Here you will learn How to develop, train and use your memory
Page 8 of
22.
CHAPTER VI.
ATTENTION.
As we have seen in the preceding chapters, before one can expect to recall or
remember a thing, that thing must have been impressed upon the records of his
subconsciousness, distinctly and clearly. And the main factor of the recording
of impressions is that quality of the mind that we call Attention. All the
leading authorities on the subject of memory recognize and teach the value of
attention in the cultivation and development of the memory. Tupper says: "
Memory, the daughter of Attention, is the teeming mother of wisdom." Lowell
says: "Attention is the stuff that Memory is made of, and Memory is accumulated
Genius." Hall says: "In the power of fixing the attention lies the most precious
of the intellectual habits." Locke says: "When the ideas that offer themselves
are taken notice of, and, as it were, registered in the memory, it is Attention.
" Stewart says: "The permanence of the impression which anything leaves on
the memory, is proportionate to the degree of attention which was originally
given to it." Thompson says: "The experiences most permanently impressed upon
consciousness are those upon which the greatest amount of attention has been
fixed." Beattie says: "The force wherewith anything strikes the mind is
generally in proportion to the degree of attention bestowed upon it. The great
art of memory is attention. . . . Inattentive people have always bad memories."
Kay says: "It is generally held by philosophers that without some degree of
attention no impression of any duration could be made on the mind, or laid up in
the memory." Hamilton says: "It is a law of the mind that the intensity of the
present consciousness determines the vivacity of the future memory; memory and
consciousness are thus in the direct ratio of each other. Vivid consciousness,
long memory; faint consciousness, short memory; no consciousness, no memory. . .
. An act of attention, that is an act of concentration, seems thus necessary to
every exertion of consciousness, as a certain contraction of the pupil is
requisite to every exertion of vision. Attention, then, is to consciousness what
the contraction of the pupil is to sight, or to the eye of the mind what the
microscope or telescope is to the bodily eye. It constitutes the better half of
all intellectual power."
We have quoted from the above authorities at considerable length, for the
purpose of impressing upon your mind the importance of this subject of
Attention. The subconscious regions of the mind are the great storehouses of the
mental records of impressions from within and without. Its great systems of
filing, recording and indexing these records constitute that which we call
memory. But before any of this work is possible, impressions must first have
been received. And, as you may see from the quotations just given, these
impressions depend upon the power of attention given to the things making the
impressions. If there has been given great attention, there will be clear and
deep impressions; if there has been given but average attention, there will be
but average impressions; if there has been given but faint attention, there will
be but faint impressions; if there has been given no attention, there will be
no records.
One of the most common causes of poor attention is to be found in the lack of
interest. We are apt to remember the things in which we have been most
interested, because in that outpouring of interest there has been a high degree
of attention manifested. A man may have a very poor memory for many things, but
when it comes to the things in which his interest is involved he often remembers
the most minute details. What is called involuntary attention is that form of
attention that follows upon interest, curiosity, or desire no special effort of
the will being required in it. What is called voluntary attention is that form
of attention that is bestowed upon objects not necessarily interesting, curious,
or attractivethis requires the application of the will, and is a mark of a
developed character. Every person has more or less involuntary attention, while
but few possess developed voluntary attention. The former is instinctivethe
latter comes only by practice and training.
But there is this important point to be remembered, that interest may be
developed by voluntary attention bestowed and held upon an object. Things that
are originally lacking in sufficient interest to attract the involuntary
attention may develop a secondary interest if the voluntary attention be placed
upon and held upon them. As Halleck says on this point: "When it is said that
attention will not take a firm hold on an uninteresting thing, we must not
forget that anyone not shallow and fickle can soon discover something
interesting in most objects. Here cultivated minds show their especial
superiority, for the attention which they are able to give generally ends in
finding a pearl in the most uninteresting looking oyster. When an object
necessarily loses interest from one point of view, such minds discover in it new
attributes. The essence of genius is to present an old thing in new ways,
whether it be some force in nature or some aspect of humanity."
It is very difficult to teach another person how to cultivate the attention.
This because the whole thing consists so largely in the use of the will, and by
faithful practice and persistent application. The first requisite is the
determination to use the will. You must argue it out with yourself, until you
become convinced that it is necessary and desirable for you to acquire the art
of voluntary attention you must convince yourself beyond reasonable doubt. This
is the first step and one more difficult than it would seem at first sight. The
principal difficulty in it lies in the fact that to do the thing you must do
some active earnest thinking, and the majority of people are too lazy to indulge
in such mental effort. Having mastered this first step, you must induce a
strong burning desire to acquire the art of voluntary attentionyou must learn to
want it hard. In this way you induce a condition of interest and attractiveness
where it was previously lacking. Third and last, you must hold your will firmly
and persistently to the task, and practice faithfully.
Begin by turning your attention upon some uninteresting thing and studying its
details until you are able to describe them. This will prove very tiresome at
first but you must stick to it. Do not practice too long at a time at first;
take a rest and try it again later. You will soon find that it comes easier, and
that a new interest is beginning to manifest itself in the task. Examine this
book, as practice, learn how many pages there are in it; how many chapters; how
many pages in each chapter; the details of type, printing and bindingall the
little things about itso that you could give another person a full account of
the minor details of the book. This may seem uninterestingand so it will be at
firstbut a little practice will create a new interest in the petty details, and
you will be surprised at the number of little things that you will notice. This
plan, practiced on many things, in spare hours, will develop the power of
voluntary attention and perception in anyone, no matter how deficient he may
have been in these things. If you can get some one else to join in the game-task
with you, and then each endeavor to excel the other in finding details, the
task will be much easier, and better work will be accomplished. Begin to take
notice of things about you; the places you visit; the things in the rooms, etc.
In this way you will start the habit of "noticing things," which is the first
requisite for memory development.
Halleck gives the following excellent advice on this subject: "To look at a
thing intelligently is the most difficult of all arts. The first rule for the
cultivation of accurate perception is: Do not try to perceive the whole of a
complex object at once. Take the human face as an example. A man, holding an
important position to which he had been elected, offended many people because he
could not remember faces, and hence failed to recognize individuals the second
time he met them. His trouble was in looking at the countenance as a whole. When
he changed his method of observation, and noticed carefully the nose, mouth,
eyes, chin, and color of hair, he at once began to find recognition easier. He
was no longer in difficulty of mistaking A for B, since he remembered that the
shape of B's nose was different, or the color of his hair at least three shades
lighter. This example shows that another rule can be formulated: Pay careful
attention to details. We are perhaps asked to give a minute description of the
exterior of a somewhat noted suburban house that we have lately seen. We reply
in general terms, giving the size and color of the house. Perhaps we also have
an idea of part of the material used in the exterior construction. We are asked
to be exact about the shape of the door, porch, roof, chimneys and windows;
whether the windows are plain or circular, whether they have cornices, or
whether the trimmings around them are of the same material as the rest of the
house. A friend, who will be unable to see the house, wishes to know definitely
about the angles of the roof, and the way the windows are arranged with
reference to them. Unless we can answer these questions exactly, we merely
tantalize our friends by telling them we have seen the house. To see an object
merely as an undiscriminated mass of something in a certain place, is to do no
more than a donkey accomplishes as he trots along."
There are three general rules that may be given in this matter of bestowing the
voluntary attention in the direction of actually seeing things, instead of
merely looking at them. The first is: Make yourself take an interest in the
thing. The second: See it as if you were taking note of it in order to repeat
its details to a friendthis will force you to "take notice." The third: Give to
your subconsciousness a mental command to take note of what you are looking
atsay to it; " Here, you take note of this and remember it for me!" This last
consists of a peculiar "knack" that can be attained by a little practiceit will
"come to you" suddenly after a few trials.
Regarding this third rule whereby the sub-consciousness is made to work for you,
Charles Leland has the following to say, although he uses it to illustrate
another point: "As I understand it, it is a kind of impulse or projection of
will into the coming work. I may here illustrate this with a curious fact in
physics. If the reader wished to ring a doorbell so as to produce as much sound
as possible, he would probably pull it as far back as he could, and then let it
go. But if ho would, in letting it go, simply give it a tap with his forefinger,
he would actually redouble the sound. Or, to shoot an arrow as far as possible,
it is not enough to merely draw the bow to its utmost span or tension. If, just
as it goes, you will give the bow a quick push, though the effort be trifling,
the arrow will fly almost as far again as it would have done without it. Or, if,
as is well known in wielding a very sharp sabre, we make the draw cut; that is,
if to the blow or chop, as with an axe, we also add a certain slight pull,
simultaneously, we can cut through a silk handkerchief or a sheep. Forethought
(command to the subconsciousness) is the tap on the bell; the push on the bow;
the draw on the sabre. It is the deliberate but yet rapid action of the mind
when before dismissing thought, we bid the mind to consequently respond. It is
more than merely thinking what we are to do; it is the bidding or ordering the
Self to fulfill a task before willing it."
Remember first, last and always, that before you can remember, or recollect, you
must first perceive; and that perception is possible only through attention,
and responds in degree to the later. Therefore, it has truly been said that: "
The great Art of Memory is Attention. ''
Our
featured links related to How to develop, train and use your memory
