by Marilyn Muir, LPMAFA
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The ability of humans to retain prodigious amounts of information always amazes me regardless of subject matter. Some humans are like computer data storage banks for information ranging from pre-selected or pre-set, as occurs in autism and similar mental conditions, to numbers, to music, to languages, to calendar dates, to sports statistics and all points and subjects in between. Our scientists, physicists, mathematicians, doctors and lawyers are obvious examples of professions that require superior memories. Some examples are not so obvious. One of my very young grandsons memorized sports statistics for his intended purpose of becoming a sportscaster. At age seven? So many contestants who play the game shows are like walking Trivial Pursuit games, with bits and pieces of memory on myriad subjects. The examples of such memories are marvelous and are really not that rare.
Add to that prodigious memory list a lesser-recognized subject, astrology. When I started studying astrology you had to know how to do the math because computers or even handy-dandy calculators were not that common. I, a high school graduate, had to perform calculations based in spherical trigonometry from tables and ephemerides (lists of planet places) produced by astronomical calculations. Wow! Along with the knowledge of how to construct a personal chart, came the memorization of centuries and millennia of observations and conclusions of astrologers from all over the world. Add to that mythology, symbology, an understanding of cultures, philosophies, a general understanding of the human race (which looks suspiciously like psychology), and numerous specialty areas such as weather, finance, earth changes, etc. The list is endless, and the memory demand to prepare one’s self as an astrologer is huge. Then you get to add the examples, the experiments, the varieties of application and what you learned from people as you looked into their lives. Astrology has been a heck of a memory ride and the only limits are those you place on yourself, those that others place on you, and the natural decline of memory that is possible as we age. Apparently human brains can store as much information as we can manage to generate or encounter without running out of room.
Now, before you decide this is not descriptive of you, hold on a moment. There are different kinds of memories, different uses for memories, glitches and errors that pop up, good days and bad days, all sorts of influences that can affect our use of memory. You may have a really good memory for one subject but not for another subject or all subjects. I have a basically good memory. Once upon a time, when I was much younger, I had a near photographic memory. I spent fifty years in the business community, and one of my most marketable assets was that same good memory. I was one of those walking Trivial Pursuit games. Having said that, I have always had a terrible time remembering names. I’ve tried every little memory trick possible. However, if I ever learn your Sun sign, I will probably never forget it. People are thrilled when I address them as “Hi Aries”, or whatever their sign is and they remark kindly on my memory, We hardly ever get to the part of my not knowing their name. I am a hero in their eyes because I remembered them personally. Why would I argue with being someone’s hero?
Humans are distinct and unique. Your particular memory and experience might house an unusual skill or a specific application of memory. The rest of your memory might be less reliable. The more you have to take in and the more stress you are under, the trickier your memory becomes. Some people have long-term memories so substantial that they are remarkable and we say they have the memory of an elephant. At other moments those same people might not be able to remember where their glasses or their keys are (short term memories).
One of the things I learned along the way is that you have a smaller repository for short-term memory and those tend to slip away the easiest. I also learned that what you might consider to be a poor memory is more than likely a poor retrieval system. Supposedly a memory of anything you have ever encountered in any way resides as a stored memory, most likely in the long-term section. The trick is how do you get to that memory? It is like a song title that eludes you even though you sang that song a thousand times. You do know it. The memory of it does exist somewhere in your head. Your problem is really your retrieval system. There are also things we just don’t want to remember, so we don’t and we trick ourselves into believing that we can’t. Do not sell yourself short when you pronounce that you have a poor memory, you may be more skilled than that for which you have given yourself credit. Do a little mental self-examination before you make that sort of self-judgment.
Today my daughters and sons can run circles around me memory-wise and their sons and daughters are exhibiting an even better memory capacity. Each generation takes what the species has learned and adds to that knowledge. Evolution is the name of this memory game. In evolution, a species either evolves or begins to devolve and become a part of the historical record. From my 70+ years of observation, as mankind learns, becomes, evolves and expands, the breadth and depth of his inherent memory seem to expand as well. As I watch the younger generation’s computer skills and eye/hand coordination develop, I know the creative thrust of the universe is developing that inherent memory into higher and better applications through deeper and broader memory capacity. Our species grows and evolves as it must to survive in this world and beyond.
Published on EZine online January, 2010, republished with slight editing.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.