When should I use "born to" vs. "born of"?

Solution 1:

You are right 'Memories are born of now' is the correct form of what you are wanting to say. indeed it is a lucid and elegant thought.

'Born' in both its real and its figurative sense, can take 'of' or 'to', and it may take a while to grasp when each is appropriate. Figuratively I could say 'Pele, whose father was a footballer, was born to that life'. But some might say 'ignorance is born of a lack of educational opportunity'. Can you spot the difference in meaning of 'born', in these two sentences?

In its literal use 'born' can take either 'to' or 'of'. 'I was born of a humble family' means almost the same as 'I was born to a humble family'. 'Of' is used more where you are making a general observation about someone. 'To' would tend be used where you are providing specific information. But it is a very finely nuanced distinction and will take a while to grasp.

If you are talking very specifically, using parents names etc, you nearly always use 'to'. 'A boy, Charles Edward, was born to Mike and Melanie Jackson, at 7.15am on 26th October'. Being 'born of' has a much older, almost biblical sense: 'Isaac was born of Abraham and Sarah' .

Solution 2:

The distinction between "born of" and "born to" is in fact quite simple, and is a consequence of the core meanings of 'OF' and 'TO'. Their different meanings are not essentially related to "historical"/"habitual"/"correct", and so on, uses but to the very meanings of the contrasting elements 'TO' and 'OF'. This constrat has to do with discourse ORIENTATION, which enunciation lingistics, as well as other branches of manguage studies, are interested in tracing and interpreting.

'OF' denotes ORIGIN, within a retrospective (backwards) orientation, often very much in a similar way to 'FROM'; whereas 'TO' denotes DESTINATION, within a prospective (or onwards/forwards) orientation.

Thus the previous example 'A boy, Charles Edward, was born to Mike and Melanie Jackson, at 7.15am on 26th October'indicates that Mike & Melanie "received" a son on 26th October, etc., "a son was born onto them", "their baby boy arrived on that date", and so on. The ORIENTATION here is that the producer of that sentence is looking at "what happened to" Mike & Melanie, the "destination" of the child in question.

About the same supposed event, you could just as validly, but in a different discursive context, say/write: "Charles Edward, that rascal, caused such much pain and suffering in his life, although he was born of gentle and benevolent parents, Mike & Melanie Jackson, on..."

In this last example, 'OF' means that the discourse is oriented backwards, to look at the origin and provenance of the event, thing, person notion, etc. in question.

So if you want to shorten "Memories can only ever be created now", "born to now" would not translate the original meaning ; it would rather mean "memories become real in the present moment when you evoke them" not "are created now". The appropriate solution is "born of now" = produced in the present moment.