Translator: Abdulrahman Sallam Reviewer: Lilav Ala Rashi
In the name of Allah most gracious and merciful.
The French philosopher Descartes says:
“It is not enough to have a good mind;
the main thing is to use it well.”
What me and you are sure of is that the majority of people
not only have high mental abilities, but very impressive ones.
Allow me, hastily,
To shed the light on the mental abilities that you have.
[your brain]
[ 16 billion, 86 billion, 1000 billion ] Your brain contains
one thousand billion brain cells
These brain cells are either nerve cells,
Or cells that aid them.
How many nerve cells do you have?
Eighty-six billion nerve cells, an astonishing number.
The cerebral cortex alone contains
Sixteen billion nerve cells
I’m not going to talk about the eighty-six Billion nerve cells.
I’m going to talk about one nerve cell only,
The one nerve cell that you have Eighty-six billion of.
One nerve cell
is more complex than the most complex device human has ever invented.
It has a huge amount of chemical and electrical components,
And it has an amazing, incredibly precise microscopic system.
That helps you in decoding and processing information.
So, How many smart devices does your brain have?
You’re always very careful with your phone
so that it doesn’t fall and the screen gets scratched,
But, how many smart devices do you have here in your brain?
It’s so amazing!
Not just that,
These nerve cells hug Each other,
Every nerve cell
Hugs the other nerve cell,
This bemusing hugging creates equally bemusing Synapses.
Charles Sherrington, a pioneer of neurophysiology
Once said some quite poetic words about this phenomenon,
He said, describing that hug between nerve cells,
He said: “It is as if the Milky Way
entered upon some cosmic dance”
Such is the creation of God.
This the greatness of God.
Absolute ingeniousness, all in your brain.
So, what if these synapses increase? what good is it for you?
It means an increase in intelligence,
And if your intelligence increases, so does the ability to learn, remember,
Analyze, and understand.
These massive abilities that we have make us reach a clear conclusion,
One that’s indisputable.
That all problems that you suffer from, memorization problems, memory problems
Learning problems, anything brain related,
Have nothing to do at all with the capacity of the brain.
It is connected to the failure of management of this capacity.
That’s why I am asking you to use Your brain in an effective way.
You have advanced brain abilities,
Your job is to put it to good use, use it effectively.
[how can you use your brain effectively?] Now, the question is how?
I do not claim that i will tell you everything in just eighteen minutes,
But what i am going to do is put the light on some very important points.
First point, Pray for the prophet,
[ Meaning and importance? ] The brain can’t learn until it knows
The meaning and the importance.
You can’t learn unless your brain knows the meaning of what it is learning
And the importance of what it is learning.
Now,
You may take a math student as an example, ask him to come,
Give him an integration problem, ask him to solve it,
From 2 to 5, here you are.
He will solve it with no problems at all,
But when you ask him what does Integration even mean? he doesn’t reply,
When you ask him what’s the importance of Integration? He doesn’t reply.
The brain doesn’t work if such a gap exists,
If there is such a loss existing the brain doesn’t work well.
Why is that? i will give you evidence that is also indisputable.
Any child when born, is born a scientist.
All of you when you were born, you were born with the qualities of scientists
No, Really, Each one of you was born a scientist
Look at what the children ask,
They say: what’s this dad?
What’s that? Why you did that?
The two most asked questions are What? and Why?
Why? Because they’re in the journey of Exploring the meaning and the importance.
From birth, a child searches for the importance and the meaning.
So, don’t prohibit your brain, when you are reading anything
Ask yourself what does it mean and what is the importance of it?
That’s one point.
Second,
When you are memorizing or learning, Provoke both of the lobes of your brain.
[ Lobes of the brain? ] Roger sperry won the nobel prize
When he discovered what? when he discovered that the brain
Has two lobes, right and left.
The left one is responsible for Vocabularies, pronunciation
Numbers, numerals, calculations, analysis
Logic, and linear continuum.
The right lobe is responsible for creativity, imagination,
Perception of the place, whole images,
Colors, emotions, feeling, and rhymes.
Now, if I am learning, how can I provoke both lobes of the brain while learning?
When you read certain information, turn it to images.
When reading a theory or a generalization, do so as you observe graphs and diagrams
That make it easier to understand.
When you come upon a literary text, for example a poem,
Make it accompanied with rhymes.
I will give you an example to keep you entertained.
If your eyes fell on the text of the poem: “My daughter is a singing bird,
Playing in the shade of childhood, gleefully.
Whenever i gaze at her face, I see my mother one more time.”
Now allow me to provoke both of the brain lobes that you have, and say:
♪My daughter is a singing bird♪
♪Playing in the shade of childhood, gleefully♪
♪Whenever i gaze at her face♪
♪I see my mother one more time♪
Now I’m learning and provoking both lobes of the brain.
In such situation what does your brain do? it learns and enjoys as well.
Point.
Third,
Your brain is distinct. each brain here is distinct,
Each with specific symbols and specific connections.
So, we do have the same brain processes and functions,
But despite that, we’re different. so why are we different?
Because our sensory inputs are different,
What i see is different from what you see.
The people of Jeddah here
What do they see? they see the sea and the waterfront.
People of the south, what do they see?
They see mountains, trees, and streams of water.
People of the middle and the north what do they see?
They see sand and rock formations and so on.
Therefore, if sensory inputs differed,
Processing will differ, and that’s what makes me different from you.
If you want your brain to learn effectively,
You have to add your own touch to the information that you read.
Any kind of info you might probably read, add your own unique touch to it.
Let me give you an example. me, Yaan Allah Alqarni,
When i added my touch to some kind of information.
I will give you a definition.
This definition, it says,
It is the definition of thought, what is thought?
“A string of mental processes done by the brain”
[title: a brain is unique with it’s code] Take a look at this,
what does this picture contain? it contains a brain encircled by a string.
What does this mean? this is a code, a type of connection,
“A string of mental processes done by the brain”
When does this happen? when it gets stimulated by a group of stimuli
I coded this into what you see,
S1, S2, S3, S4 S for stimuli.
How are these stimuli received?
Through the five senses, present in the picture.
And so processing happens to solve a problem,
Reach a goal, or make a decision.
What did i do to the definition? i made it into a code.
I put my own unique touch to it.
I am sure that if i assigned this definition to anyone here,
He or she will make it into a completely different code.
Why? because your brain is distinct.
So put your own touch to the information that you read.
Pray for the prophet.
Let your brain soar and imagine.
Look, let me tell you something.
Always put this point in front of you, never forget it.
Why don’t our brains work effectively? Because we’re excessively routine-oriented
The things we experience today are the exact same we will experience tomorrow.
Let me give you an example.
Today.
Is yesterday.
What do we all do? go for a walk in the same place,
After the walk, go from that place to have lunch at the same restaurant, every week,
When we see the menu, we order specific plates, the same plates,
We sit with specific people, the same people, hear the same jokes, every night,
The same kind of jokes, from the same kind of people,
And when we read about some specialty, it’s always our specialty.
How would the brain work If we are just giving it the same stimuli everyday?
It won’t!
So if you want your brain to work effectively, read about a different field.
That’s one thing.
Second thing, sit with people with different interests.
Travel to different places.
Ok, allow me to make your brain soar a bit.
I asked them for this chair to sit.
I am going to tell you a story,
A story that includes some stimuli for your brain which are quite unusual,
Just to make it soar in imagination.
Listen,
This is Muhammed, sleeping amongst his father and mother.
When midnight came, he went to the window and opened it,
He found the beautiful full moon on the summit of the mountain.
He tip-toed his way and went outside to the mountain and began climbing,
Climbing, climbing, climbing.. until he reached the top.
He wanted to touch the moon but he found that it got even more far away.
So he made a ladder out of the trees with an axe.
He put one end of the ladder on the mountain’s peak,
And put the other end on the moon’s surface.
And he began climbing, and climbing, and climbing
Until he reached the moon’s surface.
When he was finally there, a powerful wind blew, and the ladder fell down.
Muhammed knew that he is going to spend the rest of his life on the moon.
He walked, until he found a huge amusement park guarded by aliens,
He asked them to enter, and they allowed him to enter free of charge.
Can’t say the same about you, I think i should put a cost on my stories!
So, he entered, and what he saw came as a surprise for him,
He found that everybody there was a friend from back home.
He asked them, how did you get here? They replied, don’t you know?
When the moon is full, the spaceship lands on the top of the mountain,
Our parents take us to the top,
We set sail aboard the spaceship to the moon, enjoy this night, and then return.
He returned with them on the ship, climbed down the mountain,
Entered the house, and slept amongst his parents.
Now, let me ask you something.
Honestly, were you entertained or not?
My word! there are some who said no!
Now, there is this “fiction”
The brain loves it so much.
So get your brain used to getting out of the ordinary.
Listen to fictional stuff, watch fictional movies,
So that your brain receives new stimuli, and therefore, make new mental processing.
Last point, in just two minutes.
The brain loves a challenge.
I don’t mean the extreme-stress kind of challenges, no,
Challenges that are only moderately stressful.
And you have to keep in mind,
I’m going to give you a priceless gift, do not forget it,
A problem is a blessing not a curse.
Postgraduate students, masters and doctorate,
When they encounter a problem, They get over the moon about it and say:
I’ve found it!, i’ve found it!
From this point on, you have to deal with any problem as a blessing, not a curse,
Any problem that you encounter, consider it a challenge.
Simply put,
Look at this teapot.
[the brain loves a challenge] This teapot that we use for drinks
Has two problems: weight, and heat.
When you consider this a problem, and use your brain to solve it,
It enjoys such challenge, and comes up with such simple creativity, look.
Holders and handles,
We got rid of both the weight problem and the heat problem.
Consider any problem a challenge and Turn on your brain on to solve it.
Remember, It’s not important to have a good mind
The main thing is to use it well.
Yaan Allah Alqarni was very delighted to see you.
And it will be
Thank you, i appreciate it, god bless you.
I’ll be even more delighted when I see you next time.
Until then, i leave you in god’s protection and safe keeping.
May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.