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النشر الإلكتروني

CHAPTER V.

MEMORY.

THE NATURE OF MEMORY.

When a connection between a pleasure and a certain object is established, there arises the definite desire to again obtain that object, and so repeat the pleasure. pleasure. Or, when Or, when a connection between a pain and a certain object is established, there arises a definite desire to avoid that object, and so escape the pain. On stimulation, the mental body readily repeats the image of the object; for, owing to the general law that energy flows in the direction of least resistance, the matter of the mental body is shaped most easily into the form already frequently taken; this tendency to repeat vibrations once started, when acted on by energy, is due to Tamas, to the inertia of matter, and is the germ of Memory. The molecules of matter, having been grouped together, fall slowly apart as other energies play on them, but retain for a considerable time the tendency to resume their

mutual relation; if an impulse such as grouped them be given to them, they promptly fall again into position. Further, when the Knower has vibrated in any particular way, that power of vibration remains in him, and, in the case of the pleasure-giving, or pain-giving, object, the desire for the object, or for avoiding the object, sets that power free, pushes it outwards, one might say, and thus gives the necessary stimulation to the mental body.

The image thus produced is recognised by the Knower, and in the one case the attachment caused by pleasure makes him reproduce also the image of the pleasure. In the other, the repulsion caused by pain equally causes the image of the pain. The object and the pleasure, or the object and the pain, are connected together in experience, and when the set of vibrations that compose the image of the object is made, the set of vibrations that make up the pleasure or the pain is also started, and the pleasure or the pain is retasted in the absence of the object. That is memory in its simplest form : a self-initiated vibration, of the same nature as that which caused the feeling of pleasure or pain, again causing that feeling. These images are less massive, and hence to the partially-developed Knower less vivid and living, than those caused

by contact with an external object, the heavy physical vibrations lending much energy to the mental and desire images, but fundamentally the vibrations are identical, and memory is the reproduction in mental matter by the Knower of objects previously contacted. This reflection may beand is repeated over and over again, in subtler and subtler matter, without regard to any separated Knower, and these in their totality are the partial contents of the memory of the Logos, the Lord of a Universe. These images of images may be be reached by any separated Knower in proportion as he has developed within himself the "power of vibration" above mentioned. As in wireless telegraphy, a series of vibrations composing a message may be caught by any suitable receiver-i.e., any receiver capable of reproducing them-so can a latent vibratory potency within a Knower be made active by a vibration similar to it in these kosmic images. These, on the âkâshic plane, form the "âkâshic records" often spoken of in Theosophical literature, and they last through the life of the system.

BAD MEMORY.

In order that we may clearly understand what lies at the root of " bad memory," we must examine

the mental processes which go to make up what is called memory. Although in many psychological books memory is spoken of as a mental faculty, there is really no one faculty to which that name should be given. The persistence of a mental image is not due to any special faculty, but belongs to the general quality of the mind; a feeble mind is feeble in persistence as in all else, and-like a substance too fluid to retain the shape of the mould into which it has been poured-falls quickly out of the form it has taken. Where the mental body is little organised, is a mere loose aggregate of the molecules of mind-stuff, a cloud-like mass without much coherence, memory will certainly be very weak. But this weakness is general, not special; it is common to the whole mind, and is due to its low stage of evolution.

As the mental body becomes organised and the powers of the Jîva work in it, we yet often find what is called "a bad memory. But if we observe this "bad memory," we shall find that it is not faulty in all respects, that there are some things which are well remembered, and which the mind retains without effort. If we then examine these remembered things, we shall find that they are things which greatly attract the mind, that the things that are much liked are not forgotten.

I

have known a woman complain of a bad memory with respect to matters that were being studied, while I have observed in her a very retentive memory with regard to the details of a dress that she admired. Her mental body was not lacking in a fair amount of retentiveness, and when she observed carefully and attentively, producing a clear mental image, the image was fairly long-lived. Here we have the key to "bad memory." It is due to lack of attention, to lack of accurate observation, and therefore to confused thought. Confused thought is the blurred impression caused by careless observation and lack of attention, while clear thought is the sharply-cut impression due to concentrated attention and careful, accurate observation. We do not remember the things to which we pay little heed, but we remember well the things that keenly interest us.

How, then, should a "bad memory" be treated? First, the things should be noticed with regard to which it is bad and with regard to which it is good, so as to estimate the general quality of adhesiveThen the things with regard to which it is bad should be scrutinised, in order to see if they are worth remembering, and if they are things for which we do not care. If we find that we care little for them, but that in our best moments we

ness.

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