نحن لا نوجد إلا بما نملكه، ولا نملك إلا ما يحضر فعلًا في وعينا، أما كثير من ذكرياتنا وأمزجتنا وأفكارنا فتُبحر في رحلاتها الخاصة حتى تغيب عن الأنظار! عندئذ لا نعود نحسب لها حسابًا في مجموع ما نُسمّيه شخصيتنا. لكنها تعرف دروبًا سرّية تعود بها إلينا.

“We exist only by virtue of what we possess, we possess only what is really present to us, and many of our memories, our moods, our ideas sail away on a voyage of their own until they are lost to sight! Then we can no longer take them into account in the total which is our personality. But they know of secret paths by which to return to us.”Marcel Proust — Remembrance of Things Past: The captive. The fugitive. Time regained (1982)