{"id":19419,"date":"2023-06-06T09:46:35","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T08:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=19419"},"modified":"2026-05-28T14:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T13:36:29","slug":"how-to-educate-the-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/how-to-educate-the-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Educate the Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A camera needs light to fix an image. To educate the memory, Assagioli argues, means mastering impression, repetition, and, most surprisingly, the art of forgetting well.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong> [1]<\/span><\/span><\/sup><\/a> <\/span><\/span>
Docs. #23134 and #23135, Assagioli Archives, Florence
Original title: Come si educa la memoria<\/em>
Translated and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Note<\/strong>
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered.
This is a composite essay assembled by translator Jan Kuniholm from two source documents. Passages from the second document are shown in brackets throughout the main text and gathered in six appendices at the end, extending from practical mnemonics into the philosophical dimensions of spiritual memory and forgetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Abstract<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In this essay, Roberto Assagioli maps memory as a trainable faculty with four stages: impression, assimilation, evocation, and recognition. His central analogy is photography: interest is the light that makes impressions sharp; where interest is weak, repetition and prolonged attention must compensate. He surveys the practical methods, from studying in multiple texts and reading aloud to acrostics and mnemonic codes, and notes that teaching others remains the most effective reinforcement. Six appendices extend the inquiry into less expected territory: music as a key that unlocks hidden memories, amnesia as emotional repression, and finally the claim that gratitude is a form of spiritual memory and forgiveness the deepest form of spiritual forgetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Memory is a fundamental property of organic matter; that is, of the substance of every living being. Every sensation and every impression changes that living substance, leaves an indelible trace in it, and disposes it to react in a given way. This explains many biological and psychological facts; for example, immunization and anaphylaxis can be considered in a sense as facts of \u201corganic memory.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Habits \u2014 so important in our lives, often useful and even necessary, but sometimes insidious and harmful \u2014 are a form of memory. A habit can be regarded as a mnemonic trace, which has become \u2014 as a result of numerous repetitions \u2014 so wide and so deep that it constitutes a channel through which nervous and psychic energies flow easily.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of organic memory was especially emphasized by Semon <\/span><\/span>[2]<\/span><\/span><\/a> with his <\/span><\/span>mneme<\/span><\/span><\/em> theory, <\/span><\/span>[3]<\/span><\/span><\/a> which was later taken up and developed by Porel and our own Rignano. <\/span><\/span>[4]<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But mnemonic traces, memories, are not always present to our consciousness; they are usually located outside it. Where? What is their location? In the organic brain substance? Or in some area of \u200b\u200bour psyche of which we have no direct awareness? This raises the arduous question of the relationship between psyche and body, between spirit and matter: but this is not the place to discuss that subject now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In psychology and for practical purposes we can consider memories as psychic facts which, as such, must be part of our psychological being, of our personality, forming baggage that for the most part is unconscious. Thus, it can be said that mnemonic impressions, memories, are stored in the unconscious and from there they surface into consciousness when we recall them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the function of memory, considered as a whole, four stages must be distinguished:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. The <\/span><\/span>impression<\/span><\/span><\/em> produced by a stimulus, that is, the formation of the \u201cmnemonic trace.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    1. Its <\/span><\/span>assimilation<\/span><\/span><\/em> into the unconscious. Formation of correlations, of associations with other psychic facts.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
        \n
      1. Its <\/span><\/span>evocation<\/span><\/span><\/em> .<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
          \n
        1. Its <\/span><\/span>recognition<\/span><\/span><\/em> and localization in time. {Memory implies not only reenactment, but <\/span><\/span>recognition<\/span><\/span><\/em> , ie identification of the casual image or idea with the inner one and thus \u201clocalization\u201d in time \u2014 and this in turn implies the idea of \u200b\u200btime, the personal idea and the permanence of the self (\u201cI\u201d)}.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          For the sake of educating memory well, we must attend especially to the first three of these stages.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          I. IMPRESSION<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          1. That the image to be reproduced is well focused.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          2. That it is well lit.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n
          3. That the exposure is sufficiently long in relation to the light; the dimmer the light, the longer the exposure must be.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

            For example, while an object illuminated by the sun can be photographed by a good camera with the exposure of only a thousandth of a second, to obtain a photographic image of a star it is necessary to keep the plate exposed to its faint ray for a few hours. <\/span><\/span>[6]<\/span><\/span><\/a> The same is true for memory. Light corresponds to the intensity of emotions and vital interest connected with the object or fact before us. Thus a scene that touches us, that moves us deeply (eg, in which danger threatens us or a loved one) is indelibly imprinted with all its details in our minds, even if it took place in a lightning-fast manner. In contrast, to imprint in us theoretical notions which are cold and uninteresting in themselves, it is necessary to pay attention to them for quite a long time, and often to repeat the exposure several times.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Here, then, is a first set of practical rules. To remember well facts that do not present a vivid and spontaneous interest to us, it is necessary:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

              \n
            1. That we observe them well<\/span><\/span><\/em> , concentrating our attention on them, so that we have a well-defined and complete picture of them. This corresponds to the “focus” of the mind. Instead we usually observe little and poorly, and we also miss important elements.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

                    {Examples: Experiences of Clapared <\/span><\/span>[7]<\/span><\/span><\/a> and others; a window! or Agassiz <\/span><\/span>[8]<\/span><\/span><\/a> }<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          The analogy with photography can help us better understand what the conditions are for having a sharp, deep and lasting trace. To obtain a sharp, vigorous negative <\/span><\/span>[5]<\/span><\/span><\/a> requires:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n