Speaker 1: 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 everyday 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
everyday 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 everyday 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 marshaling the
bits and sections of knowledge he may have acquired, and
passing them in review before his cognitive faculties. Thus does
the soul review its mental possession. 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.
It 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 Bazile.
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.
K 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 aired. 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
be not only without knowledge, without experience gathered from the past,
but 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 passed,
there could be no consciousness of change. Memory therefore must
be said to be involved in all conscious existence, a
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 fiber 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 remm membering 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 that he 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 affront 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 regard 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 faculty. It is the
cultivation and development of our entire mental being. The development
of ourselves. 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 sight. When 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 sense 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 entrenched
in the mind than ever. But the new psycho pology
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 retrieve, 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 the 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 recollecting the
impressions and ideas of the memory, it also instructs the
student and 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 recollected
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 partition sense from thought, divide