Meanings Behind the Ruins of Scopas
Meanings Behind the Ruins of Scopas
The Art of Memory is developed over time through application, a developed technique. There are many Latin sources for art of Memory, of which one developed through the tragedy of Scopas in which Simonides was spared. “Invisible Callers”, Castor and Pollux, had drawn Simonides away from Scopas banquet, just before the celling collapsed killing those inside. Through his memory of places and where guests had been sitting he was able to identify their bodies- sparking the notion that orderly arrangement is essential for good memory. To Quote the publication Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory, “Persons desiring to train this faculty of memory must select places and form mental images of the things they wish to remember, and store those images in the places.” The publication continues, “There are two kinds of memory, one natural, the other artificial. The natural memory is that which is en-grafted in our minds, born simultaneously with thought. The Artificial memory is a memory strengthened or confirmed by training. “
A “locus”, is a place easily grasped by the memory. It is an image we save, a frame of what we saw. Images in our minds themselves are forms, marks or simulacra of what we wish to remember. If we wish to remember many things we must place series in order, so that we can start from any locus in the series and move in sequence either backwards or forwards from it.
In stating “Remember the Ruins of Scopas”, Tycho could very well have been inferring the need to go back and examine the frames in our mind, the simulacra of our memory. Hank Johnson, do you remember everything that happened when you were a simulacra? Can you link each frame from start to finish, is something missing, incomplete or artificial? That memory may be the key to unlocking something more. It may be time to meditate on where you have been from the beginning.
We remember dramatic images. The setting of the sun and rising of the moon are typical events, but a solar eclipse is a source of wonder because they occur seldom. Therefore we can use dramatic images to remember key events in vivid detail. This itself can be described as a form of mental stenography, whereby we compress and hide data we would otherwise be unable to recall but can decrypt through recalling the powerful mental image associated with it. It may very well be that there is something locked away somewhere in someone’s mind, something important, that can be recalled by searching for their own “Ruin of Scopas.”
I cannot help but think of Edgar Allan Wright in the context of this discussion. His own mind has been fractured for some time. Perhaps Edgar this can have special meaning for you, perhaps you are missing the key simulacra of your mind, the image that is the key to your own memory. I hope you are able to find it.
Also worth nothing is the Metrodorus of Scepsis, a memory technique based on Zodiac signs. Perhaps a study of this technique could be of benefit.
Hank Johnson H. Richard Loeb Edgar Allan Wright flint dille Agent KodamaSmiles
[embed]http://faculty.washington.edu/alain/Latin520-Quintilian/YatesChap1.pdf[/embed]
The Art of Memory is developed over time through application, a developed technique. There are many Latin sources for art of Memory, of which one developed through the tragedy of Scopas in which Simonides was spared. “Invisible Callers”, Castor and Pollux, had drawn Simonides away from Scopas banquet, just before the celling collapsed killing those inside. Through his memory of places and where guests had been sitting he was able to identify their bodies- sparking the notion that orderly arrangement is essential for good memory. To Quote the publication Three Latin Sources for the Classical Art of Memory, “Persons desiring to train this faculty of memory must select places and form mental images of the things they wish to remember, and store those images in the places.” The publication continues, “There are two kinds of memory, one natural, the other artificial. The natural memory is that which is en-grafted in our minds, born simultaneously with thought. The Artificial memory is a memory strengthened or confirmed by training. “
A “locus”, is a place easily grasped by the memory. It is an image we save, a frame of what we saw. Images in our minds themselves are forms, marks or simulacra of what we wish to remember. If we wish to remember many things we must place series in order, so that we can start from any locus in the series and move in sequence either backwards or forwards from it.
In stating “Remember the Ruins of Scopas”, Tycho could very well have been inferring the need to go back and examine the frames in our mind, the simulacra of our memory. Hank Johnson, do you remember everything that happened when you were a simulacra? Can you link each frame from start to finish, is something missing, incomplete or artificial? That memory may be the key to unlocking something more. It may be time to meditate on where you have been from the beginning.
We remember dramatic images. The setting of the sun and rising of the moon are typical events, but a solar eclipse is a source of wonder because they occur seldom. Therefore we can use dramatic images to remember key events in vivid detail. This itself can be described as a form of mental stenography, whereby we compress and hide data we would otherwise be unable to recall but can decrypt through recalling the powerful mental image associated with it. It may very well be that there is something locked away somewhere in someone’s mind, something important, that can be recalled by searching for their own “Ruin of Scopas.”
I cannot help but think of Edgar Allan Wright in the context of this discussion. His own mind has been fractured for some time. Perhaps Edgar this can have special meaning for you, perhaps you are missing the key simulacra of your mind, the image that is the key to your own memory. I hope you are able to find it.
Also worth nothing is the Metrodorus of Scepsis, a memory technique based on Zodiac signs. Perhaps a study of this technique could be of benefit.
Hank Johnson H. Richard Loeb Edgar Allan Wright flint dille Agent KodamaSmiles
[embed]http://faculty.washington.edu/alain/Latin520-Quintilian/YatesChap1.pdf[/embed]
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