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Do you find that important names, dates, and details tend to slip away from you? Is a spotty memory causing you trouble in your job, relationships, or your day-to-day life? In Memory: How to Develop, Train, and Use It, prominent author William Walker Atkinson offers readers dozens of practical hints, tip, exercises and techniques to build up your memory banks and flex your mental muscles.
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Personal DevelopmentSubtopic
Self ImprovementChapter I - Memory: Its Importance
*
It needs very little argument to convince the average thinking person of
the great importance of memory, although even then very few begin to
realize just how important is the function of the mind that has to do
with the retention of mental impressions. The first thought of the
average person when he is asked to consider the importance of memory, is
its use in the affairs of every-day life, along developed and cultivated
lines, as contrasted with the lesser degrees of its development. In
short, one generally thinks of memory in its phase of "a good memory" as
contrasted with the opposite phase of "a poor memory." But there is a
much broader and fuller meaning of the term than that of even this
important phase.
It is true that the success of the individual in his every-day business,
profession, trade or other occupation depends very materially upon the
possession of a good memory. His value in any walk in life depends to a
great extent upon the degree of memory he may have developed. His memory
of faces, names, facts, events, circumstances and other things
concerning his every-day work is the measure of his ability to
accomplish his task. And in the social intercourse of men and women, the
possession of a retentive memory, well stocked with available facts,
renders its possessor a desirable member of society. And in the higher
activities of thought, the memory comes as an invaluable aid to the
individual in marshalling the bits and sections of knowledge he may have
acquired, and passing them in review before his cognitive
facultiesâthus does the soul review its mental possessions. As
Alexander Smith has said: "A man's real possession is his memory; in
nothing else is he rich; in nothing else is he poor." Richter has said:
"Memory is the only paradise from which we cannot be driven away. Grant
but memory to us, and we can lose nothing by death." Lactantius says:
"Memory tempers prosperity, mitigates adversity, controls youth, and
delights old age."
But even the above phases of memory represent but a small segment of its
complete circle. Memory is more than "a good memory"âit is the means
whereby we perform the largest share of our mental work. As Bacon has
said: "All knowledge is but remembrance." And Emerson: "Memory is a
primary and fundamental faculty, without which none other can work: the
cement, the bitumen, the matrix in which the other faculties are
embedded. Without it all life and thought were an unrelated succession."
And Burke: "There is no faculty of the mind which can bring its energy
into effect unless the memory be stored with ideas for it to look upon."
And Basile: "Memory is the cabinet of imagination, the treasury of
reason, the registry of conscience, and the council chamber of thought."
Kant pronounced memory to be "the most wonderful of the faculties." Kay,
one of the best authorities on the subject has said, regarding it:
"Unless the mind possessed the power of treasuring up and recalling its
past experiences, no knowledge of any kind could be acquired. If every
sensation, thought, or emotion passed entirely from the mind the moment
it ceased to be present, then it would be as if it had not been; and it
could not be recognized or named should it happen to return. Such an one
would not only be without knowledge,âwithout experience gathered from
the past,âbut without purpose, aim, or plan regarding the future, for
these imply knowledge and require memory. Even voluntary motion, or
motion for a purpose, could have no existence without memory, for memory
is involved in every purpose. Not only the learning of the scholar, but
the inspiration of the poet, the genius of the painter, the heroism of
the warrior, all depend upon memory. Nay, even consciousness itself
could have no existence without memory for every act of consciousness
involves a change from a past state to a present, and did the past state
vanish the moment it was past, there could be no consciousness of
change. Memory, therefore, may be said to be involved in all conscious
existenceâa property of every conscious being!"
In the building of character and individuality, the memory plays an
important part, for upon the strength of the impressions received, and
the firmness with which they are retained, depends the fibre of
character and individuality. Our experiences are indeed the stepping
stones to greater attainments, and at the same time our guides and
protectors from danger. If the memory serves us well in this respect we
are saved the pain of repeating the mistakes of the past, and may also
profit by remembering and thus avoiding the mistakes of others. As
Beattie says: "When memory is preternaturally defective, experience and
knowledge will be deficient in proportion, and imprudent conduct and
absurd opinion are the necessary consequence." Bain says: "A character
retaining a feeble hold of bitter experience, or genuine delight, and
unable to revive afterwards the impression of the time is in reality the
victim of an intellectual weakness under the guise of a moral weakness.
To have constantly before us an estimate of the things that affect us,
true to the reality, is one precious condition for having our will
always stimulated with an accurate reference to our happiness. The
thoroughly educated man, in this respect, is he that can carry with him
at all times the exact estimate of what he has enjoyed or suffered from
every object that has ever affected him, and in case of encounter can
present to the enemy as strong a front as if he were under the genuine
impression. A full and accurate memory, for pleasure or for pain, is the
intellectual basis both of prudence as regards self, and sympathy as
regards others."
So, we see that the cultivation of the memory is far more than the
cultivation and development of a single mental facultyâit is the
cultivation and development of our entire mental beingâthe development
of our selves.
To many persons the words memory, recollection, and remembrance, have
the same meaning, but there is a great difference in the exact shade of
meaning of each term. The student of this book should make the
distinction between the terms, for by so doing he will be better able to
grasp the various points of advice and instruction herein given. Let us
examine these terms.
Locke in his celebrated work, the "Essay Concerning Human
Understanding" has clearly stated the difference between the meaning of
these several terms. He says: "Memory is the power to revive again in
our minds those ideas which after imprinting, have disappeared, or have
been laid aside out of sightâwhen an idea again recurs without the
operation of the like object on the external sensory, it is
remembrance; if it be sought after by the mind, and with pain and
endeavor found, and brought again into view, it is recollection."
Fuller says, commenting on this: "Memory is the power of reproducing in
the mind former impressions, or percepts. Remembrance and Recollection
are the exercise of that power, the former being involuntary or
spontaneous, the latter volitional. We remember because we cannot help
it but we recollect only through positive effort. The act of
remembering, taken by itself, is involuntary. In other words, when the
mind remembers without having tried to remember, it acts spontaneously.
Thus it may be said, in the narrow, contrasted senses of the two terms,
that we remember by chance, but recollect by intention, and if the
endeavor be successful that which is reproduced becomes, by the very
effort to bring it forth, more firmly intrenched in the mind than ever."
But the New Psychology makes a little different distinction from that of
Locke, as given above. It uses the word memory not only in his sense of
"The power to revive, etc.," but also in the sense of the activities of
the mind which tend to receive and store away the various impressions of
the senses, and the ideas conceived by the mind, to the end that they
may be reproduced voluntarily, or involuntarily, thereafter. The
distinction between remembrance and recollection, as made by Locke, is
adopted as correct by The New Psychology.
It has long been recognized that the memory, in all of its phases, is
capable of development, culture, training and guidance through
intelligent exercise. Like any other faculty of mind, or physical part,
muscle or limb, it may be improved and strengthened. But until recent
years, the entire efforts of these memory-developers were directed to
the strengthening of that phase of the memory known as "recollection,"
which, you will remember, Locke defined as an idea or impression "sought
after by the mind, and with pain and endeavor found, and brought again
into view." The New Psychology goes much further than this. While
pointing out the most improved and scientific methods for
"re-collecting" the impressions and ideas of the memory, it also
instructs the student in the use of the proper methods whereby the
memory may be stored with clear and distinct impressions which will,
thereafter, flow naturally and involuntarily into the field of
consciousness when the mind is thinking upon the associated subject or
line of thought; and which may also be "re-collected" by a voluntary
effort with far less expenditure of energy than under the old methods
and systems.
You will see this idea carried out in detail, as we progress with the
various stages of the subject, in this work. You will see that the first
thing to do is to find something to remember; then to impress that
thing clearly and distinctly upon the receptive tablets of the memory;
then to exercise the remembrance in the direction of bringing out the
stored-away facts of the memory; then to acquire the scientific methods
of recollecting special items of memory that may be necessary at some
special time. This is the natural method in memory cultivation, as
opposed to the artificial systems that you will find mentioned in
another chapter. It is not only development of the memory, but also
development of the mind itself in several of its regions and phases of
activity. It is not merely a method of recollecting, but also a method
of correct seeing, thinking and remembering. This method recognizes the
truth of the verse of the poet, Pope, who said: "Remembrance and
reflection how allied! What thin partitions sense from thought divide!"
Chapter II - Cultivation of the Memory
*
This book is written with the fundamental intention and idea of pointing
out a rational and workable method whereby the memory may be developed,
trained and cultivated. Many persons seem to be under the impression
that memories are bestowed by nature, in a fixed degree or
possibilities, and that little more can be done for themâin short, that
memories are born, not made. But the fallacy of any such idea is
demonstrated by the investigations and experiments of all the leading
authorities, as well as by the results obtained by persons who have
developed and cultivated their own memories by individual effort without
the assistance of an instructor. But all such improvement, to be real,
must be along certain natural lines and in accordance with the well
established laws of psychology, instead of along artificial lines and in
defiance of psychological principles. Cultivation of the memory is a
far different thing from "trick memory," or feats of mental legerdemain
if the term is permissible.
Kay says: "That the memory is capable of indefinite improvement, there
can be no manner of doubt; but with regard to the means by which this
improvement is to be effected mankind are still greatly in ignorance."
Dr. Noah Porter says: "The natural as opposed to the artificial memory
depends on the relations of sense and the relations of thought,âthe
spontaneous memory of the eye and the ear availing itself of the obvious
conjunctions of objects which are furnished by space and time, and the
rational memory of those higher combinations which the rational
faculties superinduce upon those lower. The artificial memory proposes
to substitute for the natural and necessary relations under which all
objects must present and arrange themselves, an entirely new set of
relations that are purely arbitrary and mechanical, which excite little
or no other interest than that they are to aid us in remembering. It
follows that if the mind tasks itself to the special effort of
considering objects under these artificial relations, it will give less
attention to those which have a direct and legitimate interest for
itself." Granville says: "The defects of most methods which have been
devised and employed for improving the memory, lies in the fact that
while they serve to impress particular subjects on the mind, they do not
render the memory, as a whole, ready or attentive." Fuller says: "Surely
an art of memory may be made more destructive to natural memory than
spectacles are to eyes." These opinions of the best authorities might be
multiplied indefinitelyâthe consensus of the best opinion is decidedly
against the artificial systems, and in favor of the natural ones.
Natural systems of memory culture are based upon the fundamental
conception so well expressed by Helvetius, several centuries ago, when
he said: "The extent of the memory depends, first, on the daily use we
make of it; secondly, upon the attention with which we consider the
objects we would impress upon it; and, thirdly, upon the order in which
we range our ideas." This then is the list of the three essentials in
the cultivation of the memory: (1) Use and exercise; review and
practice; (2) Attention and Interest; and (3) Intelligent Association.
You will find that in the several chapters of this book dealing with the
various phases of memory, we urge, first, last, and all the time, the
importance of the use and employment of the memory, in the way of
employment, exercise, practice and review work. Like any other mental
faculty, or physical function, the memory will tend to atrophy by
disuse, and increase, strengthen and develop by rational exercise and
employment within the bounds of moderation. You develop a muscle by
exercise; you train any special faculty of the mind in the same way; and
you must pursue the same method in the case of the memory, if you would
develop it. Nature's laws are constant, and bear a close analogy to each
other. You will also notice the great stress that we lay upon the use of
the faculty of attention, accompanied by interest. By attention you
acquire the impressions that you file away in your mental record-file of
memory. And the degree of attention regulates the depth, clearness and
strength of the impression. Without a good record, you cannot expect to
obtain a good reproduction of it. A poor phonographic record results in
a poor reproduction, and the rule applies in the case of the memory as
well. You will also notice that we explain the laws of association, and
the principles which govern the subject, as well as the methods whereby
the proper associations may be made. Every association that you weld to
an idea or an impression, serves as a cross-reference in the index,
whereby the thing is found by remembrance or recollection when it is
needed. We call your attention to the fact that one's entire education
depends for its efficiency upon this law of association. It is a most
important feature in the rational cultivation of the memory, while at
the same time being the bane of the artificial systems. Natural
associations educate, while artificial ones tend to weaken the powers of
the mind, if carried to any great length.
There is no Royal Road to Memory. The cultivation of the memory depends
upon the practice along certain scientific lines according to well
established psychological laws. Those who hope for a sure "short cut"
will be disappointed, for none such exists. As Halleck says: "The
student ought not to be disappointed to find that memory is no exception
to the rule of improvement by proper methodical and long continued
exercise. There is no royal road, no short cut, to the improvement of
either mind or muscle. But the student who follows the rules which
psychology has laid down may know that he is walking in the shortest
path, and not wandering aimlessly about. Using these rules, he will
advance much faster than those without chart, compass, or pilot. He will
find mnemonics of extremely limited use. Improvement comes by orderly
steps. Methods that dazzle at first sight never give solid results."
The student is urged to pay attention to what we have to say in other
chapters of the book upon the subjects of attention and association. It
is not necessary to state here the particulars that we mention there.
The cultivation of the attention is a prerequisite for good memory, and
deficiency in this respect means deficiency not only in the field of
memory but also in the general field of mental work. In all branches of
The New Psychology there is found a constant repetition of the
injunction to cultivate the faculty of attention and concentration.
Halleck says: "Haziness of perception lies at the root of many a bad
memory. If perception is definite, the first step has been taken toward
insuring a good memory. If the first impression is vivid, its effect
upon the brain cells is more lasting. All persons ought to practice
their visualizing power. This will react upon perception and make it
more definite. Visualizing will also form a brain habit of remembering
things pictorially, and hence more exactly."
The subject of association must also receive its proper share of
attention, for it is by means of association that the stored away
records of the memory may be recovered or re-collected. As Blackie says:
"Nothing helps the mind so much as order and classification. Classes are
few, individuals many: to know the class well is to know what is most
essential in the character of the individual, and what burdens the
memory least to retain." And as Halleck says regarding the subject of
association by relation: "Whenever we can discover any relation between
facts, it is far easier to remember them. The intelligent law of memory
may be summed up in these words: Endeavor to link by some thought
relation each new mental acquisition to an old one. Bind new facts to
other facts by relations of similarity, cause and effect, whole and
part, or by any logical relation, and we shall find that when an idea
occurs to us, a host of related ideas will flow into the mind. If we
wish to prepare a speech or write an article on any subject, pertinent
illustrations will suggest themselves. The person whose memory is merely
contiguous will wonder how we think of them."
In your study for the cultivation of the memory, along the lines laid
down in this book, you have read the first chapter thereof and have
informed yourself thoroughly regarding the importance of the memory to
the individual, and what a large part it plays in the entire work of the
mind. Now carefully read the third chapter and acquaint yourself with
the possibilities in the direction of cultivating the memory to a high
degree, as evidenced by the instances related of the extreme case of
development noted therein. Then study the chapter on memory systems, and
realize that the only true method is the natural method, which requires
work, patience and practiceâthen make up your mind that you will follow
this plan as far as it will take you. Then acquaint yourself with the
secret of memoryâthe subconscious region of the mind, in which the
records of memory are kept, stored away and indexed, and in which the
little mental office-boys are busily at work. This will give you the key
to the method. Then take up the two chapters on attention, and
association, respectively, and acquaint yourself with these important
principles. Then study the chapter on the phases of memory, and take
mental stock of yourself, determining in which phase of memory you are
strongest, and in which you need development. Then read the two chapters
on training the eye and ear, respectivelyâyou need this instruction.
Then read over the several chapters on the training of the special
phases of the memory, whether you need them or notâyou may find
something of importance in them. Then read the concluding chapter,
which gives you some general advice and parting instruction. Then return
to the chapters dealing with the particular phases of memory in which
you have decided to develop yourself, studying the details of the
instruction carefully until you know every point of it. Then, most
important of allâget to work. The rest is a matter of practice,
practice, practice, and rehearsal. Go back to the chapters from time to
time, and refresh your mind regarding the details. Re-read each chapter
at intervals. Make the book your own, in every sense of the word, by
absorbing its contents.
Chapter III - Celebrated Cases of Memory
*
In order that the student may appreciate the marvelous extent of development possible to the ...
Table of contents
- MEMORY
- Contents
- Chapter I - Memory: Its Importance
- Chapter II - Cultivation of the Memory
- Chapter III - Celebrated Cases of Memory
- Chapter IV - Memory Systems
- Chapter V - The Subconscious Record-File
- Chapter VI - Attention
- Chapter VII - Association
- Chapter VIII - Phases of Memory
- Chapter IX - Training the Eye
- Chapter X - Training the Ear
- Chapter XI - How to Remember Names
- Chapter XII - How to Remember Faces
- Chapter XIII - How to Remember Places
- Chapter XIV - How to Remember Numbers
- Chapter XV - How to Remember Music
- Chapter XVI - How to Remember Occurrences
- Chapter XVII - How to Remember Facts
- Chapter XVIII - How to Remember Words, Etc.
- Chapter XIX - How to Remember Books, Plays, Tales, Etc.
- Chapter XX - General Instructions