John Michael Greer On Giordano Bruno, Memory and Time
Few authors have provided as many lenses through we can see and interpret science, language and memory as John Michael Greer.
As an author, Greer is known for his work with the ideas of Giordano Bruno and, most recently, his translation of On the Shadows of the Ideas.
Greer has also authored many books on the subjects of spirituality and the occult, economics and political change. He’s also published fiction and served as a druid and initiate in Freemasonry and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
On this episode of the Magnetic Memory Method Podcast, we focus on Bruno’s memory systems and the nature of knowledge from what he calls “the rubbish heap of history.”
Is that what Bruno’s texts and the Picatrix amount to? Press play now to see if you agree as we discuss:
The importance of “intellectual dumpster diving” to real learning and preservation of ideas
Why more than a literal translation can be self-serving, but somehow it can’t be avoided
The reason photocopies (of photocopies) are an accurate parallel of our relationship to ancient philosophy
Why Bruno is the zenith of the Renaissance art of memory
The reason subject/abject memorization is the most sophisticated method to memorize text
A mystery of modern times – the widespread avoidance of using the alphabet as a memory tool…
And why overwhelm can occur, even with this simple sequence
Why, in Bruno’s time, knowledge and secrecy went hand-in-hand
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
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Giordano Bruno
Did Giordano Bruno Write The Ultimate Memory Improvement Book?
That’s probably a silly question. After all, aren’t the Memory Palace books you put into action the “best”?
Nonetheless, I was really excited when Greer’s new translation of De Umbris Idearum appears on the scene, which is why I held this special livestream:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcDgp...
I highly recommend everyone serious about memory techniques not only read this book, but endeavor to understand it by taking action based on its suggestions.
Spend at least 90 days in practice. Embrace the challenge, as suggested by John Graham.
Then, and only then, add another memory training book. You’ll be glad you did based on solid understanding, rather than flighty “shiny new memory book” behaviors.
Because if you don’t take action on the books you read, then Greer is right: they’ll be found on the trash heap of all the other books you’re not milking for the value they contain.
Further Resources on the web, this podcast, and the MMM Blog:
John Michael Greer’s Ecosophia Blog (Toward an Ecological Spirituality)
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
Scott Gosnell Talks About Giordano Bruno
