79 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
79 lines
5.2 KiB
Plaintext
MEMORY.
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Memory is of the very stuff of Consciousness itself. Consider that we
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can never know ®MDUL¯what is happening,®MDNM¯ but only ®MDUL¯what has just
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happened,®MDNM¯ even when most actively concentrated on what we call "the
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present."
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Moreover, no impression short of Sammasamadhi can ever pretend to confer
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any coherent idea of the Self. That exists only in an order of
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Consciousness far deeper than direct perception, in a type of thought which
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is capable of combining the quintessence of countless impressions into one,
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as also of transforming this ®MDUL¯tabula rasa®MDNM¯ into a positive
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prehensile Ego. Whether this process be hallucinatory or no, it is surely
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memory which, more than any other function of the mind, determines its
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possibilities.
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Now, whatever view we may take of the nature of the Self, it is clear
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that our limit of error will constantly diminish as the range of our
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observations is extended. To calculate the orbit of Neptune from a period
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of days when it is retrograde could lead to formidable fallacies. When
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memory is seriously weakened, the resulting state approximates to dementia.
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Memory is then, in a figure, the mortar of the architecture of the mind.
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It seems impossible even to begin to discuss its nature as it is in
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itself; for it is not a Thing at all, but only a relation between
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impressions. We must be content to observe its virtues.
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First of all is that already noted, its extent in time. Second is the
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faculty of selection.
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It would be as undesirable as it is impossible for the memory to retain
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all impressions indiscriminately. Such memories are found only in lunatic
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asylums. The memory, whatever it may be, depends on cerebral metabolism;
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and it thrives on a proper harmony of exercise, repose, and economy just as
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does muscular strength.
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Memory as such is practically worthless; it is like an abandoned
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library. Its data must be coordinated by judgment, and played upon by
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skill; it resembles a great Organ which requires an organist.
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By classifying simple impressions, one obtains ideas of a higher order;
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the repetition of this process gives a structure to the mind which makes it
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a worthy instrument of thought. And this means enables one to retain, and
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to bring at will from their quiet resting-place, a thousandfold the number
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of facts which would overwhelm the untrained memory. One must model one's
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mind upon the arrangement of the ends of the nerve-fibres and the brain.
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At will! Here is the great key to proper selection, that one should
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resolutely remember all facts that may be useful, and as resolutely forget
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all those impertinent, to the True Way of one's Star in Space. For so only
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can one economise the mnemonic faculty; and this is to say: no man can
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begin to train his memory duly until he is aware of his True Will.
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There is then -- as in all matters pertaining to the intellect -- a
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vicious circle; for one can only become conscious of one's true Will by a
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judgment (of Samadhic intensity) upon all facts that it is possible to
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assimilate. The resolution of the antinomy is found ®MDUL¯ambulando:®MDNM¯
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that is by the selective training above indicated.
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A further complication of this whole question appears during the
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practice of Yoga, when, the sheaths being successively stripped from the
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mind, one begins to remember not only long-forgotten facts, but matters
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which do not refer to the incarnated Ego at all. The memory extends in time
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to infancy, to one's previous death, and so further to an unlimited series
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of experiences whose scope depends on the degree of one' progress. But,
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parallel with this intensification of the idea of the Ego, its expansion
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through the aeons, there arises (in consequence of the weakening of the
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Ahamkara, the Ego-making faculty) a tendency to remember thing which have
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happened not to "oneself," but to "other people" or beings.
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Herein is one of the most irritating obstacles in the Path of the Wise;
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for the normal development of the memory in Time leads to a better
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understanding of the True Will of the individual (as he conceives of
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himself) so that he perceives an universe teleologically more rational as
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he progresses. To be compelled to assimilate the experiences of supposes
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"alien beings" is to become confused: the old hotchpot of Choronzon
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(Restriction be unto him in the name of ®MDRV¯BABALON!®MDNM¯) gapes once
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more for the Adept, who possibly supposed himself already (in a sense) a
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Freeman of the City of the Pyramids.
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But it is just this experience -- in default of any other -- which
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eventually insists on his undertaking to cross the Abyss: for the
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alternative to sheer insanity is seen to be the discovery of a General
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Formula comprehensive of Universal Experience without reference to the Ego
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(real or supposed) in any sense.
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This paradox, like all others, should be a lesson of supreme value:
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this, that every difficulty is for our vantage, that every question is
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posed only in order to lead us to an answer involving a triumph infinitely
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more glorious than we could otherwise have conceived.
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And meditation upon this whole matter may not unlikely bring us to this
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further vision of wonder: that the nature of things themselves is in
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reality but a function of Memory. |