
to give me…
Immediately the old gray house rose up like a theatrical
scenery…
and the whole of Combray and of its surroundings sprang
into being,
town and gardens alike, from my cup of tea.”
- Proust, In Search of Lost Time, Vol. 1

Marcel Proust shows how the past lives inside the present. His memory of the past—his aunt giving him a piece of cake with tea—gave meaning to an experience he was having in the present.

Identity, for Proust, is shaped when we allow old moments to speak again.

Munch on that for today. We aren’t only shaped by what we experience, but more so by what we remember, and the way we hold (or push away) those returning memories. Have a great day, and come back tomorrow for another steaming hot plate of Thought Breakfast!

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Remember to stay mindful, smell the flowers, and take it easy.

Chef Ricky - Thought Breakfast