Memory Improvement Podcast - The Magnetic Memory Method Podcast

Memory, Mentats & Mental Mastery with John Michael Greer

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If you’re looking to unlock the ancient memory techniques used by philosophers, mystics, and mental elites throughout history, this is the conversation for you.

In this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, John Michael Greer returns to reveal how memory systems from thinkers like Giordano Bruno and Ramon Llull can help us reclaim our cognitive power in the AI age.

Why do these long-dead figures matter more than ever in today’s world?

For one thing, a lot of people are scrambling to work out how to survive in a world in which remembering how to think is quickly becoming as scarce as human memory.

But Greer offers hope.

As a renowned author, translator of Giordano Bruno’s On the Shadows of the Ideas, and long-time student of multiple esoteric traditions, Greer joined me again to discuss the growing importance of memory training.

But what makes this episode special is that we’re not talking about just any old kind of training.

And we’re definitely not talking about your everday, average memory tricks.

You’re about to hear about real mental training, the kind that once produced polymaths, philosophers and masters of the mind who inspired the Mentat you’ve read about in Dune.

But don’t let the fictional reference distract from the value at hand. Everything we discuss accords perfectly with memory science, particularly the science of mental imagery.

As part of this discussion, Greer and I also explore his upcoming book project on medieval and Renaissance mental disciplines, a work I’m looking forward to reading very much.

We also cover the overlap between historical mnemonic systems and why reviving these ancient practices is absolutely essential in an age increasingly dominated by machine thinking.

From the combinatorial wheels of Llull and Giordano Bruno to the forgotten discipline of syllogistic logic, we discuss:

How memory palaces can function as practical tools and metaphysical metaphors

  • Bruno’s integration of memory with logic and ontology
  • Why the “art of combination” might be the ultimate question-asking system
  • The lost connection between Freemasonry and mnemonic training
  • What a modern Mentat curriculum might look like (and why we need it sooner than later)
  • Practical tips from historical and contemporary memory masters
  • The real philosophical difference between tools we use and tools that use us
  • Reasons for reading older memory improvement books like Rhetorica ad Herennium
  • Why you should explore the Trivium and Quadrivium as tools for modern mental clarity

    • Greer also shares insights into his current Latin translation work, John Dee research, and what the Twilight of Pluto means for our cultural moment.

    No matter what happens, Greer believes memory techniques can thrive again.

    But likely not in Silicon Valley.

    They will rise again in the ruins of the cultures that resist.

    Why not start resisting now?

    Whether you’re a memory athlete, aspiring Mentat, or simply tired of outsourcing your intelligence to devices, this episode will give you both intellectual fuel and practical direction.

    Bonus: John Michael Greer on Bruno’s
    On The Shadows of the Ideas

    During my first discussion with Greer, we focus on Bruno’s memory systems and the nature of knowledge from what Greer calls “the rubbish heap of history.”

    We also dig into Greer’s translation of On the Shadows of the Ideas by Giordano Bruno.

    Finally, we discuss an old and mysterious book called The Picatrix. Like the Ars Notoria, it kind of freaks me out a bit, but Greer puts my mind at ease.

    Press play and listen in as we discuss:

    • The value of “intellectual dumpster diving” to preserve ancient ideas
    • Why adding more to a text than a literal translation allows can be self-serving, yet somehow can’t be avoided
    • The limits of historical clarity in the age of photocopies (which are often of other photocopies)
    • Why Bruno’s memory theory remains of great importance to the art of memory
    • The reason subject/abject memorization is the most sophisticated method to memorize text
    • The deep mystery behind why alphabet-based mnemonics fell out of favor in modern times
    • And why overwhelm can occur, even when using a sequence as simple as the alphabet
    • Why memory, secrecy and initiation were inseparable in Bruno’s world
    • The reason Frances Yates’ ideas about Bruno should be viewed with discernment
    • The delusion of treating history as a straight line, and why this idea is wildly inaccurate, given the way the universe operates
      • Giordano Bruno

       

      Further Resources on the web, the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast and blog:

      John Michael Greer’s Ecosophia Blog (Toward an Ecological Spirituality)

      John’s Dreamwidth Blog

      John Michael Greer’s Amazon author page

      John Michael Greer Presents: Masonry and the Secret Societies

      Frances Yates’s Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition

      The Illustrated Picatrix: The Complete Occult Classic of Astrological Magic

      My How to Think and Remember Like the Mentat video on YouTube:

      The post Memory, Mentats & Mental Mastery with John Michael Greer appeared first on Magnetic Memory Method - How to Memorize With A Memory Palace.

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