Dr. John Medina is a molecular biologist. In his book Brain Rules, he states: “If you think the brain has to devote to vision a lot of its precious thinking resources, you are right on the money. It takes up about half of everything you do in fact.”
That is impressive. Always one to validate an impressive statement I did a quick calculation of Blu-ray video data transfer rates versus audio transfer rates. Ignoring compression algorithms and how much your eyes actually see and your ears actually hear, the calculation revealed that roughly 25 to 30 times more data was being sent to my display compared to what was being sent to my speakers.
Dr. Medina is on to something.
A few pages later in Brain Rules John states: “If information is presented orally, people remember about 10 percent, tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if you add a picture.”
As our daughter Kirsten grew up we read to her from various children’s Bibles. We bought different bibles as she got older. These bibles have pictures on every page. It wasn’t until we bought her a bible in High School that the pictures disappeared.
This disturbs me.
God has given us a very powerful faculty for learning and it should not be ignored. This is why we created the Christian Mandala curriculum. Our study books are designed to help people read and reflect on scripture while utilizing their vision. At a very simple level, you draw in a special way as you read scripture. You just need to draw at any level. If you can play Pictionary, that is good enough.
The cool thing is that it works. People tell me that what they drew stays with them throughout the day. Additionally, the Scripture connected with their drawing stays with them as well.
In Matthew 22 Jesus commands us to love God with all our minds. Christian Mandalas are designed to help us in that endeavor.