The faintest ink lasts longer than the best memory.
– Chinese Proverb
No real deep thinking required here …
Write. It. Down.
Could be my shortest post ever!
But nooooo …
🙂
There’s one particularly curious aspect of this at-first-glance straightforward proverb that interests me.
My pondering is provoked by “faintest” …
The faintest ink lasts longer than the best memory.
Now I guess the author could have used that adjective simply to highlight the contrast; to make the “write it down” point with emphasis. Even the faintest ink is better than the best memory!
But that just doesn’t seem so, because, like memory, doesn’t ink fade? And if the ink is faint on the page, wouldn’t that suggest a quicker fade? And doesn’t that raise doubts about being better than the best memory?
It does. Of course it does.
But here’s the holy cow! of this quote.
I don’t think it’s about the ink.
It’s about the act of writing. It’s about what happens to us when we go about writing something down.
When we write something down, we move that notion or idea or whatever from our brain into our world. We make it available to our senses to experience. We can now see it … we might even hear it as we write it … and there are now wide-ranging synapses firing in our brain, with neurons capturing that notion and storing it in multiple places in our brain … It can now be evoked by seeing something similar or related … it can now be accessed by hearing something similar or related …
* * * * *
I know I know I know that I need to write things down. Leaving it to memory is a fool’s game for me. I’m the fool. It’s foolish to think that I will remember. I don’t have the best memory…
But I have a way better one when I write. things. down.
And it is very odd, because, even in the act of writing something down, I know that it is not so much about being able to find that piece of paper in the future. It is about stimulating those synapses and filling up those neurons!
And that’s why I need to not just think it.
I need to ink it.
Go here for a deep dive into neurons, synapses, and the mechanics of memory.
johnponders 
Agree totally. Reminds me of when I was studying for the actuarial exams, and especially the parts on insurance law. I would rewrite almost all of the text material. Twice! Using different words and sentence structure sometimes. As you say, it was about becoming part of me. Thanks for the memories.
Glad to be of service!
I remember you missing some family gatherings while doing your actuarial work … and even bringing the books to one or two … paid off, yeah?
Yes, it did.
I wonder if it makes a difference:
1. Blue ink, black ink, or red ink?
2. Colored paper (cold blue, or warm ivory, or…)?
3. Lined or un-lined paper?
(Remember when they taught us “how” and “why” to use certain colored pens on flip charts for presentations?)
And what’ll really blow your mind is pondering if this notion was the genesis of those scented flip chart markers … really? Really?
Everything makes a difference.
The way I used to study for exams in college was to re-read the material and write an outline of each chapter. When I did this, there was no stopping me, When I didn’t do it, then I became a mere mortal with regards to test performance.
Once again, John. You’ve hit the nail on the head. Please keep pondering!
It is so cool to see what these posts provoke! You and my older brother Ron commenting above are tracking! Very cool …
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