Hello, I’m Dr. Anadale with another memory palace example video.
I asked for topic suggestions, and one of you asked for the Beatitudes.
So here we go.
There are nine beatitudes in the Gospel of St. Matthew.
Each one names a type of person who is blessed, and names their promised reward.
I want to memorize both pieces of information for each beatitude, in order.
Here they are:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of
evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Before I start, a word about memorizing scripture.
If you want to learn the actual text of a passage exactly, the best method is to write
it out by hand and read it out loud, several times a day.
That way, you are engaging your senses of sight, hearing, and touch, while attending
to the specific words in the passage.
So if you want to memorize not just the content and order of the Beatitudes, but the exact
wording, I recommend you try that method as well.
Since I can place two pieces of information in each slot, I will need the first nine slots
in my 12-slot memory palace.
These are: keys rack, kitchen sink, freezer, sofa, TV, bookshelf, stairs, laundry basket,
and office chair.
Yours will be different, of course, but these are the locations I see every day, so they’re
very deeply embedded in my memory.
My next step is to condense each thing I want to remember down into 1 or 2 concepts that
I can then weave into my sensible memory of the slot.
First, the poor in spirit are promised the kingdom of heaven.
I write this down in my notes, and think I can probably abbreviate it to poor/kingdom,
and remember the “in spirit” and “of heaven” on my own.
Second, those who mourn are promised comfort. I write: mourn/comfort.
Third, the meek will inherit the earth.
Fourth, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.
Now, if I just remember hunger and thirst, I might forget the “for righteousness”
part, so I write in my notes: “Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness/Filled.”
Fifth, the merciful are promised mercy.
Sixth, the pure in heart will see God.
Seventh, the peacemakers will be called children of God.
These are all easy to reduce to a few words.
Eighth, those persecuted for righteousness’ sake will receive the kingdom of Heaven.
Just like the fourth beatitude, I will try to include “for righteousness” in my trigger
if I can.
Last, the Lord says blessed are you, when you are insulted for His sake, for you will
be rewarded, because the prophets of old were treated likewise.
My notes read “You, Insulted/Reward, Like Prophets.”
Now I have my 9 slots, and their contents, what I want to remember.
My next step is to think up triggers for each pair.
I want some exaggerated, striking, sensory image that will be easy to remember.
First, keys rack/poor/kingdom.
I come in the door and turn left, and where the keys rack should be, there’s the slot
of the poor box from church.
It’s dark wood with a cross shaped slot.
And above the slot is a crown emblem, painted gold.
That image will get me “poor” in spirit and “kingdom” of heaven.
Second, sink/mourn/comfort.
I walk a few steps forward, and on my right, one of my children is crying into the sink.
She’s mourning for her lost pet.
Her tears fill up the sink, and as I pass, I pat her on the back and say “there, there,”
to comfort her.
If I’m worried that I might remember “cry” instead of “mourn,” I can add the words
“Good morning” written on the window over the sink.
Or I can say “Good morning” to my daughter as I pass by and comfort her.
Third, freezer/meek/earth.
My kids are big fans of the cartoon show Phineas and Ferb, and one of the characters in that
show is named Meap.
I imagine Meap standing on top of my freezer, holding a globe in his hands, and saying his
name, “Meap.”
In my case, it also helps that there is, in fact, a world map hanging on the wall over
my freezer.
Fourth, sofa/hunger and thirst for righteousness/filled.
I walk into the living room, and there on the sofa are all of my kids, and they’re
very hungry, famished and complaining.
They say, “You’re gonna feed us, right? Right?”
This gets me the group, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
For the promise, they will be filled, I think I can remember that: hungry and thirsty people
will be filled.
I’m not going to try to build that detail into my trigger
unless I have trouble remembering it later.
Fifth, TV/merciful/mercy.
I turn left and look down at the television.
It’s showing one of my favorite movies, Casablanca, and Ilsa is saying to Rick, “Merci.”
Now, this is not an actual line from the movie, but Rick and Ilsa spent time in Paris, so
it fits with the characters and the movie.
That gets me merciful/receive mercy.
Sixth, bookshelf/pure in heart/see God.
Here I have a couple of different options: I could put some books I know on the shelf
with the word “pure” in the title, like Kierkegaard’s Purity of Heart Is to Will
One Thing, or Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason.
But instead, the shelf will have a Pur brand water filter on it, since that is something
I would recognize instantly.
Next to it there is a microscope.
It has heart-shaped eyepieces, reminding me of “purity of heart,” and when you look
through it, you see God.
I think that’s just absurd enough to be memorable for me.
Seventh, stairs/peacemakers/children of God.
There are two armies of toy soldiers, one at the top and one at the bottom of the stairs.
And my two youngest kids are standing between them, in the middle of the stairs, making
peace by keeping them apart.
That gets me peacemakers/children.
I think I can add “of God” from memory when the time comes.
Eighth, laundry basket/persecuted for righteousness/kingdom of heaven.
Since persecution is hard for me to visualize specifically, I will go with the sound of the word.
There is a purse in the laundry basket, set off to the right side, with a gold crown on
top of it.
That gets me “persecuted,” “right,” and “kingdom.”
I think I can remember the rest based on that trigger.
Ninth, office chair/you insulted/reward like the prophets.
Since this beatitude is directed toward me (us), I picture a mirror propped up on my
office chair.
And someone has scrawled insulting graffiti on the mirror, so when I look, my reflection
has the insult written across it.
And on the chair in front of the mirror is a sack of coins, like the bank bags in old
cartoons and movies.
This helps me remember the “great reward” promise.
So, those are my memory triggers for the nine Beatitudes from Matthew chapter 5.
I will practice with them for a few days, and then see if I have them memorized.
Your memory palace slots and the triggers you think up will be different, of course.
Use your creative mind to think up something outrageous and personalized.
Remember that its only value is inside your head, so feel free to use images or triggers
that work for you, even if you would not share them with anyone else.
Some of the triggers I used here, for instance, include details that I left out of this video
for the sake of privacy, like which child is crying, and what food my kids are asking for.
I hope you found this video helpful. Thanks to David Ruelas for suggesting this topic.
Thanks for watching today; goodbye.