accurate or not , this nature of memory allows us to understand the past according to the positions occupied by the flesh about which we seek to know , but , unfortunately , not in a way relative to the flesh itselfthat flesh stripped of identity and circumstance , that flesh which , in its most rudimentary capacity , had once collided , interacted , fought , competed , negotiated , cooperated , and mated with other flesh : there is no history of this kind , thoroughly naked and telling enough , which is accessible to us , for we are composed of the very same substance , the very same flesh , and sadly incapable of stepping outside of it , even momentarily .