konchog uma Posted November 20, 2012 I came across the Art of Memory via the writings of John Crowley (who is of course the best author in the world ever, but thats another discussion) in Little, Big and Aegypt, and research into Giordano Bruno, a defrocked dominican friar, astronomer, philosopher, artist, and mathematician. He was burned at the stake for disagreeing with the catholic church, and one of the things he realized and wrote about (aside from the fact that the sun is just a star and the heavens are full of millions of them and that there is probably other intelligent life in the universe) was the Art of Memory. As the wiki page i linked above indicates, there are many techniques which have been called "art of memory". I have worked with creating an elaborate visualization of a "memory mansion" with a room for each aspect of what i want to remember. I can place objects in the rooms to stand for certain things or remind me of them, and i can revisit those things via the visualization. When i first learned of it, i thought "what a bothersome nuisance" but after working with it i have had some amazing experiences. Like my shrine room (in the east wing lol)... the statues there and i have had some really excellent conversations, which is not the point of the art of memory, but seemingly a side effect. But in many ways the point of the art is that things will spontaneously arise in the mind's memory mansion which will allow the inhabitant insight and greater and greater access to memory. Have any of you bums worked with this? Heard of it? Read those pages and have some thoughts? I would love to hear them... blessings 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RiverSnake Posted November 20, 2012 Sounds similar to Do Mo's cave in Path Notes. Its definitely and interesting exercise. Haven't ever utilized this kinda thing for memory though. -My 2 cents, Peace Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted November 20, 2012 Memory Mansion is a useful way of remembering things in series IF you are a visual learner. I'm not so I use mnemonics. Can the lad see clearly ? CTLSC Cervical Thoracic Lumbar Sacral Coccygeal You get the idea. If you can't draw to save your life (always a sign you are not a visual learner) then mnemonics will always work better for you than will memory mansion 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fū Yue Posted November 20, 2012 That sounds like a very useful excercise. What I like to do is see every single little dust mote in my visual field as a miniature-me who diligently keeps record of everything i've ever done said thought smelled whatever. If I want to recall something I pull it out, fractal style, and it unfolds like a flower in space. It's lead to some very interesting dreams where I'd be disembodied floating through crazy holographic mind internet and some pretty novel lucid dream techniques. That feeling when you realize you're dreaming because your awareness is stuck halfway between a television, the show on it, and your shoes in some sort of unspeakable spacial geometry: priceless. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted November 20, 2012 Signs and symptoms of a fracture... Plus Dict Pain Loss of Use Unnatural Mobility Swelling Deformity Irregularity Crepitus Tenderness Learnt in nurse training back in 1977 and still down there in long term memory. Horses for courses are memory training systems, they all work providing you use the one that suits your individual learning style. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Seth Ananda Posted November 20, 2012 Art of memory is a fascinating topic. if I remember rightly, it also covers memory clustering via associations. The old masters were masters of astrology, herbalism, healing, symbolism, alchemy, and a bunch of other stuff... The memory clustering comes in where if you pick a herb, it also corresponds to a planet, a metal, a god or goddess, a colour, a body part, a musical key... This helped maintain all the knowledge held in so many diverse fields... Also the use of Music to remember long passages from Important text books... Still used around the world for Sutra memorisation.. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted November 21, 2012 Yep music is good and lyrics. Last memories to go in the cruel descent into Alzheimers are nursery rhymes learnt at mother's knee. Koran's a long poem memorised kinaesthetically. The students rock and 'bow' on the syllabic beats. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
konchog uma Posted November 21, 2012 Art of memory is a fascinating topic. if I remember rightly, it also covers memory clustering via associations. The old masters were masters of astrology, herbalism, healing, symbolism, alchemy, and a bunch of other stuff... The memory clustering comes in where if you pick a herb, it also corresponds to a planet, a metal, a god or goddess, a colour, a body part, a musical key... This helped maintain all the knowledge held in so many diverse fields... exactly seth Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GrandmasterP Posted November 21, 2012 These guys never miss a single point in debate.... http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=5lYkIJGSKZM&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5lYkIJGSKZM&gl=GB Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustARandomPanda Posted November 21, 2012 Have any of you bums worked with this? Heard of it? Read those pages and have some thoughts? I would love to hear them... blessings Definitely. If I recall correctly...this method was supposedly popularized by an ancient Greek. It's called the Memory Palace. The story goes he went to a banquet and in order to remember the name of each person at the banquet memorized them in a specific location in the room with an identifier significant to himself. Then the roof collapsed killing all but a few banquet guests (one of which was the guy whom memorized everyone). The bodies were supposedly so mangled few could be identified but he was able to tell the relatives and authorities which body was which because he'd keyed them to his internal memory palace. Sounds similar to Do Mo's cave in Path Notes. Its definitely and interesting exercise. Haven't ever utilized this kinda thing for memory though. -My 2 cents, Peace It's definitely a version of Da Mo's cave. Very useful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Birch Posted November 21, 2012 The poker players use it (memory palace) to count cards. Then there's those super memory competitions too. I did a few 'Damo's Cave' meditations with KAP. At the moment, I'm dreaming a lot about my house (I have a few) and housecleaning and getting people to stop selling the furniture :-) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
宁 Posted November 21, 2012 I've been toying with the idea of building that Memory Palace since my childhood, i was hoping to use it for school Coincidentally or not, I just got my copy of F Yates book on Giordano Bruno this month, and have been toying with the idea of building an inner temple for magickal purposes as well, might just give it a go Nice to see there are other people out there doing it Btw, that's how Giordano Bruno 'discovered' soul travel for himself, visited other worlds, and wrote about it in books that criticised the Church's view, which in turn got him arrested and burned at the stake Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Taomeow Posted November 21, 2012 I use ridiculous linking when I want to memorize something. E.g., a random list of a dozen unrelated objects, remembered at first glance -- once and for all, and in the original order. Example: Shark crown phone snow lamp canyon zoo plane table teacher Japan tuxedo Make the first word into a picture in your mind's eye -- OK, I see a shark. Next, you link the picture of the next word but make it ridiculous, oversized, or otherwise noteworthy, or else you won't remember. Shark eats a huge crown, having trouble swallowing it. Next, you link the next picture -- emergency phone call, "A shark has swallowed a crown! Help!" Next, the ringing phone is seen buried in deep snow and someone is frantically digging for it to answer it. The frantic digging takes place by the light of a huge electric lamp in the sky where the sun should be. The lamp base rests at the bottom of a canyon. The canyon is teeming with animals, it's a zoo. Suddenly a burning plane crashes into the cages, people and animals run in all directions. One of the running people is my high school teacher, I recognize him. He's running in huge leaps covering whole countries, continents and oceans till he lands in Japan. He is greeted by the Japanese as a celebrity and promptly changes into a tuxedo for a gala event. It takes a while to type, but only seconds to link. Now that I've done it, I will never forget that random list, ever. Which is why I don't use this method often, only when I really need to, otherwise a thousand ridiculous stories around grocery lists and to-do chores would be etched in my memory for all eternity. I spare it as much as I can. "A sage has spirit but does not belabor it, has memory but does not exploit it." 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aaron Posted November 21, 2012 Anyone interested in memory should examine the Palace of the Mind method developed by the Indians (the ones in India). They have a very fascinating way of teaching their children how to remember things. Rather than go into a detailed explanation, I'll suggest you look it up, because to be honest I'm a little foggy on some of the particulars, but what I do know is that, not only does it work, but after a good deal of practice the users of this method can have almost perfect recall of whatever they have stored in their palace. Interesting stuff indeed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chi 2012 Posted November 21, 2012 About 8 years ago I went to a Learning Annex class where a guy named Dave Farrow was teaching creative visualization and how to have a good memory....Dave is in the Guiness Book of world records for memory. He said when he was a kid he wasn't smart at all and was always in the remedial classes.....So basically he just worked on his mind like crazy to develop his memory powers.....There were probably 30 people in the class....At the beginning of the class we introduced ourselves and said why we were there....The class was only like 90 minutes - and at the end of the class he went through each person one by one and had memorized our names and the reason we were there....I thought that was pretty impressive......I bought his memory course too...but I have never used it.....i think I'll try and find it and use it......My memory is pretty terrible. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustARandomPanda Posted November 21, 2012 Here's a blogger who details how to do Memory Palace techniques. Or this: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pu-erh Posted November 21, 2012 I was doing a lot of crazy mnemonic stuff last year when I was trying to learn kanji (TextFugu is a good program). I had to quit studying Japanese (for the time being) since I am in graduate school, though, and already spending hours each day studying. I have been thinking about building a memory palace to help me pass my Oral Exams this spring--one of the final requirements for my M.A. in Counseling Psychology. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tung Posted November 21, 2012 (edited) If I remember right Napoleon Hill wrote about hit memory palace and it the people he had in there came alive and started taking over things, so the method can have other uses/effects too it seams. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_and_Grow_Rich Edited November 21, 2012 by Tung Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
