Editorial March 19, 1938 Issue

Memory

George Shaw Cook

That which is ordinarily regarded as memory, the ability to remember or to recall, has to do, generally speaking, with the so-called finite or human mind and is not, therefore, a faculty of infinite divine Mind. One synonym for memory is recollection, and "recollection" is defined by Webster as "act or power of recollection" or calling to mind."

In her use of the word "memory" in her writings, it is obvious that Mary Baker Eddy uses the word almost without exception in its finite or human sense. For example, she says on pages 377 and 378 of "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," "It is latent belief in disease, as well as the fear of disease, which associates sickness with certain circumstances and causes the two to appear conjoined, even as poetry and music are reproduced in union by human memory." However, in another passage she lifts the thought of memory quite above the human level, inferentially at least. Under the marginal heading "Immortal memory" she writes (ibid., p. 407): "If delusion says, 'I have lost my memory,' contradict it. No faculty of Mind is lost."

Memory, regarded as a human function or faculty, is seen to be variable in its nature, and more or less undependable. It can lapse or fail, and seems to be subject to impairment by reason of accident, disease, or the passing of years. Again, it is believed that one person can have what is called a good memory and another person a poor one. In belief, some have difficulty in remembering persons, names, numbers, words. Others are quite proficient in that respect. All this, however, has no direct bearing on the underlying spiritual truth about memory.

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