The Mental Highway
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Memory connects every state of consciousness with every previous element of consciousness. It consists in the power to make ideas reappear in consciousness by their connection with other ideas, as well as the recall of an idea by virtue of its own power, as soon as we clear the hindrances out of the way.

Usually, we remember by noting the combination and connection of individual ideas, although some experiences impress themselves so strongly upon our attention that they arise apparently spontaneously. However, real memory images always arise from some experiences, while hallucinations emerge into consciousness without external conscious association. So much is this true that distinguishing them from actual percepts is often difficult. Usually the subject of hallucinations will stoutly maintain their reality, although occasionally ‘he can discern their unreality. They seem to arise from the same psychological basis as the dream image, namely, the action of the altered condition of the blood on the sensory brain centers. We may produce hallucinations voluntarily.

General conditions for clearness of memory images are as follows: First, they are clearer when the general vital process is fresh and energetic. Fatigue and exhaustion inhibit clearness of the impression of the image and of its recall. Second, time and repetitions of the thing to be recalled are factors in clear memory images. Third, we member ideas better if we put them into words, either written or spoken. Fourth, the simpler the ideas and experiences are, the more easily we recall them. Fifth, attention is the greatest factor in memory, for by it the mental images are so deeply impressed that they may be recalled at will.

The first general rule of memory is the association of ideas by similarity. Similarity means that there is a point of attachment in consciousness so that we instinctively recognize and recall by the similarity in sound, form or substance. We form associations by the more remote similarity expressed in analogies, parallels, metaphors, and allegories. We associate ideas by the relation between the whole and a part. We may call up an entire group of related ideas by the similarity of a present percept to one of the group, as a figure of a globe may call up the planetary system, and that in turn brings the law of gravitation into mind. Similarly, the end may call up the means, or the idea of a kitchen may call up that of a dwelling.

We also associate ideas by external connection, and in a sense we associate everything by external connection. We recall by similarity and by contrasts of the idea with us and the idea apart from us. Some sensations always rise together, as color, smell, touch and taste ideas, as for instance an apple leads to the idea of smoothness, of taste and smell, plus color. Or the idea of a friend brings up her house, her friends, etc. The idea of a wreck arouses the idea of a coast. A natural connection exists between an event, and the time and place of its occurrence.

An important instance of association is by outward connection with a thing and the sign of the thing. We naturally associate an emotion and its outward expression in idea. The sound of weeping, the shriek of terror are difficult to counterfeit, and we cannot misunderstand them. Sounds, articulate or otherwise, are the universal sign of all sensations and feelings because they command the greatest wealth of shades to express feeling. Its symbol, its word recalls an idea, or in a child, its signs. With many people, real thought is a sort of inner speech that will make them hoarse.

One person, in listening to a speaker and following closely his thought, would often have a spasm of the throat muscles followed by coughing. It is the instinctive impulse to put the idea in the universal sign of sound, for all ideas to be recalled readily ought to be written or spoken to form a symbol. This also fixes the attention upon it critically, and attention is the secret of memory.

Briefly the following memory rules will, if practiced, give one a perfect working memory:

Repetition: Say it repeatedly again. Write it. Form a distinct mental picture of it.

Contiguity: Relate the matter to be remembered to other things occurring simultaneously.

Correlation: Attempt to link each thing to be remembered with an old idea of a similar nature. Bind new facts to old facts by relations of similarity, cause and effect, by whole and part, and other forms of association.

Comparison: Note how the facts to be remembered compare with other facts on similar subjects already stored in the memory.

The law of recall: Simply say to yourself, "I want that name" or fact of any sort. Command it. If it does not come up into memory at once, turn the mind away from it and let the command work in your subconscious; often it will flash up in a few moments.

The alphabet: If you remember the first letter, start as if to speak words beginning with that letter, taking up the vowel sounds in turn and then combining them. As you use any of these rules, your memory will steadily develop until you will see what you wish to see, and hear what you wish to hear, and can recall their impressions with ease.

The art of forgetting is as great as that of remembering, and here the attention is the chief agent, just as it is in remembering. We forget by abstracting the attention away from the strong or obsessing idea to another. You must replace the troublesome idea by another of greater power; you must fill your mind with greater ideas of a different sort. If you have a vicious circle of ideas, then you must fill your mind with a circle of good ideas. Many afflicted people would be well and happy if someone could divert their attention from themselves for a short time. We may not easily obey the injunction to "forget it," but we can bring our will into action, direct our attention to other things and our troubles cease at once. This is the secret of the cure for many.

Logically following memory as a factor in cognition, the method of apprehending time and space arises. Mental phenomena make their appearance in the form of time, while physical phenomena appear in the form of space. That which is constant gives the sensation of time while that which is variable gives the idea of time. The idea of time involves the consciousness of change, and the repetition of certain states that we recognize. If we concentrate the attention and so prevent the notice of a succession of experiences, we will shorten both the time of the experience and the memory of it, as with Jacob to whom seven years seemed as no time because he so perfectly loved Rachel.

We apprehend space by three dimensions, length, breadth and thickness. We may reduce these to two or increase them to a fourth possible one. Sight and touch are the two senses with which the form of space plays an important part. We take the true measure of an object by touch, but estimate by sight.

As the final study in cognition, we come to the apprehension of things as real. How can we distinguish between mental health and mental disease, between hallucinations and reality? No single perception can decide it, nor can many percepts and their associated memories in the same individual determine it. Consciousness recognizes a reality independent of itself. All the sensations are those of resistance, and resistance brings the not-self in view. We must test a present perception by our other perceptions and those of others under similar conditions. We can apprehend the real only in this way. We cannot correct our illusions if we depend on ourselves alone, for there is no absolute continuity in experience, nor absolute repetition. We cannot exactly recall or completely explain any single phenomena.

The law of relativity applies here, for we determine every experience by another experience. Comparison is the fundamental form of cognitive activity at all stages of development. All proof is from several given premises. Little can be inferred from a single experience or premise. Time and space are always relative. Every experience that is on one side, as effect, is on the other side, as cause. All knowledge rests on the relation between the knowing subject and the object known.

The criterion of proving truth by the agreement of reality with knowledge seems impossible, and so we have to seek it in the world of consciousness and not outside. The criterion of reality is nothing else than the inner harmony and consistency of all thoughts and experiences. Therefore, the idea or experience that will not harmonize and be consistent with the trend of all one’s thoughts and experiences, must be set down as an illusion. If it shall usurp the place of and practically dispossess the usual ideas and experiences, it becomes marked as an hallucination. An illusion may not be serious in its effects, if we recognize and treat it as such, and do not take it seriously.