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Amechanon, Vol. I / 2016-2018, ISSN: 2459-2846

The concept of living memory body was emphasized also in the words of one of the
children:

«I know that I am trying to prevent the death of my family member – that he is
already not among us – by the fact that I keep and preserve the body of those
memories. You’re always talking about wanting to continue the memory (which
apparently is very pleasant) that you had with your relative. I think that I desire to

prevent my relative own death. If the memory dies – something in us dies and that’s
my struggle. In a logical sense, I know that my relative won’t come back, but I know
that if I forget him, or don’t remember everything about him, something in him will

die, if you like; his “body” will die. I need to struggle every day in order to preserve
this body of memories».

The «un-present body that accompanied me»

The second category of the children’s dimension of the body can be defined as the «un-
present body that accompanied me» which symbolizes the desire to perpetuate the

body/memory of the deceased individual. One of the girls said:

«I’m afraid that my brother will be forgotten. I have felt in the past year that the
beloved image of my brother is gradually becoming blurred for me and I am trying

to hold onto it. I am trying to hold his body. I try to dream about him more. When
he appears to me in a dream, it’s as if he’s come back to me in life. His body is alive
again. He is so realistic. I’m afraid that a person leaves this world – he simply is
forgotten and I keep asking myself whether we are alive just when our body is alive.

This is a very disturbing question. The body disappears. I understand now how
temporary we are here because our body is temporary. This is a temporary state
that seems to some people like an eternity. The body is basically the most

temporary thing on earth. Because of this, I feel that the people who are alive don’t
really want to keep in touch with the dead and don’t really want to bother with
them because it hurts. But the dead also always remind the living of life’s
impermanence. I want to say this by using a metaphor: it’s as if I am holding the

corner of my brother’s jacket and don’t want him to leave. He basically has already
left, his body left, but every moment that I enter the website – lets him live, I
perform an act of leaving him and his body in eternity».

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