Page 60 - Use Your Memory

4 The Secret Principles
Underlying a Superpower
Memory

The Greeks so worshipped memory that they made a goddess out
of her - Mnemosyne. It was her name from which was derived the
current word mnemonics, used to describe memory techniques
such as those you are about to learn. In Greek and Roman times,
senators would learn these techniques in order to impress other
politicians and the public with their phenomenal powers of learn-
ing and memory. Using these simple but sophisticated methods,
the Romans were able to remember, without fault, thousands of
items, including statistics relating to their empire, and became the
rulers of their time.
Long before we had discovered the physiological breakdown of
the functions in the left and right hemispheres of our brains, the
Greeks had intuitively realised that there are two underlying
principles that ensure perfect memory:
imagination
association
Whereas, in current times, most of us are actively discouraged
from using our imaginative abilities, and consequently learn very
little about the nature of mental association, the Greeks empha-
sised these two foundation stones of mental functioning and
opened the way for us to develop the techniques even further.
Quite simply, if you want to remember anything, all you have to
do is to associate (link) it with some known or fixed item (the memory
systems in this book will give you those easily remembered fixed
items), calling upon your imagination throughout.

The Rules
The rules for perfect memory laid down by the Greeks fit in exactly
with the information recently discovered about the left and right
brains. Without a scientific basis, the Greeks realised that in order
to remember well, you have to use every aspect of your mind. In
the following pages of this chapter these rules will be outlined.

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