Some people
comment and query upon how come I have such a good memory. The older I get the
more important an active memory becomes, for memory is a critical aspect of
thinking, cognition, and therefore how we see the world. It also helps manage
(for me) the Anxiety of Existence; the randomness of 'Being' and combatting
negative, depressive and dangerous thinking.
The process
of cultivating a sharp and extensive memory is not easy, it requires effort and
an organisation of the thought processes. This effort, this cultivation, &
activation of 'Memory' not only requires the managed and lucid recall of 'good
& insightful' past events, but also the management of bad ones too. It also
requires constant maintenance, as well as an awareness of how the memories we
keep, morph and distort as we reflect, re-interpret as well as rationalise what
we construct as reality, our existence, and who we share it with.
Ultimately
memory also helps explain 'who we are' - by the context of our existence from
our memories.
I smiled many
years ago when I stumbled upon a book by Jonathan Spence, about Matteo Ricci. At the risk of emitting
a loud clanging name-drop; I came across this work from my correspondence with Thomas
Harris many years ago, when I asked him about Dr Hannibal Lecter's ability
in drawing (with charcoal) The Duomo
[The Cattedrale
di Santa Maria del Fiore], from Florence (from Memory as he didn't
have a window in his cell) while incarcerated in Baltimore. Harris told me that
Dr Lecter's Memory sprang from this book on Ricci, which he would later name
check in the footnotes of 1999's much misunderstood (and from some quarters
much maligned) HANNIBAL.
This Sunday
morning the house is silent. My wife Muriel is at the Gym. Our eldest daughter
Sophia has gone into work of her own volition, as like all the Karims' - we
work hard. Our Son Alexander is in Malaysia to view the upcoming Grand Prix
with friends and our youngest daughter Miriam spends her first day at
University, in Hall.
I am alone in
bed, with my thoughts.
Last night we
hit traffic (Sophia, Muriel and I) returning back from moving our youngest
daughter to University. There were road closures, diversions, it was bad biff.
We argued in the car as we were tired and after a long and emotional day, we
were stressed leaving the youngest Karim to fend for herself in this weird
reality we share.
At one point
while bypassing the Sat-Nav (which had gone rogue) Sophia said 'Dad you are
weird, you think weirdly' it made me silent as that observation made me ponder.
Yesterday our
youngest daughter Miriam presented me with a gift from her recent travels in
San Francisco - as we ate a meal, part of the ritual families do when they
part, she passed me over a gift, a small square piece of plastic, with a
microchip embedded beneath the surface.
The gift was
a device called ‘Tile’ that links
your keys, IPhone to a computer. It attaches to your key-ring and has a button
that makes your phone ring if you've misplaced it, so you can find it. Miriam
said 'so it will help you, if your memory fails'
I smiled at
the word memory.
Sure, I touch
my bulky key ring (which also acts as a defence tool) many times in the day,
feeling its comfort in my trouser leg (during the day) and now (thanks to
Miriam's gift) it can help me locate my IPhone, if I misplace it.
The 'Tile
device' is small and attached to my key chain, so i feel the white plastic gift
from my Daughter all the time, and I mean all the time. So several times of the
day, I will think lucidly about our youngest Daughter Miriam Karim, because of
this 'Tile', now part of my defensive key ring - something I see and feel
throughout my 'conscious' day, as it comforts and is a tangible part of my
realty; and makes me think about Miriam when I see or feel it.
Though Miriam
thought that she gave me a practical gift (from her vacation in San Francisco)
to ensure I always remembered my Iphone, but in reality it will be my way of
thinking about her every day, and several times, having the comfort that there
is in what we remember; in our Memory.
I also have
items on my person, that remind me of my Wife, my Eldest Daughter, my Son as
well as my Mother, Father and two Brothers.
This memory
technique, the solidification of memory (the recall of days now passed) by
physical touch / association to provoke thought - (among other techniques) was
noted in the book that Jonathan Spence wrote, based on the life of Matteo
Ricci; the same book that Thomas
Harris told me about; the same book that helped him flesh out the character
of Dr
Hannibal Lecter - his remarkable memory.
So as I
pondered upon the comment my eldest daughter Sophia said last night as we
battled traffic adversity 'Dad, you're 'Weird' and which my Wife added 'Yes,
you do think in a weird way' - I now smile, as I'm glad I think the way I do,
for with our thoughts, we make the world as Buddha once conjectured and Rene
Descartes confirmed, for 'I think, therefore I am'
I like weird;
enjoy your Sunday, and perhaps some of us may purchase a charcoal stick and
draw an image, something that resonates, something from what we term a memory,
of a day now passed, perhaps of that Duomo, that Dr
Fell would later view after fleeing Baltimore - and perhaps we'll fold it
and place in our wallets, to remind us of the beauty contained in this world;
to protect our thoughts and distract them roaming over all that scares us in this
random and weird place.
"Typhoid and Swans, Officer Starling, they come from the
same place"
Dr
Hannibal Lecter, Baltimore, Maryland
More
information about THE MEMORY PALACE OF MATTEO RICCI by Jonathan D Spence
available Here
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