The Soul, the Guts of Memory, and my increasingly sore brain

Time and time again, Francis Yates, either in her own argument or by channeling others, connects the three ethereal concepts of Memory, Imagination, and Soul.  I commented on this pattern in a previous post however as I continue reading, more and more material reinforces my claims.  Based on Yates' book, the true Guts, the meat and potatoes of the Artificial Memory reside somewhere in the cross-roads of the the Imagination and the Soul.  The development of Memory not only proves useful but is of ultimate utility because of the supremely beneficial effects on the soul.  Maybe then, in the constant moral battle of souls, salvation lies in the memory.  This certainly played a huge part in Thomas Aquinas' treatise on memory.  More rationally, the better someone remembers sin the easier one can repent and work to prevent repeating the sin.  

Back to memory and the soul.  Yates makes an interesting observation critical to the development of memory.  "(1) that images are an aid to memory; (2) that many propria can be remembered through a few images; (3) that although the propria give more exact information about the thing itself, yet the metaphorica 'move the soul more and therefore better help the memory'." (pg. 65)  This statement helps refute the "clutter" argument posed in class if we conclude that memory derives from creations from the soul.  (I examined this in my previous post Mnemonic Soul Searching).  Agree or disagree, fundamentally this logic makes sense.  People commonly think of the Soul as a life force.  It plays a role in the development of personality, spirituality, relationships.  For me and my guess most people as well, these aspects of the soul provide incredibly vivid, personal memories.  I remember fondly watching sports next to my Dad as a very tiny kid which led to my passion for all sports.  I remember my first kiss, my first girlfriend, my first communion, the first time I questioned my spirituality and countless other aspects of my "Soul".  If one subscribes to the belief that the soul creates both the "human" and the "being" in the word "human-being" I would venture to guess that person can remember most of the climatic occurrences that shaped their existence.  

"What then is memory?  It is in the sensitive part of the soul which takes the images of sense impressions; it therefore belongs to the same part of the soul as imagination, but it also per accidens in the intellectual part since the abstracting intellect works in it on the phantasmata." (pg 71)  To be quite honest I don't know exactly what this quote means but it seems that Memory rests deep in the core of a person where the Soul, Imagination, and Intellect meet.  An exercise in any one of these four applications then involves some input from the other three.  Reasonably, the entire core of Academic thought no matter what kind or what subject relies completely on seamless cooperation of The Memory, The Soul, The Imagination, and The Intellect.  While this concept is a bit chewy, its kind of fun to think about.  My guess as we keep reading more and more of this will hash itself out.