Our memories are the filter through which we perceive the present, and therefore they are just as important as the new experiences we have. Memories have the power to influence the feelings surrounding our new experiences, for example, if you have sad memories surrounding beaches, when you go to a new beach you may feel sad even though nothing specifically sad happened at this unfamiliar beach. Often memories are what great artists use to inspire works of fiction or paintings, making how they remember something intrinsic in their new experience of creating something which expresses this memory. The concept of the futility of forgetting the past or being selective about the memories that define us, and only looking towards the future, is present in much of our cultural outlets including novels such as "The Great Gatsby". In this novel the protagonist Gatsby is determined not to let himself be defined by his past, however whilst focussing on moving on he also dwells on selective memories, such as those of his former lover Daisy, quite a lot. Ultimately this novel, and many other works such as the 1946 film "It’s a Wonderful Life", reveal that no matter how hard we try to escape our memories, our perception of them is what defines our present experience, and our future. Therefore, I think memories are just as important as new experiences. References used: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/great-gatsby/themes https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/movie-storystructure/its-a-wonderful-life/

**Memories and new experiences feed into each other. They are pretty different things and are each important in their own way.** - Our memories, and specifically what it is that we [selectively remember] (https://www.e-counseling.com/mental-health/what-is-selective-memory/), shapes our experience of the world. Sometimes it can work the other way too, with a new experience [triggering or strengthening remembrance] (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/new-experiences-can-strengthen-old-memories/) of some past event/feeling that we had forgotten about. - Memories as a mental tool equate to a way of recalling the past and potentially adapting our future behaviour/choices accordingly. In this way, they help us to continue living and having new experiences. Obviously, this isn't their only function — memory is [a really interesting area of research] (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/human-memory); it can be a hub of imagination, it can elevate how we interact with the world, it can even [be fabricated] (https://www.healthline.com/health/false-memory) and misrepresent/warp the past. - New experiences, in contrast, are external stimuli; they are things going on outside of ourselves. Memory and our perception of things will sort of filter how we react to external stimuli, but it would be easy to argue that the experiences themselves are the 'main event'.