"Imagination is the intermediary between perception and thought. Thus while all knowledge is ultimately derived from sense impressions it is not on these in the raw that thought works but after they have been treated by, or absorbed into, the imaginative faculty. It is the image-making part of the soul which makes the work of the higher processes of thought possible. Hence 'the soul never thinks without a mental picture'; 'the thinking faculty thinks of its forms in mental pictures'; 'no one could ever learn or understand anything, if he had not the faculty of perception; even when he thinks speculatively, he must have some mental picture with which to think.'" Yates, pg 32.
This passage brings up an interesting thought for me: the fact that we always think in mental images. This is a part of human nature that is so natural it has escaped my notice before. These mental images appear unconsciously, it just happens. Even as I type this, images flicker through my mind: mostly memories of day dreams that involved vivid mental images. I have never put stock in this human function before but it now makes sense that mental images are such an important part of memory. We naturally think with images so it is natural that we should use images to remember things as well. This has helped inspire to but a little more effort into creating crazy visual images as I create my memory palaces.
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