Rosicrucian AMORC - Key to Concentration & Memorizing

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C C h e o c ; lo lhe fAn0 1

CONCENTRAT IONAND

MEMORIZ INGBy S AR ALD EN



CONCENTRAT IONAND

MEMORIZ INGBy S AR ALD E N

Copyright. 1934 and 1962

By Supreme Grand Lodge of A.M.O.R.C., Ine.

AII Righhl Reses-ved

Prined in U. S. A. by The Rosierucian Press, Lrd,*an Jese, Caifornia 95114, U. S.A.

G-GO ff68



\l

BOOK ONE

Concentration

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c!J nlroduclion ..It is very generaly admtted by thinking

men and women of the Western world that

themost serious obstacle confronting them in

ther daly lives is the inability toconcentrate

the attention and to focaize the inner con-sciousness easily and at will.

The art of concentration is asimple thing

to thepeople of theOriento It is aso asimple

process and avery vaued asset in the lives

of al primtive tribes of people, and was even

a highly cultivated asset in the lives of the

American Indians who probably brought the

art with them in ther pilgrimages from Ior-

egn lands to this Western world continent

many centuries ago.

To the business man and woman the lack

of ability to concentrate properly is truly a

serious matter. In many respects the ability

to concentra te ismuch like the ability to re-

lax thoroughly and the two processes are

somewhat reated. Both of themareabsolute

necessities to anyone attempting to be suc-

cessful in life through the use of al of the

menta abilities, and the application of al

knowledge.

Thousands of successful business men and

women have frankly admtted in magazine

articles, newspaper interviews, persona con-

versations, and otherwise, that ther difficulty

inproperly concentrating has been oneof the

greatest problems which they have had to

master, and that the effort expended in try-

ing to concentrate very often caused them

greater loss in time and energy than any

other deterrent factor. On the other hand,

many thousands of business men and women

[ 5 ]

Sueeess

In Lile

Depends

UPOR

Concentration



<O > THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION (l !

Coneentration

Xeeded for

All Material

Aetivity

Physfcu l

Disability

<O > THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION (J >

who have not made a success in life have

very defintey stated that the one outstand-

ing cause of ther lack of success is ther

inability to concentra te.

There ishardy an hour of the day in the

lives of busy men and women when there is

not some need for the process of menta

concentration. It is not ony necessary toconcentrate when attempting to memorize

certan facts, or to recal memorized facts

from the storehouse of memory, but it is

necessary to concentra tewhen anayzing, ex-

amnng, or dgesting any number of facts, or

examnng in an efficient manner any propo-

sition or subject that arises in the course of

human affars.

To answer agven question at any moment

of our lives requres immedatey the ability

to concentrate for afew seconds and thereby

focus our entire thinking consciousness upon

the question in order to arrive at a proper

answer. Whenever one iscaled upon tode-

cide a dsputed point or to arrive at a de-

cision inregard toanunsettled matter, uness

themnd can concentrate itsattention and its

reaization upon the subject, no far and

proper consideration can be gven to it.

In order that one may reaize his where-

abouts, and associate himsef with his en-

vironment, pan his activities, and outline his

daly work or hís course of procedure, hemust be able to concentrate the mnd and

consciousness easily and properly at a mo-

ment's notice.

In fact, the ability toconcentrate appies to

and affects somany of our menta and physi-

ca activities Iromhour to hour, and day to

day, that it is a governng and controlling

factor that makes not ony for efficiency and

success, but for happness, contentment, and

[6 J

the rea enoyment 01 al that occurs in our

waking hours. If our eyes were unable to

focaize our sight and wewere unable to d-

rect our sight toward a gven point and re-

man fixedfor amoment upon that point, we

would soon reaize how vauable is theability

of concentrating the sight of the eyes. When

this inability to focus the eyesproperly upona gven point is due to physiologca cond-

tions of the eye, we resort to the use of eye-

gasses, or specia lenses that will force the

eyes into the proper focaization and enable

us to fix our sight-attention upon any seect-

edpoint or pace.

In other words, jf our eyes vacillated and

fluctuated in ther attention and varied in

ther fixed attentiveness as greatly as our

consciousness and mnd fluctuate and vacil-

late in our attempts toconcentrate upon any

gven thought or idea, we woud find our-

seves unable to enoy most of the blessings

of IHe, and unable to read or to study or

even to goabout our daly affars efficiently.

When the inability toconcentrate properly

reaches ahigh degree of vacillation and fluc-

tuation, we find that it seriously affects the

menta consciousness and leads to menta

troubles and evenphysica troubles of various

kinds.

There are c!asses of abnorma indviduas

such as idots, imbeciles, and those mentalyunsound, who are incapable of concentrating

ther attention or fixing ther mnds upon a

singe idea just as there are certan types of

mentaly unsound persons who are incapable

of fixing ther eyes steadly on one point.

Vacillating, swiftly-moving, unsteady eyes

indcate two types of persons: those who are

mentaly unsound, irrationa, and incompe-

tent, or those who have been occuped for a

[7 J

Vaellating

Attention

Causes

Mental

Troubles

Normal

Persons

Can Aequire

Perfect

Coneentration



<) THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION <O > <O > THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION <O >

long time in positions or at various trades

and activities which require the constant

shifting of the point of vision. There is pos-

sibly a third class that may be properly in-

cluded among the first class; namely, those

whose eyes are constantly shifting and mov-

ing because of fear of detection in their

crimes, or who suffer from the consciousnessthat they are guilty of crimes and are fearful

of looking straight forward into the eyes of

others but must constantly watch and seek

for the inevitable recognition by representa-

tives of the law. We, therefore, cast out of

the classification of highly competent indi-

viduals those whose sight is constantly shift-

ing, and who are incapable of concentrated

vision. But we must also place among the

failures in life, and among the incompetent

or unfortunate, those who wholly lack the

ability to concentrate their attention or fixtheir consciousness upon any given subject.

And just as the eyes may be assisted with

proper glasses, so as to enable them to focal-

ize the attention of sight, so the conscious-

ness of the human mind may be aided in its

ability to concentrate and focalize its atten-

tion through certain processes and exercises

of a psychological nature.

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE

use of his will. Generally listed under this

category are such functionings as the beating

of the heart, the rhythmic action of other

organs, the reaction through certain nerve

impulses throughout the body, and the more

mysterious activities of the lungs, stomach,

bowels, kidneys, and bladder, for instance,

in their maintenance of normal activity. For-tunately for man these important function-

ings were not left to man's arbitrary or

voluntary control. Considering the manner

in which man neglects those functionings

over which he does have control, it is for-

tunate indeed for man that his brain and his

will are not in absolute control of all parts

and all functionings and all activities that

constitute the human body in its living, con-

scious status.

The consciousness of man is not situated

exclusively in the brain. It is a part of every

living cell in his body. In fact, the conscious-

ness of man is the multiple of the millions of

forms and degrees of consciousness existing

in all of these cells. It is an accumulated

consciousness, for while this consciousness

can function and can manifest itself by regis-

tering in the brain as a unit, it does function

in parts of the body separately and inde-Foealization

pendently. Nevertheless, man's realization Oí

of his consciousness requires focalization, and Consetousne seTakes Place

this focalization must take place in the brain In the Bran

as an objective center for the functioning of

consciousness in all parts of the body.

We may compare the human body with all

of its nerve centers and localized centers of

consciousness in cells and organs to a thou-

sand telephones located in a community with

one central station to which all of them re-

spond. On the other hand, we may compare

these distributed points of consciousness in

Consclousness

Resides inEvery Cel

Oí rheBody

Brain

Controls

Voluntary

Aetions

It must be understood, first of all, that the

human consciousness is a very complex mech-

anism and form of psychological function.

The brain of man is the great controlling

switchboard of the nerve functioning of the

human body, especially those functions which

are wholly voluntary. There are many in-

voluntary functionings within the body not

controlled by the brain of man through the

[ 8 J [9 J



<G> THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION <G>

"'e ReaUze

Ony One

Thing a a

Time

thehuman body toalarge number of photo-

eectric cels, or eectric eyes that are seeng

and receving impressions of light, but al of

these impressions must betransmtted toone

centra point where the impressions arefoca-

izedinto reaization and that reaization must

be impressed upon the mnd of man as a

unt impression, and not as amutipe of impressions.

We see, therefore, that it is impossible for

the bran and consciousness of man toreaize

more than one thought, or one impression at

a time. It is a fact that man cannot think

and reaize his thinking on more than one

point or one thing at a time.

you may see aman waking aong the

street readng a book and understandng

what he is readng. If you watch him you

will see that athough he does not take his

eyes fromthe book heseems togude his feet

correctly, to stop when the persons in front

of him stop, or to wak around them On

reaching the street crossing hemay hear the

traffic signa and pause with others to wat

until it rings agan, and it may look as

though the man were able to read and be

conscious of his readng, and at the same

time beconscious of his waking. The truth

of the matter is that in this process man d-

vides his attention between readng and

waking. He cannot think of both at thesame time. He cannot fix his eyes upon the

words on the printed page and turn those

symbols into thoughts, and be conscious of

those thoughts, and at the same time think

of his waking and of thetrafficsignas. What

actualy occurs is arapd aternation of con-

sciousness or attention, and between every

few words there is a fraction of a moment

when his attention is gven to his waking

[ 10 }

<G> THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION <G>

and followed by a return of his attention to

his readng. This aternation of attention is

so rapd that it appears dfficut for the man

to reaize that he was interrupting his read-

ing with momentary concentration or reflec-

tion upon his waking.

THE SECOND PRINCIPLE

We see, therefore, that in order todo jus-

tice to our reaization of things we must

focaizeour attention and consciousness upon

one thing at atime. This cals for concentra-

tion in its simpe formo But what is more

dfficut than this is not ony to blot out of

our mnds those things which are not asso-

ciated with the thought wewish to concen-

trate upon, but to blot out of our mnds the

pctures, ideas, and impressions that risefrom

our memory and which interfere with keep-

ing theconsciousness focaized ony upon onepoint, or one subject.

Most persons who lack the ability to con-

centrate frankly admt that the great trouble

they have is in shutting out from ther

consciousness the thousands of ideas and

thoughts that rush in as soon as the mnd

begns to think and anayze. Here is truy a

very serious interference with the indvidua

process of thinking, anayzing and logca

reasonng. It is asooneof thegreat obstacles

to success inmemorizing.

Those persons who are most seriously af-

fected by the inability to concentra te admt

that themoment they attempt to concentrate

ther attention and fix ther consciousness up-

on somethought or idea, or attempt torecal

fromthe storehouse of memory certan facts,

the whole body becomes slightly reaxed

while the bran becomes overactive instantly.

To thesepeope it seems that theslightest de-

[ 11 }

BIOIOut

OfMind

tJ nassoeated

Thoughts



o THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION o

Thinking

Requires

Nerve

Energy

Early Hours

Before

Hreakfast

Bes r

gree of reaxation of the body, the slightest

pause in physica activity causes the bran to

begn to function more activey than at any

other time. Such persons suffer from in-

somna because as they prepare to go to

sleep and reax the physica body the bran

becomes overactive. Even when they arerid-

ing or waking lesurey or attempting to rest

the body in the theatre or at meatime, the

letting down of physica activity seems to be

immedatey accompaned by an overamount

of menta activity.

THE THIRD PRINCIPLE

It is a fact that thinking and any other

forms of menta activity and the concentra-

tion of consciousness requre nerve energy.

Physica and muscuar activity of any kind

aso requre nerve energy and persons can

become exhausted, tired, and depeted in

nerve energy from purey menta activity

just aseasily as frompurey physica activity.

Bran fag is just as rea asmuscuar fatigue,

but the moment that the physica activities

of the body are lessened, there is reeased a

greater amount of energy in the physica

body tobeused by the bran, and the bran

utilizes this extra amount of nerve energy by

becomng overactive. On the other hand,

such menta activity interferes with certan

physica activities in the body. After aper-

son has eaten avery heavy mea it requres

a great dea of nerve energy for its proper

dgestion, and not enough nerve energy is

left for the bran to use in any great amount

of thinking, anayzing, and reasonng, and

for this reason men and women who arestu-

dents, or who are requred to do great and

deep thinking and anayzing, find it impos-

sible to use the bran and mnd efficiently

[ 12 ]

o THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION O

immedatey after a heavy meaL For this

reason memorizing ismoreeasily done before

eating rather than after eating, and while

resting rather than exercising. Many of the

worlds greatest students, and most of those

who are attendng colleges and unversities

and must prepare ther examnations or spe-

cia studes, have found that the early hours

after sunrise and beforebreakfast arethevery

best for readng and memorizing because the

body, beng rested, is not drawing heavily

upon the nerve energy, and the stomach be~

ing empty and with no other very active

functionng taking pace, thebran canutilize

agreat amount of thenerve energy for reaiz-

ing what the eyes are readng and regster

it in the memory's storehouse.

THE FOURTH PRINCIPLE

From al of the foregoing facts we learn

that thebest method for concentrating isthat

of sitting down in a reaxed and quet posi-

tion. This enables the bran to think more

easily andmoreefficiently. Everyone has ds-

covered this simpe fact, however, and we

find it is a common practice, even among

those who have never gven the subject any

carefu thought, to sit down when trying to

think or reason, and they even rest the head

upon the hands, and close the eyes and be-

comeasphysicaly reaxed aspossible so that

the mnd and bran may have every oppor-

tunty to function. In every pcture and

panting that oneever seesof athinking per-

son, we find him in a position of reaxation

and generaly with the eyes closed, or with

the head resting upon the hand in simpe

easeand restfuness. This remnds us of the

wonderfu pece of scupture caled The

Thinker, except that the position of this man

[ 13]

Complete

ReaxatioD

MOSl

HepCu



Q THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATIONTHE KEY TO THE ART OF CO CENTRATION Q

does not seem to be as restfu nor does the

body seem to be as greatly at ease as it

mght be for one who is in deep thought.

But there are those who say that even in

the most comortable position of reaxation

and evenwith the eyes closed and everywil-

fuI means used to focaize the attention

in concentrating, the mnd will fill withthoughts, impressions, and ideas that areun-

wanted. The pendng troubles, the antici-

pated anxieties, the hoped-for joys, the pend-

ing activities that must be attended to very

shortly, the forgotten things that were tobe

done alittle while ago, and many other sub-

jects rush in upon the consciousness, and flit

across the mnd like an endess stream of

moving pctures. It is impossible to concen-

trate the consciousness upon one subject

when such impressions go passing by or

crowd up and fill the consciousness so that

nothing ese can hold forth exclusivey.

What then is to bedone, or what can be

done to improve this condtion and make

perfect concentration possible?

THE FIFfH PRINCIPLE

make themseemrea. Por instance, I will de-

scribe to you an article I have in my hand.

I tel you that it is apece of brass about as

thick as aheavy peceof cardboard. It iscut

round in shape about the sizeof asaucer, or

let us say fiveand one haf or six inches in

dameter. Now you can visuaize in your

mnds eye, so to speak, this flat brass dsk

fiveand one haf inches in dameter, and as

thick as a heavy pece of cardboard, highly

polished until it shines and looks amost like

a pece of gold. There is nothing engraved

on it, no designo There is merey a flat,

bright, shiny peceof brass cut into around

dsk. Can you seeit? Pause for amoment in

the readng of this paragraph, and closeyour

eyes and visuaize that flat dsk of brass ly-

ing in the pam of your hand. Now let us

turn it over and on theother sideof it in thecenter of its polished surface there is a five-

pointed star in blue ename. The star is

about one haf inch in its widest dameter

frompoint to point. The blue is about the

color of the blue sky on a beautifuly clear

day. Now close your eyes agan and for a

moment or twohold that dsk in thepamof

your right hand and look down on it and

seethat blue star.

If you have seen the blue star in your

hand, then you will know what ismeant by

menta images. And if youhaveactualy seen

this dsk and the star for just amoment you

will have had aperfect exampe of concen-

tration. If, on the other hand, you have not

been able to see this dsk with your eyes

closed, and you havenot been able tovisua-

izeit because your mnd kept trying to pe-

ture the brass in some other shape than

round, or because your mnd was trying to

anayze whether fiveand onehaf inches was

[ 15 )

Visuulization

Hea red lo

Concemeatton

Forrnjng

Mental

Images

In the first pace, man has one other very

great ability and that is imagery. This ability

is part of the process of imagnng and is

what gvesman the great power of imagna-

tion.This specia Iacuty enables man toforma

menta image of anything that he has ever

seenor heard of, or even of anything that he

has never seen or heard of, and which he

creates out of the nothing of his conscíous-

ness and brings into reaization.

It iseasy toprove toyoursef that youhave

this ability to imagne or to form images in

your mnd, and in your consciousness, and

[ 14 )



. : : ¡ . THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION . : : ¡ .

more or less than you beieved it to be, or if

your mnd was trying to anayze the shade

of blue and the shape of the star, and there-

by the vision of the dsk was blurred, and

constantly fadng out, then you have an ex-

celent exampe of the inability to concen-

trate.

THE SIXTH PRINCIPLE

Home

ExperimentaBy this little anaysis, and through trying

this experiment with the brass dsk, you will

beable todetermne whether or not you are

capable of concentrating, íf you know how

to do it. If you have been unable to see the

dsk properly, you must begn at once the

practice of certan exercises that will deveop

the ability toconcentra te.

The first step in this process is to pck out

certan smal objects in your home, or things

which you have about your person such as a

coin, akey, asmal purse, or afancy button,

or something that is simpe in design and yet

nove or new, and look at it with your eyes

far amoment or twountil you regster itsap-

pearance, then closeyour eyes and try tosee

itmentaly as clearly aspossible. Do not try

to find a photographic pcture of the object

suddeny deveopng in your consciousness,

for you will find that you must create the

image in your consciousness by recaling

what your eyes saw and putting in the de-tals wilfuly just as though you were an art-

ist panting it. In this case, however, your

panting is beng done with amenta brush

and with menta pgments upon a menta

screen. At first you may find that you dd

not recal al of the detals of the thing you

looked at, and that you must take a second

look at it. Youmay aso find that it ishard

to get the menta image farly clear. You

[ 16)

. : : ¡ . THE KEY TO THE ART OF CONCENTRATION . : : ¡ .

shoud be able after a little practice to get

the image clear enough for you toidentify it.

For instance, suppose someone were to ask

you six months from now to gveadescrip-

tion of the Iíttle object at which you have

been looking. Coud you closeyour eyes and

seeit clearly enough tosay that it was round

or square, or hexagon; that it was bright andshiny, or dul; that its color was adeep red,

or a light red; a maroon, or wine color; a

cherry red, or apnk; and whether it had a

scroll around the edge or abeadng, or little

stars or circles?

The best practice is for you to take some

simpe object that has various designs or ee-

ments to it that you can look at for a few

moments, and then closeyour eyesand recal

the detals in formng the image.

This exercisecan bedonewhile ridng in a

car, resting in reaxation, or in moments of

ideness, sothat after afew weeks of practice

in this way youwill find it afascinating pas-

time, amost like a game, and at the same

time you will dscover that you are deveop-

ing three facuties: first, the facuty of ob-

servation and retention of fact; second, the

ability to image and visuaize and third, the

ability to concentrate.

In deveopng these three facuties you are

not ony hepng to improve your ability to

concentrate but you will be deveopng yourability to memorize and to recal what you

have memorized.

Concentratíon

Three

Faculties:

Observation,

Retention,

Imaging,

Visualizing,

Book Two of this series, The Key to the

Art of Concentration and Memorizing, en-

titled Memorizing, is devoted entirey to

a simpe presentation of facts and exercises

conducive to the perfection of memory.

[ 17 )

b



\l

BOOK TWO

M emorizing

\l



cSJ nlroduclion ..Millions of persons say that they find it

difficult to memorize as easily as they could

in childhood, or to recal what they have

memorized. Many persons say that they can

remember names, but not faces. Others say

that they can remember names and faces, but

cannot memorize teephone numbers and

street addresses. Other persons say they can

memorize historica facts, business appoint-

ments, and the ordinary events of the day,but they cannot remember certan socia en-

gagements, or lesser matters, which at times

suddenly becomes embarrassing.

The truth of the matter is that if one can

memorize faces or figures or facts of any

kind, one can memorize anything. The dif-

ference is due to interest in the subject. It is

afact that those things whích interest us the

most for amoment or two register themseves

most strongly upon our consciousness, and

those things which do not interest us do not

make the same registration in the storehouse

of memory.

Somewill argue and say that they do ther

best tomemorize teephone numbers and are

interested in them for they must beinterest-

ed in them as part of ther business affars.But there isagreat dfference between inter-

est and reaization. We may Iook at a pie-

ture, such as acomc picture in anewspaper,

with momentary interest in order to enoy

the Iaugh in the joke, but at the same time

weare not attempting to reaize that interest

and therefore ít does not register as would

something eIse that was properly reaized.

In Iooking at a comc picture or interesting

( 21 )

Interest

In Subjeet

Neeessary

Must

ReaUze

Interest



THE KEY TO TI-IE ART OF MEMORIZING

Deep

Realizalion

Regb.ters

Incident

Memos

Break

Faith in

Memory

photograph or a mere incident aong the

street that holds our interest or attention for

a moment, we have a consciousness of the

fact that the thing isnot of importance tous,

and therefore our interest is purey superfi-

cia and momentary. If, on the other hand,

it is something that weknow or beieve will

beof vaue to us, or something that strikes akeynote of specia interest in us, as for in-

stance beng associated with someexperience,

somegame, or something interesting towhich

wedevote ourseves toagreat extent, wegve

more reaization to the thing than wedo or-

dnarily. It isthis moment of deepreaization

that regsters the incident or the fact in the

storehouse of memory, and at the same time

associates it with certan channes of other

thoughts which make it possible for us to re-

cal the regstered facts through the associa-

tion of ideas.

Now it is true that the memorizing of

teephone numbers, street addresses, dates ol

contracts, hours of appointments, and names

of persons, areal important things that every

business man and woman does consider as of

more than casua interest and does try to

reaize. Some will argue and say that cer-

tany the important date of abusiness meet-

ing is of more interest to us than a comc

pcture in the newspaper, and therefore we

shoud have adeeper reaization of this thanof the pcture. That is true, but the fact re-

mans that just because we do know its ím

portance and do want tomemorize it we in-

terferewith thememorizing process bythink-

ing of memorizing it instead of thinking of

reaizing.

In other words, let us suppose that some-

one cals meon the teephonc and says that

he woud like to have me ca! himagan at

[22}

THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING . : ¡ .

eeven oclock, and then gvesmeateephone

number. And let us suppose that instead of

writing it down and thus breaking down my

fath in mymemory 1say tomysef, "Now I

must memorize that number, Stuyvesant

86427." 1then proceed tokeeprepeating the

number tomysef while I unconsciously ana-

lyze the number and try to figure what it isabout thenumber that will hep metomem

orize it. 1 keep saying the number over to

mysef and then argue with mysef at the

same time that I will remember it, and that

1 am regstering ít, and may even try to

visuaize it. But this isnot thecorrect way to

memorize such anumber for the chances are

than an hour later 1woud not be able to

recal any part of that teephone number.

If, on the other hand, 1repeated the num

ber tomysef just once, and then visuaized

it so that I coud seethe word and the num

bers with my eyes closed, I woud then sit in

a reaxed and inactive condtion for a mo-

ment or twoand alow that visuaized num

ber to sink into my consciousness not by

repeating it mentaly, which keeps the mnd

active and prevents the subconscious mnd

and memory frorn functionng, but by mere-

ly holdng it in my mnd as an image, and

alowing it to regster itsef just as aphoto-

graph is regstered upon a pIate thraugh a

time exposure. But at the same time as 1was visuaizing the number I woud be

visuaizing theperson and thehour of eeven

oclock. If 1wanted thenumber ony and dd

not have any speciaI hour for caling it, 1

woud visuaize the person and the number,

and hold that pcture inmymnd until afew

moments had passed, and then feeing as

though 1had absorbed and dgested it in a

menta way, I woud dsmss the entire mat-

[23}

Viaualize

Thlng lo be

Memorized

Hold

Mental

Piclure

Briefly



THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING

ter fromrny consciousness as something that

was finshed, regstered, and permanently

and indeibly established in my memory.

Fromthat hour on, whenever 1thought of or

heard mention of theperson 1woud instant-

ly think of the teephone number, for the

two woud be in my memory together. Or

if 1 heard the teephone number or saw ítwritten on a pece of paper, 1woud recal

the person to whom it beonged, for the

thought of the one woud bring forth the

thought of the other, not as numbers and

facts but as images inmymnd, and 1woud

seeagan the same pcture that 1had created

in the process of regstration.

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE

Conseous

OíOne

Faet Al

aTime

There aremany memory systems beng of-

fered to the public today as private or per-sonaly dscovered keys to the secret of

perfect memorizing. In nearly every case the

system is so involved that in any attempt to

memorize facts and figures, faces or paces, in

accordance with the system more effort is re-

qured to concentra teupon the system than

upon the points to be remembered. And

when it comes to the recollection of the

memorized facts the system of associating

ideas with the desired facts is so involved as

to make the whole matter very perpexing

and inefficient.

We cannot get away from the principIe

that, in attempting to memorize a fact, the

mnd shoud beable toclear itsef of al other

facts except the one that is tobememorized.

Repeating agan the principIe that the mnd

cannot beconscious of two facts at the same

time and reaize them simutaneously shoud

make it appear that an attempt tomemorize

afact while aso trying torecal and appy an

[24 }

THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING <C>

involved systemformemorizing woud simpy

interfere with the laws that makememorizing

possible.

If the fact tobememorized can bevisua"

ized in a pcture that is as free from ds-

associated facts and background matters as it

is possible to make it, the fact will bemore

easily transferred from the outer objectiveconsciousness to the subconsciousness where

the storehouse ofmemory islocated. It is like

attempting to pant a portrat of a person

that will attract immedate attention and

cause persons tofocaize ther interest on the

faceand features of the panted pcture, and

then put into the background scenes and in-

cidents from the persons life such as scenes

from his childhood, views of him sitting at

his desk, a pcture of his home and of his

wifeand children, of the sports which occupy

his attention, of a book which he has writ-

ten, of agreat trademark that represents the

business controlled by him etc. It may be

argued that by associating al of these other

thlngs with the indvidua in theportrat you

coud create an ensemble composed of many

eements, and that each of these things is as-

sociated, and that by thinking of theoneyou

think of theothers. But everyone knows that

by standng and looking at such a panted

pcture, the attention woud not be focaized

on the portrat, but on al of the eementsof the pcture, and such dvided attention

woud rob anyone of the important features

of the concentrated reaization that is neces-

sary for perfect regstration in the memory

storehouse.

It is a simpe matter to associate a tee-

phone number with an indvidua, not by

thinking of the two eements with equa ím

portance, but by concentrating the attention

[25]

Disassoeated

Faeu

Distorted

Simplify

Mental

Picture



. g ¡ . THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING

ClassiCy

The SubjeclTo Be

Memorized

Memory

Mental

Library

on the telephone number and visualizing it

with a preponderance of consideration, and

with a mere shadowy realization of the indi-

vidual to whom it belongs. But the moment

one goes beyond this or attempts to add in

the street address of the individual his busi-

ness connections, and other similar incidents,

the picture becomes too complicated for per-fect visualization, and too divided in its at-

tention-attracting qualities to be thoroughly

realized and registered as one unit.

THE SECOND PRINCIPLE

In attempting to register any fact in the

subconscious mind for storing it away in the

memory, the fact must be isolated from all

other important things except one key con-

nection. Every fact that you wish to register

undoubtedly has some categorical classífica-

tion that represents its key connection or as-

sociation. It is like the classification of facts

in reference books in a great library. If 1

went to a great library representing the great

storehouse of knowledge and wanted to learn

whether the composition of water was H20,

or H02 my most natural impulse would be

to realize that such a fact would be associat-

ed with the general classification of chemís-

try. If 1 wanted to learn the exact route

taken by Columbus in his discovery of Amer-

ica or American shores, 1 would turn to abook that dealt with voyages. If 1wanted to

know something of the life of Marie An-

toinette, 1would turn to the classification of

books known as biographies. Certainly, in

any of these cases, 1would not take the most

roundabout method of associating the desired

fact with other indirectly related facts. As,

for instance, in seeking details of the life of

Marie Antoinette, 1would not complica te my

[26}

THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING . g ¡ .

search by hunting through books that dealt

with the lives of other queens with whom

she may have been associated, or with great

generals, or with the history of wars, or with

the building of beautiful palaces in France,

or with the subject of costuming, or with the

history of the first use of mirrors, even

though each of these matters might eventual-ly give me some few little facts regarding

Marie Antoinette.

The memory is a great storehouse of

knowledge. For every practical purpose it is

easily compared with a great library, for all

of the facts that are stored away in the mem-

ory are naturally classífied. All telephone

numbers are associated first of all with tele-

phones, and then divided into associations

with individuals, firrns, organizations, or

places. All faces of persons are associated

under the classifications of relatives, friends,

business associates, information bureaus, pur-

chasing centers, etc. All historical facts are

associated with outstanding historical events

of a general nature, and with individuals or

·places. Not more than one association or

classification key is necessary in order tostore

away a fact properly, and ever afterwards in

attempting to recall the fact, the tendency

will be to associate it with the key classifica-

tion in which it was deposited and registcred

in memory. For that very reason the moresimple the classification, the more simple thc

key association in registering, the easier it is

to withdraw the registered fact, or to find it

in the great storehouse of memory.

Associate

Fae 'Vi."

Only One

Classification

THE THIRD PRINCIPLE

Naturally, all of this requires concentra-

tion, but jf the simple exerciscs given in thc

forepart of this treatise are tried consistently,

[27}

F'orefng

Mind

InterCeres



(l> THE KEY TO THE ART o r MEMORIZING

Reaxation

HepCu

TI>Men.l

Absorption

and during the experiments with concentra-

tion, if themnd and body arereaxed and no

intense effort ismade toforcethemnd upon

any one issue, the ability toconcentrate per-

fectly will be easily deveoped. Remember

that every menta effort to try to force the

mnd to do something means exercising the

mnd, and exercising the mnd in anycompicated or involved manner prevents

concentration and reaxation, and perfect

concentration is possible ony during reaxa-

tion. There must be the mnmum amount

of menta effort instead of the maximum

amount. In every great psychologca experí-

ment, the begnner, the Neophyte, attempts

to forceand wilfuly energze his menta ac-

tivities as though he were trying to force a

great body of water into a narrow stream

that it may be focaized at one point. Thisenergzing and wilfu effort prevents reaxa-

tion. Concentrating shoud be a passive

rather than an active effort, and this cals

for reaxation of body and of al the menta

activities, except the one facuty of visuaiz-

ing and reaization. In this wise the person

in a concentrated mood is momentarily lost

to his objective consciousness and surround-

ings. He shoud not be easily dstracted by

even the passing of another person through

the room or the gentle caling of his name,

or even theringng of ateephone beloWhen

the ability to concentrate becomes perfectly

deveoped, a brass band may pass by the

window paying loudy without the person in

concentration actualy knowing or reaizing

that it ispaying. Hís earsmay hear, and his

eyesmay see, but i f his thoughts aredrected

on one point or one subject, aI the rest

woud benaturaIy shut out, and uness the

mnd vacillates or aternates in its attention

[28 )

THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING

and therefore breaks the concentration, the

consciousness cannot reaize two things at

one time.

Great good and great power in the ac-

compishment of important matters in life,

and a marveous benefit to heath and the

mnd and the body will resut through beng

able to reax at times and concentrate theconscious reaization of our bengs upon one

subject, and aIowing that subject to sub-

merge itsef into the subconscious to beper-

manently regstered. In this way thoughts of

heath, peace, happness, aswel as important

business matters may bemade apart of the

inner consciousness where such things take

root and become active subconsciously and

to the good of the beng.

It is urged that Book One of the series,

The Key to the Art o f Concentration andMemorizing, entitled Concentration, bereadin conunction with this one. The successof

perfecting memory depends upon the de-

veopment of concentration, and Book One

is devoted to the presentation of practica

rues and exercises for that purpose.

EXPLANATORY

The Rosicrucian Order (AMORC)

Anticipating questions which may beasked

by the readers of this booklet, the publishers

wish to announce that there is but one un-

versa Rosicrucian Order existing in the

world today. It isunted in its various [urís-

dctions and has one Supreme Council in

accordance with the origna pan of the an-

cient Rosicrucian manfestoes. The Rosícru-

[29}

. .



< O > THE KEY TO THE ART OF MEMORIZING < O >

cian Order is NOT a religious or sectarian

society.

The internationaI organization retains the

ancient traditions, teachings, principIes, and

practicaI helpfulness of the Brotherhood as

founded centuries ago. It is known as the

Ancient, Mystical Order Rosae Crucis, which

name is abbreviated for popular use into

AMORC. The jurisdiction of this Order

for The Americas, British Commonwealth,

France, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and

Africa is located at San J ose, California.

Those who have enjoyed the helpfulness of

this booklet and are interested in knowing

more of the history and present-day offerings

of the Rosicrucians may have a FREE copy

of the book entitled, The Mastery o f Life.Send a definite request to Extension Librar-

ian, AMORC, Rosicrucian Park, San J ose,California 95114.

[ 30 }



ROSICRUCIA" ORDER

q4$.~R~C5~~.SAN JOSE. CAUFORNIA eS114

Documents

Rosicrucian AMORC - Key to Concentration & Memorizing