Brain Food: Languages, Poetry, Songs, Theatrical Plays, Sacred Prayers, ….

An enormous world cultural wealth awaits us! Anyone with the desire and the necessary discipline can be an heir to beautiful languages, poetry, sacred writings, poems, songs, dances, theatrical works, etc. This type of wealth is not exclusive – it is a truly shared world heritage. This wealth is not diminished if more people “possess” it. In fact this wealth is enhanced as more and more people “use it”.

While material wealth unarguably has clear and immediate benefits one can ask: “what do I gain from the ethereal cultural wealth?  I cannot use it to buy a car or a home or buy groceries!”. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and desires as well as yoga philosophy of “chakras” classifies our needs and desires starting from “survival based” to “higher level” or “enlightenment based”. Enlightenment based desires allow one to seek one’s purpose in life, learn to accept ups and downs of life and eventually accept our own mortality. The ethereal cultural heritage of the world feeds our higher level needs and desires. 

While it is joyful to read or hear a rendition of a great poetry piece, actually memorizing it and reciting it as one takes a walk in the garden or in Nature takes the joy to a different level. Take the example of being presented a meal by a world renowned chef: if each morsel is swallowed rapidly without taking the time to savor and chew the food will taste good but more pleasure will be released if the morsel is savored. Memorization of a great poetry releases the same pleasure as a properly savored morsel does.

Acquiring the ethereal cultural wealth of our world cultures benefits us in three ways:

1) It provides a fun challenge to our brain as we try to build new neural connections that are needed to learn something new. This in turn exercises our brain and is as essential as exercising our body;

2) It creates a sympathetic connection to a new culture and opens us to meeting and traveling to new places;

3) Sacred writings and poetry provides a “wide angle” worldview that allows us to become wiser. 

Memorizing poetry, songs, sacred texts, theatrical plays requires repeatedly hearing or reading and then articulating the contents. It can take dozens of “listen-speak-repeat” cycles to memorize a verse or a new language sentence. Encore!!! language learning app provides the tools to make this arduous task easier.

The following describes the process for a piece of poetry (the same approach applies for any other type of content one wishes to memorize):

1. Break up the entire poetry into smaller pieces e.g. one or two verses items; 
2. If you wish you can add an explanation or translation or transliteration for each item;
3.  Use the MyEntry function to create a new entry that comprises the entire text content as well as any explanation or translation or transliteration; Use the “User’s Manual” to see how this process works (it simply requires copy and paste skills);
4. Record the audio for each verse if you wish or you can use the “Text to Voice” function of your mobile device;
5. Make a playlist from the content you have added and then customize the playlist by choosing the number of repetitions for each verse and pause between each repetition;
6. Now play the playlist and use the “Listen-articulate- repeat” method and gradually you will be able to commit the entire poetry piece to memory. 

Usually it may take about forty or fifty repetitions to memorize each verse and since Encore!!! allows you to play the playlist while working out or taking a walk etc. in a one hour walk you could memorize a small poem or poetry of say 8 or 10 verses. A long piece of poetry that may have 40 or 50 verses could take a month or more but you will have a lifelong source of pleasure and you will feel a great sense of accomplishment.

Author: Dr. Jasprit Singh, President Gurmentor, Inc.

A Learning Company https://gurmentor.com

Professor Emeritus, Electrical Engg. & Comp. Sci. and Applied Physics

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor