MEMORY, HOW TO DEVELOP, TRAIN AND USE IT/PART 5
CHAPTER V.
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 results, 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.
Hering
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 the 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
been 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 moulding and
fashioning our subsequent thoughts and actions. It is only a small part of what
exists in the mind that we are conscious 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, every
one'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 scintilla of it in the mind before we could recognize it as
having been there before."
Morell
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 seams, but there it is,
ready at the bidding of some appropriate stimulus to come again out of the
darkness into the light of consciousness." Beattie 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, somnambulism, 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 revive 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 recollection 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 every-day 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 wished 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 their 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 could not 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 commendation.
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