The subconscious record file. The old writers on the subject were wont to consider
the memory as a separate faculty of the mind, but this idea disappeared before
the advancing tide of knowledge, which resulted in the acceptance of the conception now
known as the new psychology. This new conception recognizes the existence of a vast
out of consciousness region of the mind, one phase of which is known as
the subconscious mind or the subconscious field of mental activities. In this field of
mentation, the activities of memory have their seat. A careful consideration of the
subject brings the certainty that the entire work of the memory is performed in this
subconscious region of the mind. Only when the subconscious record is represented to the
conscious field and recollection or remembrance resultults does the memorized idea or impression emerge from
the subconscious region. An understanding of this fact simplifies the entire subject of the
memory and enables us to perfect plans and methods, whereby the memory may be
developed, improved, and trained by means of the direction of the subconscious activities,
by the use of the conscious faculties and the will. Hearing says,
memory is a faculty not only of our conscious states, but also, and
much more so, of our unconscious ones. Kay says it is impossible to
understand the true nature of memory or how to train it aright, unless we
have a clear conception of the fact that there is much in the mind of
which we are unconscious. The highest form of memory, as of all mental
powers, is the unconscious, when what we wish to recall comes to us
spontaneously, without any conscious thought or search for it. Frequently, when we
wish to recall something that has previously been in the mind, we are unable
to do so by any conscious effort of the will. But we turn the
attention to something else, and after a time the desired information comes up spontaneously
when we are not consciously thinking of it. Carpenter says, there is the
working of a mechanism beneath the consciousness, which, when once set going,
runs on of itself, and which is more likely to evolve the desired result
when the conscious activity of the mind is exerted in a direction altogether different.
This subconscious region of the mind is the great record file of everything we have
ever experienced, thought, or known. Everything is recorded there. The best
authorities now generally agree that there is no such thing as an absolute forgetting of
even the most minute impression. Notwithstanding the fact that we may be unable to
recollect or remember it owing to its faintness or lack of associated indexing, it
is held that everything is to be found in that subconscious index file, if
we can only manage to find its place. Kay says, in like manner,
we believe that every impression or thought that has once before consciousness remains ever
afterward impressed upon the mind. It may never again come up before consciousness,
but it will doubtless remain in that vast, ultra conscious region of the mind,
unconsciously molding and fashioning our subsequent thoughts and actions. It is only a
small part of what exists in the mind that we are conscious of of.
There is always much that is known to be in the mind that exists in
it unconsciously and must be stored away somewhere. We may be able to recall
it into consciousness when we wish to do so, but at other times the
mind is unconscious of its existence. Further, everyone's experience must tell him that
there is much in his mind that he cannot always recall when he may wish
to do so much that he can recover only after a labored search, or
that he may search for in vain at the time, but which may occur
to him afterwards, when perhaps he is not thinking about it again, much
that we probably would never be able to recall, or that would not recur
to us under ordinary circumstances, we may remember to have had in the mind
when it is mentioned to us by others. In such a case, there
must still have remained some trace or or scintilla of it in the mind before
we could recognize it as having been there before. Morrell says, we have
every reason to believe that mental power, when once called forth, follows the
analogy of everything we see in the material universe. In the fact of its
perpetuity, Every single effort of mind is a creation which can never go back
again into nonentity. It may slumber in the depths of forgetfulness, as light
and heat slumber in the coal seems, but there it is ready, at
the bidding of some appropriate stimulus, to come again out of the darkness into
the light of consciousness. Beatty says, that which has been long forgotten,
nay, that which we have often in vain endeavored to recollect will, sometimes
without an effort of ours, occur to us on a sudden and if I
may so speak of its own accord, Hamilton says, the mind frequently contains
whole systems of knowledge, which, though in our normal state they may have
faded into absolute oblivion, may in certain abnormal states, as madness, delirium,
somnabulism, catalepsy, etc. Flash out into luminous consciousness. For example,
there are cases in which the extinct memory of whole languages were suddenly restored.
Lecky says, it is now fully established that a multitude of events which
are so completely forgotten that no effort of the will can retrieve them, and
that the statement of them calls up no reminiscences, may nevertheless be so to
speak, embedded in the memory, and may be reproduced with intense vividness under
certain physical conditions. In proof of the above, the authorities give many instances
recorded in scientific annals. Coleridge relates the well known case of the old woman
who could neither read nor write, who, when in the delirium of fever,
incessantly recited, in very pompous tones, long passages from the Latin,
Greek, and Hebrew with a distinct enunciation and precise rendition. Notes of her
ravings were taken down by shorthand and caused much wonderment, until it was afterwards
found that in her youth she had been employed as a servant in the house
of a clergyman who was in the habit of walking up and down in his
study, reading aloud from his favorite classical and religious writers. In his books
were found marked passages corresponding to the notes taken from the girl's ravings. Her
subconscious memory had stored up the sounds of these passages heard in her early youth,
but of which she had no recollect in her normal state. Beaufort,
describing his sensations just before being rescued from drowning, says, every incident of
my former life seemed to glance across my recollection in a retrograde procession, not
in mere outline, but in a picture filled with every minute and collateral feature,
thus forming a panoramic view of my whole existence. Kay truly observes by
adopting the opinion that every thought or impression that had once been consciously before the
mind is ever afterwards retained, we obtain light on many obscure mental phenomena,
and especially do we draw from it the conclusion of the perfectibility of the memory
to an almost unlimited extent. We cannot doubt that could we penetrate to the
lowest depths of our mental nature, we should there find traces of every impression
we have received, every thought we have entertained, and every act we have
done through our past life, each one making its influence felt in the way
of building up our present knowledge or in guiding our everyday actions. And if
they persist in the mind, might it not be possible to recall most,
if not all, of them into consciousness when we wish to do so?
If our memories or powers of recollection were what they should be. As we
have said, this great subconscious region of the mind, this memory region,
may be thought of as a great record file, with an intricate system of
indexes and office boys, whose business it is to file away the records,
to index them, and to find them when needed. The records record only
what we have impressed upon them by the attention, the degree of depth and
clearness depending entirely upon the degree of attention which we bestowed upon the original impression.
We can never expect to have the office boys of the memory bring up
anything that they have not been given to file away. The indexing and cross
references are supplied by the association existing between the various impressions. The more cross
references or associations that are connected with an idea, thought, or impression that
is filed away in the memory, the greater the chances of it being found
readily when wanted. These two features of attention and association, and the parts
they play in the phenomena of memory, are mentioned in detail in other chapters
of this book. These little office boys of the Memory are an industrious and
willing lot of little chaps. But like all boys, they do their best
work when kept in practice. Idleness and lack of exercise cause them to become
slothful and careless, and forgetful of the records under their charge. A little
fresh exercise and work soon take the cobwebs out of the brains, and they
spring eagerly to their tasks. They become familiar with their work when exercised properly,
and soon become very expert. They have a tendency to remember on their
own part, and when a certain record is called for, often they grow
accustomed to its place and can find it without referring to the indexes at all.
But their trouble comes from faint and almost illegible records caused by poor attention.
These they can scarcely decipher. When they do succeed in finding them,
lack of proper indexing by associations causes them much worry and extra work, and
sometimes they are unable to find the records at all from this neglect. Often,
however, after they have told you that they cannot find a thing,
and you have left the place in disgust, they will continue their search,
and hours afterward will surprise you by handing you the desired idea or impression which
they had found carelessly indexed or improperly filed away in these chapters. You will
be helped if you will carry in your mind these little office boys of the
memory record file, and the hard work they have to do for you,
much of which is made doubly burdensome by your own neglect and carelessness. Treat
these little fellows right, and they will work overtime for you willingly and joyfully.
But they need your assistance and encouragement, and an occasional word of praise
and common daytions