Post by Char on Oct 26, 2008 13:25:30 GMT -6
SPIRITUAL RULES FOR IMPROVING THE MEMORY
JAMES 1:25..NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER.
It is a bad thing to have a poor memory. What a difference there is between people in this respect.
How wonderfully others remember all these thing.
General have been known who recollected the name of ever soldier in their army, and politicians who could call by name every man to whom they have been introduced.
A good memory is the necessary basis of all intellectual action. There will be rule for memorizing taught in our schools, to strengthen the memory and keep it in a healthy condition.
The most important element of such a system will probably be to form a habit of attention with the purpose of remembering.
How we recollect times places, scenes, adventures, experiences, in which our whole soul was interested.
The man who has been in a shipwreck, or a railroad accident, or a battle, describes, with intense minuteness and accuracy, all the details, till it rise before you a vivid picture, which you also will remember always, though hearing it at second hand.
We remember that in which we are interested, because we give our attention to it. But when we are not interested in anything, and so do not give our attention to it, we are sure to forget it. Facts and lessons which do not interest us are like the plants which have no root in themselves, and soon wither away.
It is hope and joy which give us strength to work, not disgust or indifference. But we weaken the memory by inattention, which results from the absence of a deep interest and a living purpose.
The general rule, then, for improving the memory is, "Take an interest in anything, and you will attend to it; attend to it, and you will recollect it."
But what cure is there for moral forgetfulness? The law of association will help. We fixed in our mind a list of familiar objects, and the associated them with names of kings and queens.
We are forgetful hearers of the Word. Where is all the instruction which has been poured into our ears and heart from childhood, by ever-faithful parents, by teachers, professors and guardians.
It has gone. Again, how we forget our own good resolutions. We arrange our life, at the beginning of the year, into a perfect order. We select the faults to be conquered, the virtues to be acquired, the studies to be pursued, the good actions to be done. At the end of the years we look back and find that all these resolutions were presently forgotten, and we went on as before.
We forget our duties. We remember everything but our duties–these slip from our memory too easily. We forget our promises and engagements. How very mortifying to fine that we have promised to do a multitude of things, and that we have forgotten them all.
Worse, we forget the kindness done to us. At the time we feel very grateful, but gratitude become burdensome, and so, after a while, we have forgotten our benefactors and their deeds. We forget them, but do not forget those who have injured us, who have wounded our pride. We remember that too well.
We forget the holy love of Christ, the ever, present providence of God, the impending judgments of the future. Who shall give us the system of moral mnemonics by which to remember these things? The difficulty is that we are not really as much interested in the love of God, in duty and spiritual progress, as we are in other matters.
It is love which quickens all the powers, memory among the rest. Did Jesus ever forget His disciples or His work? No. We must do it ourselves in order to know it. Until we are doers of the Word, as well as hearers, we are like the clocks and watches in the watchmaker’s shop he sets them all to the right time, and winds them up; but till he touches the pendulum and sets in motion they cannot keep time.
So we go to church every Sunday, and the minister winds us up by convincing arguments and by the truths of the gospel.; and then he appeals to our feelings, and touches our hearts, and we are set exactly right. But we our self must set the pendulum in motions, and begin to go; else what does it profit us? To be set right and regulated every Sunday morning, what use is there in that, unless we keep going through the week?
When we are hearers and not doers, we deceive ourselves. All our thoughts are excellent, or ideas of duty correct, our sentiments noble; we take the highest grounds on all occasions. We wash our hands, but not our hearts.
Because we are so familiar with what is true and right, we forget at last what manner of men we are. Hearing the truth, when we refuse to act it out, ends in opinion, and opinion in talk, and talk in self-deception.
There is a good deal of cheating in the world, but people usually cheat themselves more than they do others. We repeat by rote what we hear, and think that we know it. We talk well and imagine that we are what we say. We hear a truth, and imagine that it is a part of our own character. So we deceive ourselves. Until we have put truth into action, we do not really know it.
Religion is always free, and always sets us free. It is a law of liberty; liberty and law in one. Religion is the source of all real freedom, for the freedom is not wilfulness, but self-direction. We can only direct ourselves when we have some rule or law by which to direct ourselves; some aim of life, and some method by which to pursue that aim.
The rule for strengthening the memory, then, so that we shall not be forgetful hearers, is, first, to give our attention to what we hear, to put our mind into it. And this action, if we continue therein, becomes at last interesting for its own sake, and so we make it a part of ourselves. We eat it and drink it, and it enters into our life, and life’s most secret joy, so that finally we become "bless in our deed."
Thus continued, persistent attention, given to what is true and right, leads to action; and persistent, continued action, leads to love, and deed. To be continued. Love to all, (James.)
JAMES 1:25..NOT A FORGETFUL HEARER.
It is a bad thing to have a poor memory. What a difference there is between people in this respect.
How wonderfully others remember all these thing.
General have been known who recollected the name of ever soldier in their army, and politicians who could call by name every man to whom they have been introduced.
A good memory is the necessary basis of all intellectual action. There will be rule for memorizing taught in our schools, to strengthen the memory and keep it in a healthy condition.
The most important element of such a system will probably be to form a habit of attention with the purpose of remembering.
How we recollect times places, scenes, adventures, experiences, in which our whole soul was interested.
The man who has been in a shipwreck, or a railroad accident, or a battle, describes, with intense minuteness and accuracy, all the details, till it rise before you a vivid picture, which you also will remember always, though hearing it at second hand.
We remember that in which we are interested, because we give our attention to it. But when we are not interested in anything, and so do not give our attention to it, we are sure to forget it. Facts and lessons which do not interest us are like the plants which have no root in themselves, and soon wither away.
It is hope and joy which give us strength to work, not disgust or indifference. But we weaken the memory by inattention, which results from the absence of a deep interest and a living purpose.
The general rule, then, for improving the memory is, "Take an interest in anything, and you will attend to it; attend to it, and you will recollect it."
But what cure is there for moral forgetfulness? The law of association will help. We fixed in our mind a list of familiar objects, and the associated them with names of kings and queens.
We are forgetful hearers of the Word. Where is all the instruction which has been poured into our ears and heart from childhood, by ever-faithful parents, by teachers, professors and guardians.
It has gone. Again, how we forget our own good resolutions. We arrange our life, at the beginning of the year, into a perfect order. We select the faults to be conquered, the virtues to be acquired, the studies to be pursued, the good actions to be done. At the end of the years we look back and find that all these resolutions were presently forgotten, and we went on as before.
We forget our duties. We remember everything but our duties–these slip from our memory too easily. We forget our promises and engagements. How very mortifying to fine that we have promised to do a multitude of things, and that we have forgotten them all.
Worse, we forget the kindness done to us. At the time we feel very grateful, but gratitude become burdensome, and so, after a while, we have forgotten our benefactors and their deeds. We forget them, but do not forget those who have injured us, who have wounded our pride. We remember that too well.
We forget the holy love of Christ, the ever, present providence of God, the impending judgments of the future. Who shall give us the system of moral mnemonics by which to remember these things? The difficulty is that we are not really as much interested in the love of God, in duty and spiritual progress, as we are in other matters.
It is love which quickens all the powers, memory among the rest. Did Jesus ever forget His disciples or His work? No. We must do it ourselves in order to know it. Until we are doers of the Word, as well as hearers, we are like the clocks and watches in the watchmaker’s shop he sets them all to the right time, and winds them up; but till he touches the pendulum and sets in motion they cannot keep time.
So we go to church every Sunday, and the minister winds us up by convincing arguments and by the truths of the gospel.; and then he appeals to our feelings, and touches our hearts, and we are set exactly right. But we our self must set the pendulum in motions, and begin to go; else what does it profit us? To be set right and regulated every Sunday morning, what use is there in that, unless we keep going through the week?
When we are hearers and not doers, we deceive ourselves. All our thoughts are excellent, or ideas of duty correct, our sentiments noble; we take the highest grounds on all occasions. We wash our hands, but not our hearts.
Because we are so familiar with what is true and right, we forget at last what manner of men we are. Hearing the truth, when we refuse to act it out, ends in opinion, and opinion in talk, and talk in self-deception.
There is a good deal of cheating in the world, but people usually cheat themselves more than they do others. We repeat by rote what we hear, and think that we know it. We talk well and imagine that we are what we say. We hear a truth, and imagine that it is a part of our own character. So we deceive ourselves. Until we have put truth into action, we do not really know it.
Religion is always free, and always sets us free. It is a law of liberty; liberty and law in one. Religion is the source of all real freedom, for the freedom is not wilfulness, but self-direction. We can only direct ourselves when we have some rule or law by which to direct ourselves; some aim of life, and some method by which to pursue that aim.
The rule for strengthening the memory, then, so that we shall not be forgetful hearers, is, first, to give our attention to what we hear, to put our mind into it. And this action, if we continue therein, becomes at last interesting for its own sake, and so we make it a part of ourselves. We eat it and drink it, and it enters into our life, and life’s most secret joy, so that finally we become "bless in our deed."
Thus continued, persistent attention, given to what is true and right, leads to action; and persistent, continued action, leads to love, and deed. To be continued. Love to all, (James.)
