MEMORY: A POWERFUL TOOL

“And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.”  Genesis 9:15. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Exodus 20:8. “That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.  I [am] the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I [am] the LORD your God.”   Numbers 15:40, 51. “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.”  Ecclesiastes 12:1. “Remember Lot’s wife.”  Luke 17:32. “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.” Luke 23:42

“For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”  Hebrews 8:10, 12

What do all these verses have in common? They all contain the word “remember.” What is the significance of the word “remember” as used in these verses and in hundreds more throughout the Bible? In some, God is reminding us that He will remember the covenants that he made with His people. He is asking us to remember the Sabbath day, as a memorial of creation, as the day that He has blessed. He is also reminding the children of Israel what He had done for them, so that they would, in turn, keep His commandments. We are also told to remember times that serve as warnings, what can happen to us when we go against the word of God, as in the example of Lot’s wife. And then the thief on the cross, recognizing that Jesus, who hung on the cross beside him, was the Saviour, asked to be remembered when Jesus returns to heaven. And finally, God chooses not to remember our iniquities, and acknowledges us as His people.

Samuel’s mother taught him for the first three years of his life, to learn to distinguish between good and evil. By every familiar object surrounding him, she sought to lead his thoughts to the Creator. By this connection, he would remember the lessons she taught him throughout all his life. She then gave him to Eli to serve in the house of God. The memories from his early training led him to maintain his Christian integrity through many adversities.

When we consider the life of Joseph, the lessons given him by his father, Jacob, in his youth were the very lessons he needed when in exile among idolatrous people. The lessons he remembered he put to practical use. The early impressions on his mind kept his heart safe from falling into temptation. We know the cry of Joseph when tempted by Potiphar’s wife, “How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” He recalled the lessons learned in his childhood in times of temptation, and he was able to resist falling into sin.

Both these examples are men of God, who learned from an early age, the lessons taught to them by their parents. And many years later, the memories of those lessons were able to keep them faithful when in times of trial.

When we are young are when we are most impressionable. Even the aged, when they may forget what they had for breakfast that day, can recount an experience from childhood. If our memory of those days are tainted with negative, unchristian experiences, that is what will be remembered. But, if our childhood memories are filled with lessons we learn at the foot of the cross, they will be brought to our remembrance in times of trial and tribulation and be a strength and guide to us.

“God commanded the Hebrews to teach their children His requirements, and to make them acquainted with all His dealings with His people.  Thoughts of God were associated with all the events of daily life in the home dwelling. The mighty works of God in the deliverance of His people were recounted with eloquence and reverential awe. The great truths of God’s providence and of the future life were impressed on the young mind. It became acquainted with the true, the good, the beautiful. By the use of figures and symbols the lessons given were illustrated, and thus more firmly fixed in the memory.” –The Great Controversy, p. 18–19

Why was the Lord’s Supper service instituted? To bring to our memory Christ’s blood that He shed for us. When we go through life with its burdens and trials, the Lord’s Supper brings to our remembrance, that our Saviour died for us and is making intercession for us. It also points us to His second coming; He told His disciples that He would not drink again, until that day when He drinks it new with the Redeemed in His Father’s kingdom. It reminds us of His love and what He was willing to do for us.

Memory is important to our spiritual health. As we remember what the Lord has done for us, we are grateful. We remember His promises to us. We also remember what He requires of us. So, memory is an integral part of our spiritual connection with God.

“The time will come when many will be deprived of the written Word. But if this Word is printed in the memory, no one can take it from us.” –Last Day Events, p. 67

WHAT IS MEMORY?

Memory is our ability to recall events of the past or present, to memorize facts, to learn skills. All animals have memory, therefore it is not unique to humans. When squirrels bury their nuts to eat over the winter, it is their memory that allows them to recall where they were buried, months later when needed for sustenance.

However, human memory is more sophisticated than the memory of animals, and we are able to manipulate our memory so that we can perform complex tasks. Our memory helps make us who we are. From fondly recollecting childhood events to remembering where we left our keys, memory plays a vital role in every aspect of our lives. It provides us with a sense of self and makes up our continual experience of life.

It’s easy to think of memory as a mental filing cabinet, storing away bits of information until we need them. In reality, it is a remarkably complex process that involves numerous parts of the brain. Memories can be vivid and long-lasting, but they are also susceptible to inaccuracies and forgetting.

OUR BRAIN

We may think that our brains are inferior to the computers of today. We all rely on the computer to perform multiple tasks, from word processing, web browsing, to storing data such as pictures, to playing music. But, the computer needs to be programmed to learn each and every thing that it needs to know. Our brain doesn’t need that same programming, it is highly adaptable, and versatile, there is nothing that we can’t learn, and, unlike a computer, has unlimited space for memory. Our brain contains 100,000,000,000 (one hundred billion) cells, each brain cell has multiple connections to many other brain cells. As we memorize, we develop more connections. The more connections that our brain cells have to each other, the better our memory. The brain can perform 10 quadrillion calculations per second. The world’s fastest super-computer could not handle even 1% of all of what the brain does for us. This is partly due to the nature of the brain and its truly unbelievable ability to multitask rather than raw power, although the combined power of the brain is truly unsurpassed as a whole. The amazing thing is that our brain only uses 20W of energy to function. It is highly efficient, but it also is very vulnerable to being overloaded. Only ten minutes without oxygen will cause permanent brain death.

MEMORY CENTRES OF THE BRAIN

Several areas of the brain are involved in the creation of memories. The most significant structure in the brain for memory is called the hippocampus. All memories that we retain for more than a few minutes must pass through the hippocampus in order for it to stay in our long-term memory. The hippocampus is like a sorting center. It takes in the information that we want to remember, and sends the memory to that part of the brain where it will be stored. All long-term memories are filed in different parts of our brain, depending on the type of memory. Facts are stored in a different place than memories of events. If we see something, and we want to memorize what we saw, it is stored in a specific part of the brain for visual memory. If our memory involves remembering the smell of something, it gets stored in a different place, in the olfactory center of the brain. When we memorize facts, as we study in school or read the Bible, the fact needs to pass through the hippocampus several times until the memory is permanently established and stored in yet another area of the brain. Once the memory is stored, the hippocampus is no longer needed for the fact to be remembered. Damage to the hippocampus affects our ability to learn and remember new facts or events. But, our long-term memory is not affected; once the memory is stored, it doesn’t need the hippocampus for our recall. In Alzheimer’s disease, the hippocampus is damaged. That is why individuals with Alzheimer’s can remember their childhood vividly, but can’t remember what happened a few minutes ago.

The other important structure in the brain involved in memory is the amygdala. It is a small area that sits near the hippocampus. It is connected to our survival instinct. It helps us stay away from previous, life-threatening situations by triggering an unconscious emotional memory of the event. The easiest way to activate the amygdala is by fear, because fear is protective when it comes to survival. We fear something that may put our life in danger and cause us harm. Particular memories, even if not life-threatening, if they are attached to strong emotion, will be triggered by the amygdala. Many of us can recall very vividly, those events that caused us great joy, like our baptism or our wedding day. However, the amygdala can also cause development of phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder, which are fears taken to an extreme, and can impact our lives in a significant way.

HOW IS A MEMORY CREATED?

The creation of a memory begins with its perception. Our brain has to actually register a piece of information before we can remember it. Then, after the initial creation of the memory, it needs to be stored, even if only briefly. Because there is no need to store everything we experience in our brain, we have different stages of memory. These stages of memory act as a filter, that helps protect us from the flood of information we receive every second of our lives. Sensory memory, that which we see, hear, touch, smell, can often be remembered for the briefest moment and is then forgotten. As you are walking down the street, your senses are bombarded with multiple stimuli, but it is not necessary to remember all of what you sense. If we need to remember something for more than the briefest moment, it moves into our short-term memory. Our short-term memory contains facts such as phone numbers, remembered for as long as we need to dial the number, and is then forgotten. Our short-term memory capacity is for about 7 items, and is retained for no longer than 20-30 seconds. Sensory and short-term memories do not pass through the hippocampus, and therefore do not become of part of our permanent memory.

Once we decide that the information is important enough to retain, it passes through our hippocampus, and is then transferred from short-term memory into our long-term memory. Unlike sensory and short-term memories that are limited and decay quickly, our long-term memory can store unlimited amounts of information for an indefinite time. The more the information is repeated or used, the more likely it will move into our long-term memory, and be retained. This is the reason why studying helps people perform better on tests.

Long-term memory contains facts—data that we learned in school, information that we read, or heard about.  Examples are: dates when historical events occurred, how to add numbers together, the names of the different countries of the world, what words mean—the list is endless. These facts can be remembered even though we don’t recall exactly the time or place that we learned them. It also holds the memory of skills we have learned—from basic skills such as how to tie a shoelace to more complex skills as to how to drive a car, to the complicated sets of skills you develop for your work career. Our long-term memory also holds the information about the events that occur in our lives. Events can be recalled as visual pictures, sounds, and smells, the way something felt; we also can recall what our emotions were at the time of the event, whether of sadness, joy, fear, or excitement, or a range of other emotions that took place during the event. Because of the nature of our long-term memory, most of us can probably recall events from our earliest childhood, facts that we learned in school, no matter how old we are. Sometimes the memory of facts and events are forgotten. We forget because we may have been distracted at the time and the memory wasn’t retained in the first place; we also forget because we haven’t accessed the memory for a long time, and the brain connections that contain that memory begin to fade over time.

Because our long-term memory is so efficient, we need to be careful what we put there. If we focus our minds on information that is not uplifting, if we put ourselves in situations that create events that take our focus from spiritual to worldly thoughts, we can never “un-remember” these. And throughout our lives these memories can draw us away from God, and from our connection to Him. In order for us to grow as Christians, to develop Christ-like characters, we need to create the types of memories, even from our earliest childhood, that will bring us closer to Him.  We also need to recall those memories, otherwise they can fade. Sister White tells us that we need to recall the events of the cross “daily” so that we don’t forget Christ’s sacrifice for us. What we read, what we focus on, what we experience, all create memories that can be used for good or for evil. “Hang in memory’s hall the precious words of Christ. They are to be valued far above silver or gold.” –Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, p. 81

“Let the more important passages of Scripture connected with the lesson be committed to memory, not as a task, but as a privilege. Though at first the memory be defective, it will gain strength by exercise, so that after a time you will delight thus to treasure up the words of truth. And the habit will prove a most valuable aid to spiritual growth.” –Child Guidance, p. 511

We need to be mindful about the power of memory and how it can affect our lives and the lives of those we come into contact with. In our daily interactions with people, we are laying down memories for them that will either drive them away or draw them to the gospel of Christ. In our actions, in our words, we need to present Christ to the world, so that the message of His love for all of mankind and His sacrifice on the cross is what people will remember. We don’t know always know the effect our words may have, but they memory of them will stay with the people we talk to, and one day they may recall what we have said, and turn to Christ. It is my wish and prayer that the memories established in our lives will be for our own salvation and for the salvation of all those who we witness to. AMEN.

Part 2: Memory and Habits