Forgetting to Forget

What do you do, when a bad memory keeps haunting you? Forgetting is not done intentionally. You can wish to forget, but doing so only makes you remember even more. Paradoxically, the less you care about neither remembering or forgetting is the only way, you will manage to forget anything. Even worse, you might easily forget whatever you deeply want to remember. But whatever unpleasant thought or experience you might wish to erase from your memory will only vanish, once you're free of this pressing want for forgetting. That is the topic of today's discussion by Sophus Helle and his acrobatic monkey mind, which touches upon Immanuel Kant, The Little Prince, and whatever those two might have to do with Queen Elizabeth I and Barbra Streisand.

Host: Sophus Helle

Written by: Sophus Helle

Sound editing: Simone Nystrup-Larsen

Editor: Andreas Lindinger Saxild

Monkey Mind

Monkey Mind is a podcast series consisting of lighthearted audio essays in which the host, Sophus Helle, shares stories that have made an impression on his world view in hope that his listeners will have a similar experience.

Sophus Helle is a writer, translator, and cultural historian. He is an expert in the Babylonian epic Gilgamesh and the ancient poet Enheduana.