Memory, Time, Reality

The second reading from Time and Ourselves by G.J. Whitrow explored how memory and time are connected. While the printing is old, and some of the ideas are outdated, I did find some of it interesting. 

The reliability of memories:
This was explored in various points of the reading. It seems fair to say that memories, or at most memories including mine, are not all that reliable. The older the memory is, the more the details become fuzzy. Some "memories" from my early childhood are so vague that I'm not entirely sure if it's a dream that I recall or a real moment from my past. If my memory is that distorted, even real events that I recall may have invented details and almost certainly missing details. So, what affect does this have on my reality? On pages 20-21, it is noted that it is sometimes hard to distinguish between the act of memory recall and an act of imagination. An example was given of a man who imagined an event so often that he later believed it to be a real memory. Is this possibly insanity, or an illness from old age? Is it truly possible to invent a memory? Perhaps I already have. I tried to investigate what areas of the brain handle dreams and which areas handle imagination and I haven't found a straightforward answer. I assume the two actions (dreaming and imagining) are closely related, and I take it for granted that some of my memories have a fictional component to them.

Time and memories:
According to the reading, we perceive time through memory and our awareness of past/present/future. Like many others, my earliest memories are the hardest to order by a timeline. It could be a possibility that our sense of time is strengthened as we collect memories with which we can define time; or, that the concept of time is learned and memories before that concept is established are naturally without order.
If we do perceive time through our memories, what is the cause of deja vu? This mysterious sensation that a moment in the present has occurred in the past which, we can almost recall from our memory... Maybe this is an act from our imagination. Maybe we have momentarily lost our grasp on the concept of time, causing us to confuse the past and the present. Does my sense of time affect my reality?

The sense of self:
"The concept of self is based on our recollection of experiences..." (P. 28) What defines my identity is the starting point of my reality. I learn from my experiences, and create my sense of self from the accumulation of my knowledge. What I deem important, how I prioritize, how I respond to various situations, how I view the world... these are the results of my experiences in life. What if I didn't remember my life? Would that change my choices? If I had learned to voice my opinions, would I become reserved? Would I even have an opinion?

I feel as though I might have a tenuous grasp on my reality. If my identity comes from my experiences in life, and my experiences are memories that are unreliable (or even fictional), then my identity may be uncertain. If my reality is tied to my identity, is my reality fictional? Or, if my dreams and imagination manipulate or create the memories that define my identity, do I invent reality?