Lesson 16 The Art of Memory

In the preceding chapters, I have sought to convey to you a clear understanding of the principles of the Science of Memory. I shall now endeavor to instruct you in the working principles of the Art of Memory. There is a difference between the two. The Science of a thing is the knowledge of its principles and causes; of the ascertained truths and facts regarding its nature and modes of action—a statement of its general laws of being and action. The Art of a thing is the knowledge of the principles and rules of its application and use; means of setting its principles to work—methods of doing its special work.

In my presentation of the Science of Memory, I have endeavored to give you considerable information regarding memory culture and memory training, in a general way, in connection with the theory and science of memory. And, in my presentation of the Art of Memory, I shall try always to explain the underlying principle involved in any special exercise, rule, or plan. But, nevertheless, I feel that the part of the teaching which we are now approaching may be considered as the "practical" phase, as compared with the "theoretical" phase which we have just completed. This, however, must not be considered as decrying or underrating the value of the theoretical phase of the subject. For, unless we base our art and practice upon a firm foundation of theory and science, we will not reach our full degree of efficiency.

Science informs us as to the "why" phase of things—Art as to the "how" side. The two combined give us the full "know how" efficiency. It is a favorite expression of the times that the man that is needed is the man who "can do things," rather than the man who merely "knows about" the things. But the man who can simply "do" a thing without also knowing why he does it, is apt to be sooner or later superseded by the man who knows both the "why" and the "how"—the composite, complete, "know how" man, who combines in himself the advantage of both theory and practice; of both science and art. One-sided-ness is too often "lop sidedness." A complete balance requires both sides equally developed.

THE THREE PRINCIPLES OF MEMORY EFFICIENCY. The Art of Memory, that is to say the art of training and employing the memory to act efficiently, may be said to comprise three great general principles or phases, namely.

I. The Principle of Perception;

II. The Principle of Association;

III. The Principle of Recollection.

These three principles will be employed in every exercise, rule, or principle of application, that I shall present to your attention in the chapters to follow. These principles should be memorized, and kept in the front of the mind They are more than mere conveniences of presentation of the subject. They represent distinct phases of the operation of memory, and an understanding of the part played by each will enable one to use his memory with far greater efficiency.

Like many other arts, that of Memory can be best employed by one first "learning the motions" involved in the entire process, and then perfecting himself in each of them, to the end that the combined process may be manifested in the best possible and complete manner. Just as the swordsman learns the art of guard-parry and thrust, separately, before he may employ them in effective combination, so should the student of memory so learn the best way of applying the above stated three principles of memory, in order that he may effectively employ his entire machinery of memory.

EFFICIENCY. Authorities on the Science and Art of Efficiency, have laid down the rule that there is a BEST WAY of doing anything and the aim of Efficiency is to discover that best way. To be the best way, these authorities tell us, the way must be (a) the way producing the greatest return for the work and time employed; (b) the way requiring the least time to produce the best results; and (e) the way requiring the least possible effort to obtain the best results. A combination of these three things, produces the best way in which any work may be performed, or any object attained. This is known as the Rule of Efficiency. I shall ever bear this rule in mind in my instruction, and I ask that every pupil memorize it and apply it in his work. No waste motion; no waste time; and the greatest results—that is the ideal.

THE PRINCIPLE OF PERCEPTION. Before an impression may he recorded in the memory, much less recalled, it must first have been perceived in consciousness. There is a vast difference betwen the mere mechanical registering of an outside thing by the senses of sight, hearing, feeling, smelling, tasting. These senses may register while we are asleep, or unconscious from the effect of a blow, and yet they may not be perceived in consciousness—and, accordingly no impression will be made upon the memory. Perception is a distinct and specific action of the mind itself. The physical senses report many thousands of things every day, which are not consciously perceived by us. The faculties of perception exercise the power of choice, to a considerable extent, and usually shut out of consciousness far more sense reports than they admit. The reports of the senses may be compared to the many knocks at the door of consciousness, of which but comparatively few are answered by the opening of the door of the mind.

This fact has a very important bearing upon the question of memory, for the memory records only that which is perceived in consciousness. And, equally important is the fact that the degree of the impression made upon the memory is determined by the degree of perception bestowed upon the object causing the impression. There are many degrees of perception, varying from the dim fringe of sensation to the full conscious perception inspired by concentrated voluntary attention.

In a way, we may be said to perceive every sensation awakening consciousness in the slightest degree. Yet there is a marked difference between such slight perception, and that of even the average conscious recognition of an object. For instance, we may see a blur of red by means of simple sensation, but a fuller perception is required before we recognize that the red thing is a rose. If the attention is directed elsewhere, we get but a dim perception from an object; or, in case of concentrated attention upon another object, we may get no perception at all from the one before us.

As I have stated in the earlier lessons of this course, perception is dependent upon attention for its effect—attention voluntary, or involuntary. The greater the degree of voluntary attention we give to a report of the senses, the greater is the degree of perception, of course.

There is a wonderful range of degree of perception manifested by different individuals. Some persons go through life perceiving very few things, and these things very imperfectly. Others perceive fairly well the things connected with their daily occupations, but very little else. Others manifest a very high degree of perception, and to such the world becomes a very different thing than it appears to be to the indifferent observer. The Indian will detect a hundred things along a path in the forest, which will be absent to the perception of the white man from the large city. The man experienced in handling certain articles of merchandise, will perceive many little distinguishing marks which are invisible to the man outside of that line of work.

It is impossible for a man to know any more about a thing than he has perceived to exist in the thing—either by direct perception or by perceiving the results of the observation of others. And as he does not know these things, he cannot be expected to recall them from memory—for they have never been placed there in the first place. The more closely a man observes a thing, the greater his perception of its characteristics, and the greater his knowledge of that thing—and these things constitute the records and impressions of memory.

For the reasons just given, the instructor in the Art of Memory endeavors to present to his pupil the simple, elementary rules and principles which underlie the power of close and accurate observation, for by so doing he is pointing out the road to clear, distinct memory impressions upon the subconscious mind. There is no royal road to observation, and work is always required in order to gain perfection. But there are certain rules which, if applied, will be of great service to the student who wishes to acquire the art of efficient observation and perception, as means to acquire a strong usable memory. These rules and principles I shall give you in the following chapters.

THE PRINCIPLE OF ASSOCIATION. The principle of association in memory training may be said to be the principle of the filing and indexing of the records of the things perceived, which are stored away in the subconscious mind. It is of very little use to us to have stored away in our memories a vast number of separate impressions and bits of knowledge, if we have no easy way of getting at them—of finding them—when we want to make use of them. Such a mind is like a great letter-file, lacking an index. We know that the letter is somewhere in the memory, but we cannot lay our hands on it because we have no system of classifying and filing away our letters, and no system of indexing them so as to show their position. The average large business house spends large sums of money to purchase, and keep in operation, its system of filing away, and indexing, its papers, letters, orders, etc. Without such system, it could not do business effectively and profitably.

In the same way, we find that great works of reference, such as sets of law reports, encyclopaedias, and other works of the kind, have very complete systems of indexing and cross indexing the contents thereof. It is of the utmost importance that the user of such a work be able to find that which he seeks with the smallest expenditure of time and labor—hence these elaborate indexes. Students of the Bible generally use what they call a Concordance, in which they find the place in the Bible occupied by any word or sentence conveying an idea. By reference to this Concordance, one may find just how many times the word "faith" occurs in the Bible, and the precise place of each occurrence. Or, in the same way he may find where sentences or paragraphs conveying a certain leading idea appear in the book. Without such a work it would be impossible for the Bible student to pursue his studies efficiently and intelligently. Imagine a dictionary in which the words were placed at random, instead of appearing according to the prescribed self-indexing plan! Such a dictionary would be almost worthless. But this would be no worse than a memory filled with recorded impressions, without the index of association to be used in recalling them. Do you get the idea?

In the following chapters, I shall point out the way toward the best known methods of associative-indexing, so that you may tie up your ideas with as many associated ideas as you may desire. In this way you have as many cross-index references as you have associations, and should have but very little trouble in finding any idea which you have recorded in your memory.

THE PRINCIPLE OF RECOLLECTION. There is a difference between "remembrance" and "recollection," according to the psychologists. The usual distinction made is that whereby "remembrance" is held to imply the involuntary exercise of memory—without any special desire or effort; while "recollection" is held to imply the voluntary exercise of memory—by special desire and effort. As some have expressed it: "When the memory remembers without having tried to remember—that is remembrance; when it remembers after having tried to do so—that is recollection."

I teach a student how to recollect, first by preparing the way by clear, strong impressions upon the memory; then by a scientific recording and associative indexing, and cross-indexing, of such impressions; and, finally, by the use of voluntary attention and will, aided by practice and exercise, in the actual work of recollection. It is very difficult, of course, to teach a person how to use his will and attention, by simple direction. But, this difficulty may be overcome, greatly, by causing him to perform certain exercises and rules, consciously, faithfully, and systematically, according to well-tested plans and systems based upon proven psychological principles. I may not be able to tell a man how to move his arm, by mere words. But, by taking hold of his arm, and moving it, I may convey the idea of the motion to him, so that he will be able to repeat it. This is akin to the work of the teacher who places his hand over that of the little child, who is beginning to write. By tracing the movement in this way, the child acquires the motor-habit and is able to make the movement by himself a little later on. I shall try to teach you the art of recollection in much the same way, after having first given you the method whereby you have something to recollect, indexed in such a way that you may find it when you seek it Do you get this idea, also?

 

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