CHAPTER XI
MEMORY
Every hour of our lives we call upon memory to supply us with some fact or
detail from out our past. Let memory wholly fail us, and we find ourselves
helpless and out of joint in a world we fail to understand. A poor memory
handicaps one in the pursuit of education, hampers him in business or
professional success, and puts him at a disadvantage in every relation of life. On
the other hand, a good memory is an asset on which the owner realizes anew
each succeeding day.
1. THE NATURE OF MEMORY
Now that you come to think of it, you can recall perfectly well that Columbus
discovered America in 1492; that your house is painted white; that it rained a
week ago today. But where were these once-known facts, now remembered so
easily, while they were out of your mind? Where did they stay while you were
not thinking of them? The common answer is, "Stored away in my memory."
Yet no one believes that the memory is a warehouse of facts which we pack
away there when we for a time have no use for them, as we store away our old
furniture.
What is Retained.—The truth is that the simple question I asked you is by no
means an easy one, and I will answer it myself by asking you an easier one: As
we sit with the sunlight streaming into our room, where is the darkness which
filled it last night? And where will all this light be at midnight tonight? Answer
these questions, and the ones I asked about your remembered facts will be
answered. While it is true that, regardless of the conditions in our little room,
darkness still exists wherever there is no light, and light still exists wherever
there is no darkness, yet for this particular room there is no darkness when the
sun shines in, and there is no light when the room is filled with darkness. So in
the case of a remembered fact. Although the fact that Columbus discovered
America some four hundred years ago, that your house is of a white color, that it
rained a week ago today, exists as a fact regardless of whether your minds think