2. “Spontaneous occurrence” in which a thought appears with apparent
suddenness for no particular reason. As a matter of fact, such
suddenness is always caused by some conscious, and in most cases, some
unconscious association, the thread of which can not be later sought out
and exhibited because of its being subconscious, or of its being
overleaped so quickly and readily that it can not be traced. Very often
some particular sense-perception exercises an influence which unites
simultaneous ideas, now here again united. Suppose once during some
extraordinary sound, e.g., the ringing of a bell, which I do not often
hear, I had seen somebody. Now when I hear that bell ringing I will
think of the person without perhaps knowing the definite
association--i.e., the connection of the man with the tone of the bell
occurs unconsciously. This may go still further. That man, when I first
saw him, might have worn, perhaps, a red necktie, let us say
poppy-red--it may now happen that every time I hear that bell-note I
think of a field of poppy-flowers. Now who can pursue this road of
association?
3. “Accluding occurrence,” in which, in the process of the longest
possible calm retention of an idea, another appears of itself and
associates with the first. E. g., I meet a man who greets me although I
do not recognize him. I may perhaps know who he is, but I do not
spontaneously think of it and can not get at his identity
constructively, because of lack of material. I therefore expect
something from this “accluding occurrence” and with my eyes shut I try
as long as possible to keep in mind the idea of this man. Suddenly, I
see him before me with serious face and folded hands, on his right a
similar individual and a similar one on his left, above them a high
window with a curtain--the man was a juryman who sat opposite me. But
the memory is not exhausted with this. I aim to banish his image as
seated and keep him again before my eyes. I see an apparent gate beyond
him with shelves behind; it is the image of a shop-keeper in a small
town who is standing before the door of his shop. I hold this image
straining before my eyes--suddenly a wagon appears with just that kind
of trapping which I have only once seen to deck the equipage of a
land-owner. I know well who this is, what the little town near his
estate is called, and now I suddenly know that the man whose name I want
to remember is the merchant X of Y who once was a juryman in my court.
This means of the longest possible retention of an idea, I have made
frequent use of with the more intelligent witnesses (it rarely succeeds
with women because they are restless), and all in all, with surprising
effects.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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