WHY MEMORIZE?

Isn't it strange that when we are not distracted by ordinary thoughts how quickly we seem to drift into some negative harbor in our minds or hearts, such as financial stress, relationship problems, unresolved emotional crises, health problems, or job issues? Our egos don't like empty spaces and, since our egos thrive in the past, the empty spaces between ordinary thoughts goes into taking up the worries of past traumas.

Our society is weighted in favor of what's wrong, what's in pain, and what's missing in our lives as opposed to what's right and what's enough. Have you ever heard a commercial tell you, "You probably already have more than enough. What else could you possibly need?" Choosing to fill our minds with thoughts of gratitude, compassion, peace, etc. are choices. I liken our choice-making ability to building up a muscle--if I continue to choose to dwell in truth, it will become second nature to come from truth.

So what does this have to do with memorization? I can just see you cringing at that word. I have never met one person who's said, "Gosh, I'm good at memorizing." It's always, "I just can't seem to memorize anything." Or, "Memorizing is very difficult for me." My question is, why would anyone think they were good at it if they never did it? It's like saying, "Tennis is very difficult for me." when you've picked up a racket twice in your life!

I am constantly amazed at what happens when I memorize something. I enjoy reading poetry and have my favorite poets. When I read a poem thoughtfully and then read it again, and yet again, I fall in love with it. But...when I memorize it, I take it one word at a time, link it phrase by phrase, observe the deeper connections, let it transport me beyond my mind. My practice is to write it on a recipe card and carry it with me until I can say it by heart. If I have chosen a really good one, there is no way to completely apprehend it with my mind but there is something in it that resonates on a deeper level where there are no words and where I know I'm supposed to go...and also where it feels like home.

Again, why memorize? When I start getting entangled in the negative fears and worries, I bring my mind to something I have memorized. Not once in the decades since I have started this practice has it failed to bring me to grace--where I realize my connection to peace. I must admit that sometimes it's difficult to turn off that negative stuff because there is something that entices us about rummaging around in it, like a piece of good gossip. Maybe we think that at least in worrying about it we have some control over it, I don't know. If you've ever been down or depressed, it seems a monumental effort to just get up and go outside and let some fresh air into your head. The more often you let yourself make a new choice to leave fear and enter truth, the quicker it will pop into your head to do so. Your ego exists on fear and when you stop feeding your ego, it will diminish.

Everyone has writings that speak to them. If you choose biblical writings, I would suggest you make it more than just one verse. Egos can be relentless and need to be dealt with firmly, so build up your cache of memorized treasures so that by the time you are finished with reciting, you are transported into joy.

I have always enjoyed poems by Rumi and just recently I discovered that his ecstatic poems were channeled--no surprise there. Here's is one that I just recently added to my treasury:

THE TORRENT LEAVES

Rise up nimbly and go on your strange journey
to the ocean of meanings, where you become one of those.
From one terrace to another and through clay banks
washing your wings with watery silt,
follow your friends. The pitcher breaks.
You're in the moving river. Living Water,
how long will you make clay pitchers
that must be broken to enter you?
The Torrent knows it can't stay on the mountain.
Leave and don't take your eyes from the sun as you go.
Through him, we are sometimes crescent, sometimes full.
(Open Secret, p. 68; Furuzanfar #2873--translated by Coleman Barks)

Enough already on memorizing? So...what do you think?