THE SUBCONSCIOUS RECORD-FILE.
The old writers on the subject were wont to consider the memory as a
separate faculty of the mind, but this idea disappeared before the
advancing tide of knowledge which resulted in the acceptance of the
conception now known as The New Psychology. This new conception
recognizes the existence of a vast "out of consciousness" region of the
mind, one phase of which is known as the subconscious mind, or the
subconscious field of mental activities. In this field of mentation the
activities of memory have their seat. A careful consideration of the
subject brings the certainty that the entire work of the memory is
performed in this subconscious region of the mind. Only when the
subconscious record is represented to the conscious field, and
recollection or remembrance results, does the memorized idea or
impression emerge from the subconscious region. An understanding of
this fact simplifies the entire subject of the memory, and enables us to
perfect plans and methods whereby the memory may be developed, improved
and trained, by means of the direction of the subconscious activities by
the use of the conscious faculties and the will.
Hering says: "Memory is a faculty not only of our conscious states, but
also, and much more so, of our unconscious ones." Kay says: "It is
impossible to understand the true nature of memory, or how to train it
aright, unless we have a clear conception of the fact that there is much
in the mind of which we are unconscious.... The highest form of memory,
as of all the mental powers, is the unconscious--when what we wish to
recall comes to us spontaneously, without any conscious thought or
search for it. Frequently when we wish to recall something that has
previously been in the mind we are unable to do so by any conscious
effort of the will; but we turn the attention to something else, and
after a time the desired information comes up spontaneously when we are
not consciously thinking of it." Carpenter says: "There is the working
of a mechanism beneath the consciousness which, when once set going,
runs on of itself, and which is more likely to evolve the desired result
when the conscious activity of the mind is exerted in a direction
altogether different."
This subconscious region of the mind is the great record-file of
everything we have ever experienced, thought or known. Everything is
recorded there. The best authorities now generally agree that there is
no such thing as an absolute forgetting of even the most minute
impression, notwithstanding the fact that we may be unable to recollect
or remember it, owing to its faintness, or lack of associated
"indexing." It is held that everything is to be found in that
subconscious index-file, if we can only manage to find its place. Kay
says: "In like manner we believe that every impression or thought that
has once been before consciousness remains ever afterward impressed upon
the mind. It may never again come up before consciousness, but it will
doubtless remain in that vast ultra-conscious region of the mind,
unconsciously moulding and fashioning our subsequent thoughts and
actions. It is only a small part of what exists in the mind that we are
conscious of. There is always much that is known to be in the mind that
exists in it unconsciously, and must be stored away somewhere. We may be
able to recall it into consciousness when we wish to do so; but at other
times the mind is unconscious of its existence. Further, every one's
experience must tell him that there is much in his mind that he cannot
always recall when he may wish to do so,--much that he can recover only
after a labored search, or that he may search for in vain at the time,
but which may occur to him afterwards when perhaps he is not thinking
about it. Again, much that we probably would never be able to recall, or
that would not recur to us under ordinary circumstances, we may remember
to have had in the mind when it is mentioned to us by others. In such a
case there must still have remained some trace or scintilla of it in the
mind before we could recognize it as having been there before."
Morell says: "We have every reason to believe that mental power when
once called forth follows the analogy of everything we see in the
material universe in the fact of its perpetuity. Every single effort of
mind is a creation which can never go back again into nonentity. It may
slumber in the depths of forgetfulness as light and heat slumber in the
coal seams, but there it is, ready at the bidding of some appropriate
stimulus to come again out of the darkness into the light of
consciousness." Beattie says: "That which has been long forgotten, nay,
that which we have often in vain endeavored to recollect, will sometimes
without an effort of ours occur to us on a sudden, and, if I may so
speak, of its own accord." Hamilton says: "The mind frequently contains
whole systems of knowledge which, though in our normal state they may
have faded into absolute oblivion, may in certain abnormal states, as
madness, delirium, somnambulism, catalepsy, etc., flash out into
luminous consciousness.... For example, there are cases in which the
extinct memory of whole languages were suddenly restored." Lecky says:
"It is now fully established that a multitude of events which are so
completely forgotten that no effort of the will can revive them, and
that the statement of them calls up no reminiscences, may nevertheless
be, so to speak, embedded in the memory, and may be reproduced with
intense vividness under certain physical conditions."
In proof of the above, the authorities give many instances recorded in
scientific annals. Coleridge relates the well-known case of the old
woman who could neither read nor write, who when in the delirium of
fever incessantly recited in very pompous tones long passages from the
Latin, Greek and Hebrew, with a distinct enunciation and precise
rendition. Notes of her ravings were taken down by shorthand, and caused
much wonderment, until it was afterwards found that in her youth she had
been employed as a servant in the house of a clergyman who was in the
habit of walking up and down in his study reading aloud from his
favorite classical and religious writers. In his books were found marked
passages corresponding to the notes taken from the girl's ravings. Her
subconscious memory had stored up the sounds of these passages heard in
her early youth, but of which she had no recollection in her normal
state. Beaufort, describing his sensations just before being rescued
from drowning says: "Every incident of my former life seemed to glance
across my recollection in a retrograde procession, not in mere outline,
but in a picture filled with every minute and collateral feature, thus
forming a panoramic view of my whole existence."
Kay truly observes: "By adopting the opinion that every thought or
impression that had once been consciously before the mind is ever
afterwards retained, we obtain light on many obscure mental phenomena;
and especially do we draw from it the conclusion of the perfectibility
of the memory to an almost unlimited extent. We cannot doubt that, could
we penetrate to the lowest depths of our mental nature, we should there
find traces of every impression we have received, every thought we have
entertained, and every act we have done through our past life, each one
making its influence felt in the way of building up our present
knowledge, or in guiding our every-day actions; and if they persist in
the mind, might it not be possible to recall most if not all of them
into consciousness when we wished to do so, if our memories or powers of
recollection were what they should be?"
As we have said, this great subconscious region of the mind--this Memory
region--may be thought of as a great record file, with an intricate
system of indexes, and office boys whose business it is to file away the
records; to index them; and to find them when needed. The records record
only what we have impressed upon them by the attention, the degree of
depth and clearness depending entirely upon the degree of attention
which we bestowed upon the original impression. We can never expect to
have the office boys of the memory bring up anything that they have not
been given to file away. The indexing, and cross-references are supplied
by the association existing between the various impressions. The more
cross-references, or associations that are connected with an idea,
thought or impression that is filed away in the memory, the greater the
chances of it being found readily when wanted. These two features of
attention and association, and the parts they play in the phenomena of
memory, are mentioned in detail in other chapters of this book.
These little office boys of the memory are an industrious and willing
lot of little chaps, but like all boys they do their best work when kept
in practice. Idleness and lack of exercise cause them to become slothful
and careless, and forgetful of the records under their charge. A little
fresh exercise and work soon take the cobwebs out of their brains, and
they spring eagerly to their tasks. They become familiar with their work
when exercised properly, and soon become very expert. They have a
tendency to remember, on their own part, and when a certain record is
called for often they grow accustomed to its place, and can find it
without referring to the indexes at all. But their trouble comes from
faint and almost illegible records, caused by poor attention--these
they can scarcely decipher when they do succeed in finding them. Lack of
proper indexing by associations causes them much worry and extra work,
and sometimes they are unable to find the records at all from this
neglect. Often, however, after they have told you that they could not
find a thing, and you have left the place in disgust, they will continue
their search and hours afterward will surprise you by handing you the
desired idea, or impression, which they had found carelessly indexed or
improperly filed away. In these chapters you will be helped, if you will
carry in your mind these little office boys of the memory record file,
and the hard work they have to do for you, much of which is made doubly
burdensome by your own neglect and carelessness. Treat these little
fellows right and they will work overtime for you, willingly and
joyfully. But they need your assistance and encouragement, and an
occasional word of praise and commendation.