#Harry lorayne memory trick how to#

But pieces of parchment dated over a thousand years beforeВ Simonides tell us that memory techniques were an important, no essential, ingredient of the orator's equipment. Simonides (circa 500BC) is usually considered to be the вЂњfatherвЂќ of the art of trained memory. And anythingВ , I mean ANYTHING, can be visualized. It's a clichГ© of mine: Anything that can be visualized is easy (certainly eas ierВ ) to remember.

#Harry lorayne memory trick how to#

(I was thrilled when I found this in my research because I've written so often that there is no learning without memoryВ !) Along those lines, Aristotle praised memory systems, and wrote that вЂњвЂ¦these (systems) too will make a man readier in reasoning.вЂќ Aristotle also wrote, as the first sentence of one of his books, вЂњIn order to think we must speculate with images.вЂќ Lovely because, again, that's what I do, what I teach вЂ“ just how to useВ mental images. As an example, memory systems were used to memorize Virtues and Vices, and many priests and philosophers taught that trained-memory systems showed вЂњhow to reach Heaven and avoid Hell.вЂќДЄ fragment of parchment that experts date about 400BC states that вЂњA great and beautiful invention is memory, always useful for learning and for life. The techniques were used mostly for religion and were themselves basic to some religions. Yes, only the monks and philosophers of the Middle Ages were aware of, and applied, trained memory techniques. So the вЂњsearchвЂќ enabled them to acquire more knowledge! Eventually, parts of the Bible were used as вЂњplaces.вЂќ What's really interesting here is that in order to use the Zodiac signs or parts of the Bible, or anything else, as loci, the person had to first learn (remember) the Zodiac signs and the parts of the Bible. The twelve signs of the Zodiac could easily represent twelve different, and sequentialВ , places. They soon realized that just about anything could be used as loci.

It's interesting that when the orators, mostly monks and other religious people in those days, felt that their own homes had become too familiar to use as loci, they wandered the streets searching for other houses, other places. If so, it is enough for us with what has been said by the Bible and our sages on the existence of this Place Memory (loci) in the thoughts and schemes/devices, and their commandment on him to use them.вЂќ In part: вЂњOne must set signs, schemes/devices, to establish the Torah in those who (try to) learn it. On page 33, in a discussion about learning the Torah, there is a quote from a Talmudic scholar, Rav Dimi. It is noted in a 400-year-old Hebrew text ( TheВ HeartВ OfВ TheВ LionВ , by Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh of Medina published in the year1611) that using memory systems is a clear mandate in the Bible as well as in Jewish Talmudic literature. And so on to the end of his mental tour and to the end of his speech.ДЇrom that concept, through the mists of time, a clichГ© has traveled down to us вЂ“ вЂњIn the first place in the second place.вЂќДЄnd, it seems, that the idea wasn't new even in ancient Grecian/Roman times. That second place reminded him of the next, second, thought of his speech. When he said what he had to say about that thought or subject he thought of the second place as he started the mental tour through his home. When ready to deliver his speech he'd think of the first place, the doorway, and that reminded him of the first thought. The second thought of the speech to the second place, perhaps the entry way or foyer, and so on. The orators of ancient Greece and Rome memorized their long speeches thought for thought by using a memory technique or aid called, вЂњloci,вЂќ which means вЂњplaces.вЂќ The orator would mentally connect the first thought of his speech to the first вЂњplaceвЂќ in his home, perhaps the doorway. There were no real note-taking devices then so the memory aids, systems, techniques, helped those bards and story tellers to remember their songs, their poems and their stories.

Those aids were of utmost importance, particularly to story tellers, orators, bards. Memory aids have been used for thousands of years. Yes, the history is worth a bit of exploration but truth be told, I am really and thoroughly, completely, result orientedВ . I'll talk just a bit about that and then, perhaps, show you some of the progression from those scattered bits of history (I don't want to write a history book) to the fascinating applications of the methods. That history is quite rich and bountiful. I've researched much of the history of memory training systems and techniques.