HUB Psychology

https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

Holistic Multidirectional Learning –

strategies for preventing dementia
Page | 1
©2019-12-02 Dr Romesh Senewiratne-Alagaratnam

romeshsenewiratne@gmail.com

It has been said that the brain is a use it or lose it organ. Could active learning in many different
areas can be used to prevent and treat depression and dementia?

Keeping the mind active requires exertion of will - the will to keep learning throughout life. And
there are many things to learn, for all of us.

The Internet provides a valuable tool for learning. Unlike the established university system the
tendency of the Net is to integrate, establish links and break down barriers between disciplines.
However knowledge – true knowledge – is more than information. It needs to be factually accurate
knowledge. It requires analytical ability on the part of the reader/learner to sort fact from fiction.

In my analysis, these are some of the social and psychological factors that impede active learning:

1. Negative preconceptions
2. Poverty
3. Lack of education
4. Narrow interests
5. Limitations in taste
6. Unhealthy distractions
7. Information overload
8. Brainwashing and indoctrination
9. Deficient senses
10. Anxiety
11. Lack of aesthetic development

Negative preconceptions

The beliefs that one is too old to learn or too old to change are deeply embedded in society. Such
beliefs impede possible learning of new skills and knowledge. It is true, however, that children learn
faster and with more ease than adults, especially when it comes to languages. However our
educational system tends to be both splintered and anti-creative as well as discouraging original
thinking and arguments from first principles.

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

Poverty

Poverty makes technology such as computers unaffordable, and also limits opportunities for learning
basic literacy. Poor nutrition impedes learning – hungry children are distracted by their hunger. They
Page | 2
cannot afford musical instruments, books, paper and pens which are essential tools for continued
learning throughout life.

Lack of education

Both lack of education and bad education are problems in the modern world. You can only teach
what you know and teachers are often not as knowledgeable about the subjects that they teach as
they need to be. There are good and bad teachers, and the students of bad teachers suffer from
boredom. These bored children are liable to labels of ADHD and learning disorders. This is not to say
that some students are not slower learners than others and their abilities and interests differ. Good
teachers strive to make their lessons interesting and are not afraid to admit that they don’t know or
are wrong. This is the case in all levels of the educational system. The focus of Holistic
Multidirectional Learning® is on self-directed, self-motivated learning using the Internet, books and
Nature, with an emphasis on Nature. We are part of the natural world and can play a key role in
nourishing and enriching Nature as well as human society.

Narrow interests

The Western educational system has long tended to favour people with narrow fields of interest and
expertise. This is seen in the adages “Jack of all trades, master of none” and “a little bit of knowledge
is a dangerous thing”. Many people are multi-skilled and a little bit of knowledge is only a dangerous
thing if you think it to be a lot of knowledge. A little bit of knowledge can be expanded and is better
than no knowledge at all.

The divisions of academia have led to a plethora of disciplines, sub-disciplines and specialities that
defended their territory and communicated in jargon understandable only to other members of the
specialty. Specialists were honoured and promoted more than generalists, though it was recognised
that there was a need to break down interdisciplinary boundaries. This has become easier with the
Internet and tools such as Wikipedia, YouTube and LinkedIn.

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

Limitations in taste

It has been said since the 1880s in Britain, that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” meaning that
perception of beauty is subjective. However, there are universal aspects of taste in all the senses.
Page | 3
Holistic Multidirectional Learning® focuses on the auditory and visual senses and the development of
aesthetic appreciation in art, architecture, literature and music.

Taste, or aesthetic appreciation, develops with exposure to variety. The broader ones taste, the
more pleasure can be derived from the senses, and this pleasure provides a motivational drive – we
seek pleasurable experiences which have the effect of making us happy and improving our mood.
Improving the mood by paying attention to what comes into our brains through our eyes and ears is
a cost-free, risk-free strategy for the treatment of depression and also may play a role in preventing
dementia.

Many people suffer from limitations in appreciation of unfamiliar music, art and literature. It is
common for taste in music to fossilise in adolescence, when music is felt particularly powerfully.
YouTube provides a free antidote to this narrowness and also allows one to explore music that one
already has developed an appreciation of.

It has been shown that learning a musical instrument and learning a new language can provide
protection against the development of dementia. This makes sense, since new connections in the
brain are being formed with these activities.

Unhealthy distractions

Effective learning requires attention, focus and concentration. There are many factors, both intrinsic
and extrinsic, that affect concentration and divert the attention. Intrinsic factors include physical and
mental discomfort. This requires a holistic approach to movement, rest, ergonomics and posture as
well as learning how to physically and mentally relax while also concentrating the mind. Extrinsic
distractions vary considerably with the environment in which one is learning. Learning from screens
is valuable, but it has its dangers, including damage to the eyes from not focusing on objects in the
distance. Watching naturally moving animals (including butterflies and insects in flight) and birds
helps develop visual acuity and so does looking at the sun (while taking care to blink when you feel
like it). It helps to appreciate the beauty of Nature and have interest in it.

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

Information overload

We are subjected to information overload in the modern world. Much of the information we are
inundated with through the media seeks our attention in order to sell something or “entertain” us.
Page | 4
When advertisers are trying to sell a product they maximise their benefits and show them in a good
light (literally) and make the small print so small you can’t read it without glasses. They use
techniques developed over decades by hypnotists and psychologists to create an impression and
implant suggestions in the mind of the viewer. People are induced to gamble away their savings and
become consumers rather than creators and producers.

Brainwashing and indoctrination

Doctrine, or what is taught, is not a problem unless what is taught is false and incorrect. In
brainwashing there is a systematic, calculated effort to remove previous beliefs and implant new
ones. There are many techniques for doing this which were studied under the MK Programs of the
1950s and 1960s.

The term ‘propaganda’ initially meant the doctrines that were propagated by the Catholic Church
and the term did not have the negative connotations it has today. Different religions and
denominations as well as corporations and political parties produce propaganda that is not the
objective truth. Governments around the world sponsor and produce propaganda, some more
influentially than others. Wikipedia, though more trustworthy than the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
has incorrect information too. However, it remains a valuable tool for finding out about things and
events.

Deficient senses
Learning through the senses requires functional sense organs and respective areas of the brain. Blind
people cannot learn through vision, but their auditory acuity and discrimination is often heightened.
Likewise deaf people cannot learn from what they hear. Most people, though, are neither blind nor
deaf but many do not fully appreciate the visual and auditory stimuli they experience.

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

You can train yourself to appreciate music and art and do it though self-directed learning. There are
many people all over the world and of all ages that can inspire and educate through their art.

Focusing too much on screens, books and objects close to you can lead to short-sightedness
requiring corrective lenses. These corrective lenses put distant objects out of focus. To correct this
they used to make ‘bifocal lenses’ but the problem has been rectified by contact lenses. Page | 5

There are two fundamentally different types of eye movements – searching and following. Television
tends to favour following movements with a fixed focal length (the distance from the eyes to the
screen). Watching the birds in your neighbourhood exercises both searching and following
movements and also gives an opportunity for counting and numeracy as well as identification and
zoological (ornithological) study. Learning about the local birds is a valuable exercise for children to
be introduced to biology. Learning the names of birds and animals in different languages is fun and
interesting and tools like Wikipedia and Google translate are invaluable for this.

Anxiety

Anxiety makes it difficult to concentrate and learn. It impedes both concentration and memory and
has many causes. I have developed strategies to alleviate anxiety under Holistic Psychological
Counselling®.

Lack of aesthetic development

Aesthetic appreciation develops throughout life, given adequate stimulation. One can develop
appreciation of the elements of harmony, tone (timbre), melody and rhythm in music from
completely different cultures pointing to cross-cultural aspects of music appreciation. It is common
for change to occur in musical preferences with age and experience. YouTube provides a wonderful
opportunity to revisit the favourite music of ones past and build on it. Listening to pleasurable music
has the benefit of elevating the mood and distracting from worries and anxieties, allowing the
subconscious to work on solutions.

In art cultures around the world appreciate line, form, colour and composition despite a plethora of
styles and traditions. By looking at good art from different cultures one can develop an appreciation
of them and get ideas that stimulate ones own creativity.

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

What is Holistic Multidirectional Learning?

Page | 6
Holistic education aims to look at the whole rather than just the parts. It does not preclude from
studying things in great detail, but aims to maintain a perspective on the ‘big picture’. There is truth
in the adage of not seeing the forest for the trees.

Some suggestions are:

1. Identify biases and vested interests

2. Reinforce memories by writing things down and going over them in your mind
3. Read the small print
4. Be aware of hypnosis
5. Learn to direct and control ones attention and focus
6. Seek to integrate information
7. Analyse for the ‘ring of truth’
8. Trust in commonsense
9. Be logical
10. Make your home an interesting place
11. Appreciate beauty
12. Seek truth and facts
13. Look for the Big Picture
14. Aim for self-improvement rather than beating others
15. Moderate competitive instincts
16. Develop healthy curiosity
17. Develop listening ability, aesthetic and discrimination
18. Develop observational skills
19. Break down barriers between disciplines and areas of knowledge
20. Identify areas to improve in
21. Value a well-rounded, balanced education
22. Be creative
23. Think deeply and contemplate
24. Acknowledge mistakes
25. Correct mistakes
26. Develop wisdom

More details can be found on the HUB Psychology and Wise Owl Learning (WOL) Facebook pages:

https://www.facebook.com/WiseOwlUniversity

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications
HUB Psychology
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPsychology

Page | 7

Holistic University Network

https://www.facebook.com/HolisticUniversityNetwork
HUB Publications
https://www.facebook.com/HUBPublications