The Big Idea
An Allegory about how Memory Works.
See the idea of strapping on scripture.
Deuteronomy 11:18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
Now I am sure you have met Jack before. You know Jack and the bean stock or Jack and Jill. But even if you haven’t, you should know that Jack is not always the brightest berry on the bush nor the sharpest scissor on the shelf.
Jack normal and ordinary nothing magical or spectacular about him at all
Jack is a farmer now. And quite by accident stumbled upon a magic cellar. These kind of things seem to find Jack more than he finds them.
the magic of the cellar is that is never runs out of room. as soon as you think you have filled up all the cupboards and shelves you turn around to see another passage to a new room completely empty!
In his hast to try and test the magic of this cellar Jack loads up his flatbed truck with all the things he can possibly harvest from his field, the forest, his cottage and even around the road
(learning and experiencing) The truck piled high with tomatoes, herbs, branches, rocks, anything he could pick up hoping to take it to the magic cellar and see what would happen
(Only so much space in short term) not able to find space for all the stuff he wanted to bring to the cellar so had to choose what would fit this time.
(Putting in short term taking to long term) truck completely loaded and starts off towards the cellar but he does not strap anything in! you can imagine what happens next as bits and pieces fly off every which way as he drives like a drunken sailor to his new found cellar
when he arrives disappointed that only a few things stayed on the truck
but jack makes do and carries those few things into the cellar
(memory strategies like strapping in) On his way back he things about how to keep things on the truck better the next time
so the next time he does tie things down with a few bits of twine
this time makes it there with more of the things he loaded but still looses some
next time he uses twine and rope and even goes to find a sheet to put over everything this time he makes it there with even more intact. only a single orange or a piece of paper missing from his heaping load.
(Organizing Long term) things went on like this for a while and Jack stored more and more things in his magic cellar. So many things that it was not longer his new magic cellar but was now his messy magic cellar. Room after room stuffed and crammed with any and everything Jack could get his hands on and drive to the cellar.
problem was that the more he had stored the harder it was to find what he wanted. when jill wanted to throw a birthday party jack excitedly went to look for all the supplies in his cellar
but because it was such a mess he came back with a few things but could not find everything he wanted
at this point Jack knew he needed to do something. He was wasting the magic of his cellar by just throwing things into it
decides to start organizing the better he organized the easier it was for him to find what he wanted when he needed it
(how thing age in the cellar) another part of the magic of the cellar was that things lasted for much longer than in a normal kitchen or shed
but Jack noticed something as he would bring certain things in and out of the cellar. Those things stayed as fresh and new as the first day he found them
in fact he has his first bundle of carrots he ever grew and because he is quite proud of them has taken them in and out to show many people. those carrots look just as fresh as the day he put them in there.
but there was something someone else convinced him to put in the cellar he had not touched it for years. when he went back in to organize he found it quite by mistake and was horrified. It had started to rot and was mushy and goopy.
jack realized that the things he truly wanted to keep in the cellar for a long time needed to be brought back out every now and again so they don’t start to decay
(recalling things) another magic of the cellar if he took things out to share he would go back into the cellar later and find that it was right where he had taken it out from
the more he shared it the more the thing looked fresh and new and the easier it was for him to find it
(how you store things affects how you can use it) stored a wheel of cheese was quite annoying to have to pull the whole wheel out when someone asked him for just enough cheese to put on a sandwich
but he had taken great care with a harvest of rutabagas to put each on in a special little cupboard made just for it.
whenever he was making mashed rutabagas he could bring out exactly the number he needed for that night
(putting it all together) over the years Jack got better and better at using his magic cellar. Took care collecting, transporting and storing things in his cellar. He also became more and more generous with the things in his cellar which was much easier when he could find what he needed and the thing had not broken down because it was forgotten in a back room of the cellar.