Ancestral Memory
Cooperative Inquiry

Cooperative inquiry is research 'with' rather than 'about' people. Co-research by a group with a particular goal in mind, in this case to explore Ancestral Memory.

There are common experiences that are shared by many people and that many people use as factors in making decisions. Some experiences, such as feelings, do not lend themselves to easy description and explanation; much less to critical analysis, yet are major parts of people's lives.

These experiments are not set forth to prove anything, but instead are designed to observe and reflect on direct experience. The process of documenting and sharing these experiences in a systematic manner will allow reflection on the nature of shared human experience.

Memory is a step removed from experience. Memories exist at both conscious and sub-conscious levels and affect our processing of sensory data, our experiences, and even our philosophy. Memory is more complex than data storage and retrieval, as on a hard drive: human memory is filtered and colored by our feelings and beliefs.

Often people reflect traits of their parents or sometimes of other relatives that they do not even know very well or at all. There appears to be cultural and genetic layers of memory that influence our experiences, likes and dislikes. Sometimes objects seem to hold impressions from previous owners. Native Americans and new age practitioners will smudge objects with the smoke of sage, not to clear these impressions, but to protect themselves from them. Often places of pilgrimage, such as sacred sites, pyramids, old temples and cathedrals evoke very powerful feelings. Even archetypical symbols can evoke feelings from a deep place within ourselves. Ancestral memories are experienced from a vast array of different stimuli.

This is an attempt to explore and capture some of the experiences of Ancestral Memory in a pure fashion. Once they are experienced and recorded, then potential reflections may shed some light on these common human experiences. Ultimately our conception of Ancestral Memory will evolve and in that process a personal transformation will occur, based upon a more conscious awareness of these subtle experiences that influence our lives.