The Big Idea
I had no idea that memory and memorization could be as varied and useful as it is. Rote memory is only one form of memory. Here are some of my notes about what I have learned so far.
Similar Notes: Why Learn Storytelling Memorizing the Psalms Memorizing the Lords Prayer Memorizing the Ten Commandments Memory, the Things We Keep with Us
A Really Good over view article about memory methods: https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/mnemonic-devices/
Deut 11:18 - binding scripture to our heart and being
Prov 3:3 6:21 7:3 - love and faithfulness being bound and written on the heart.
Do I have to Memorize It?
We live in a world where memorization is highly deemphasized. We can always look things up. Even more so with AI we can even have a conversation to get needed information easily and quickly without the trouble of storing it within our own minds.
This mentality is not helped with the common monochromatic perspective of memorization. You learn a song or phrase by repeating it over and over until it is “stuck” in your head so it can be regurgitated easily.
Whenever the phrase: “You need to memorize this” comes up, students young and old shutter and call to mind memories of shoving multiplication tables, morphology charts, element tables, formulas, etc. into their minds for the sake of a test.
I experienced that when starting to approach the idea of memorizing sermons
it is super hard and time consuming to word for word memorize something.
It is also very fragile. the smallest distraction and you need to go all the way to the beginning in order to start again.
You also can’t access something in the middle without reciting the whole thing.
Rote Memorization
This kind of memorization also often gets applied to learning Bible versus as well. A parent, teacher or Pastor is usually the one who hands you some kind of sheet or slip (or even makes you write it down yourself) in order to commit the whole thing to memory word for word. When you can finally recite the whole thing without mistakes it is usually deemed to be “memorized.”
I think of my time teaching 7th and 8th grade religion classes and that is exactly what memory verses were. You gave students a verse and then over the week they were expected to study it and be able to spit it out word for word by the end of the week. Success in this context were the students who could recite the verse easily without stopping and starting.
The goal of this kind of memory is to regurgitate word for word the thing being memorized with particular care being taken for exact accuracy.
More to Memorization
Rote memorization is not the only way to memorize
we have so many resources inside our head that we should engage.
engaging imagination with memorization Spatial relationships and location Color and shape Story and action rhythm, pace and music
Memory ends up being the things we allow to live inside us
Functional Memorization
A method that I have practiced when delivering sermons is the shift away from rote memorization. Trying to memorize word for word ten to fifteen minutes of content every single week is a huge amount of work for not a great return. Delivery is always halting or can easily go off track because what is actually committed to memory are the specific words written on the page. In essences, the sermon becomes a verbal regurgitation of a written essay.
Functional memorization takes a more dynamic approach to things. Rather than trying to commit all those specific words to memory. Functional memorization seeks to memorize the key themes, phrases, and stories that “make the sermon go.” Just like in a normal conversation. We do not enter every conversation with a whole script but as we talk our memory works to recall and piece together the things we say as we go.
Functional memorization gives some structure to that normal process. What this looks like practically for me is to write out the main points of a sermon in a brief paragraph form making sure to highlight reference to scripture, stories or other illustrations that go with a point. What this allows me to do is be more freed up to actually talk naturally. I know my points and where I am going so I don’t just talk in circles but I am also able to be reactive the to room I am in. If something happens I can respond to it normally rather than my fragile memorization getting shattered.
One word of caution with this kind of memorization is that you actually have to be living with and in the texts and things you want to share. Otherwise you will deliver a short bullet point and have nothing else to say or expand on. But if while preaching another bible verse or story comes to mind why not just add it in there.
As long as I am regularly reading my bible, practicing stories and normally thinking about faith and theology this kind of memorization has helped to make it possible for me to preach without hardly ever having to look down at notes or need to type out whole manuscripts or totally memorize things word for word.
Memory as Play
From a Romanic theory of memory that sees memory as a way to be refreshed and to play within the world looking for truth and virtue and holding on to it.
Memory Games
- Sight-seeing - have a child go look at a scene and then come back and describe it to you. As questions for more and more detail so that you can picture the scene without having seen it. When they cannot remember the answer to a question they run back to look more until they can come describe more details.
- “picture-painting”; children and adults together take turns looking at some landscape before them, then closing their eyes, recapturing a mental image of the scene, and then “saying what they see”—each member of the group trying to outdo the others in vividness and exactitude of description.
Telescopic or Treasure Chest Memorization
based on the idea of chucking example in the small catechism and Luther
- two great commandments down to ten commandments on the the rest
- creed onto the fuller story of scripture
- lord’s prayer on to psalter on to all the prayers and songs in scripture Telescope of Scripture, the Law and Doctrine
Registering Content off already memorized Content
https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/how-i-memorized-psalm-27-14-verses-in-5-10-minutes/31110
Major System for Memorizing Numbers
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/major-system/
Remembering Numbers by hand
using hands can be a way to hold onto specific numbers
article about making memory associations with physical things like fingers but also other things: https://forum.artofmemory.com/t/question-about-using-your-hand-or-any-memory-devices/97825
Numbering by fingers
Whole fingers
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4 long fingers
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8 on both hands
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5 fingers total
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10 on both hands
Finger Joints
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2 knuckles on thumb
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4 on both hands
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3 knuckles on each long finger
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12 knuckles on long fingers together
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24 on both hands
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14 knuckles including thumb
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28 on both hands
Larger Arm joints
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1 Wrist can be added whenever needed
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1 Elbow
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1 Shoulder
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3 larger joints on each arm
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6 larger joints each
Memorization for Inner Sight
A really good walk through of how we remember things and how spatial memory is a foundational part of our mental understanding 1_New_MMM_Worksheets+V2-1.pdf
We naturally map spaces we experience and hold them in our minds.
Make a list of all the places you know.
what do you see, feel, or remember, when you close your eyes and imagine these places?
the idea that you can tell a story based on imagining and seeing it in your mind as you speak
very different from trying to deal in disparate lines or text or facts that are in memory
Describe the room you are in right now as you see it and look around it. This is your normal sight and you can connect it to your speaking if you want.
shut your eyes and do it again but describe the room from your memory. this is what we are talking about
Experiment with this Memorizing the Ten Commandments
outline the key pieces of things or parts of a story or idea
what is the rhythm of the things that keeps it moving?
can think of the seed of a story. that is the moral point or lesson, the surprise, the turning point or general “payoff” when you hear the story. that Aha moment. In other words the think that makes the story worth telling.
Memory Palace Method
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/memory-palace/ Introduction: Defining the Memory Palace Technique and its Core Principles
The memory palace technique, also known as the method of loci, stands as a cornerstone of mnemonic strategies, tracing its origins back to ancient Roman and Greek rhetorical practices. This technique centers on the visualization of a familiar spatial environment, such as one’s home or a well-known route, within which items to be remembered are mentally placed at distinct locations, referred to as loci. The fundamental principles underpinning this method involve harnessing the brain’s inherent strengths in spatial memory and navigation. By creating vivid and interactive mental images of the items at these locations, individuals establish a structured pathway for recalling information as they mentally navigate through the imagined space.
Memory Palace or The Method of Loci in Classical Lutheran Practice
Commonplace books or Loci Communes are basically written maps of memory palaces from these authors MayesLociCommunesATheologiansBestFriend.pdf a walk through of various early Lutherans and their advise on using these books
Blog on Commonplaces or Loci books
Early Lutheran Loci or Commonplaces
https://www.cph.org/on-interpreting-sacred-scripture-and-method-of-theological-study
Spaced Repetition
A plan for how often and how you will repeat things to be memorized https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/spaced-repetition/
Journey and Story Method
- The Journey/Story Method: Creating Narratives and Mental Routes for Memorization
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/story-method/
https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/journey-method/
The journey method involves constructing a mental “journey” through a sequence of familiar locations, sharing similarities with the memory palace but often characterized by a more linear and narrative progression. Closely related is the story method, which focuses on interweaving the items to be remembered into a cohesive and memorable story. In the story method, items are linked through plot developments, characters, and actions, rendering the sequence of information easier to recall. The journey method can be viewed as a narrative unfolding across the loci of a memory palace, effectively merging spatial and sequential elements.
A possible book to read Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Foer, Joshua. Health, Fitness & Dieting
Other book recommendations: https://www.magneticmemorymethod.com/memory-palace-books/