Last Thursday, four of us met to practice our esoteric work. The most engaging discussion emerged when we went on a tangent, exploring topics related to memory work and Freemasonry. We each shared our personal techniques and approaches.
Memory work has roots as ancient as humanity itself. Just yesterday, while researching materials, I found a page summarizing Thomas Aquinas’s writings on the subject.
“memory is assigned to the sensitive part of the soul”
A learning technique I’ve found effective is verbal repetition. It’s related to Aquinas’s Step 2.
When studying challenging work, I recite passages aloud multiple times in private – if anyone walked in on me, they’d probably think I’d lost my mind. The repetition sometimes devolves into singing, mumbling, or increasingly weird variations. And you know what? That’s perfectly fine. The process of memorizing isn’t meant to be elegant or dignified – it’s like getting a haircut. If you stopped the stylist halfway through, your hair would look absolutely ridiculous. But that messy middle stage is necessary to reach the final result. So I don’t worry about how foolish I might look or feel while I’m muttering the same paragraph for the thirtieth time. Rather than analyzing deeply during this process, I let the repetition happen almost automatically. After numerous recitations, I move on to other activities. Interestingly, after a night’s sleep, passages that initially seemed impenetrable often become more comprehensible.
The journey might be ungraceful, but the destination – memorization and true understanding – is what matters
Finding the right rhythm for delivering each part of the work is crucial. I’ve discovered that different sections demand different paces from me. Some passages only flow when I move through them quickly – if I slow down, the words seem to slip away from my memory. Other sections require a gentler tempo, and rushing through them leads to mistakes.
Learning to recognize the natural pace for each part has become my journey of understanding how my mind works.
Another important self-awareness technique is recognizing when I’ve learned something incorrectly and developing the ability to catch and correct these mistakes in real-time.
Take, for instance, my tendency to say ‘How is IT that’ instead of the correct phrase ‘How is THIS that.’ I must have picked up this error while learning too quickly. When I speak rapidly, I’m almost certain to make this mistake. However, by consciously slowing down, I can catch myself and use the correct phrase. While I may never completely unlearn this incorrect pattern or deliver it flawlessly without thinking, I’ve placed a mental marker—like a red flag—that warns me to slow down and make the correction.
My brother, understand that memory work is far more than just memorizing words. It is a gateway to deeper self-knowledge and understanding of your own mind. The Ancient Greeks used the word ‘psyche’ for both ‘mind’ and ‘soul’ as well as ‘spirit’ and ‘life’ – revealing how closely these concepts are intertwined.
Through memory work, you begin to understand your own soul. And as we learn in Freemasonry, the soul is indeed immortal.
Remember our sacred duty: to shape ourselves into “living stones for that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
This transformation happens through dedicated memory work. Without it, our time on Earth becomes merely an existence in what amounts to a penal colony of souls.
Make time for this essential practice, for Earth is not our true home – it is but a temporary dwelling on our spiritual journey.
Danut Prisacaru
Worshipful Master, 2024 – 2025
University Lodge No. 1190 Austin TX
