THE SECRET
I have a secret to tell, my friends. I am memorizing a
book. Every word and each page in sequence. It's not
going that well, but it's only been a year and I wonder
how often it's been done. I've got about 30 pages in my
head to date. It's not easy - I can close my eyes and
visualize each page, with blocks of text and message and
where they go. Strange, and a wee bit odd. My voice wants
to talk, but I won't let it.
-
I remember, a long time ago, reading 'The Memory Palace
of Matteo Ricci'. That's what got me started and got me thinking
of this. How all those ancient people used to memorize the
layouts, sort of visually, of every place they'd be : associating
this or that with something sound or visual, to recall the
instance and the place. This is different, yes, I agree. They
had nothing else to go with, then - no photos, no writing,
not even a diagram except in the dirt, perhaps. vastly different,
a scrap-heap world compared to ours. Yet, I want to memorize
my life and ties, and this is certainly a start.
-
My book for this task is called 'Nine Gates'. Nothing special about
that, but what makes it noteworthy internally for me is that - within
this book - are accumulated many other references being used - bits
of this and lines of that. These were all a series of nine lectures, once
spoken aloud, about 1996 or so. Now, they're mine : to mouth, to
say, to live and respire with. Ah, yes, I am working hard.
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