The writer is from the Ministry of culture development
Guangjian Zhang, mentor of thinking science, has created the similarity system, in which the concept of “similarity” is analyzed deeply. In my opinion, similarity refers to commonality: all things, whether similar or not, have something in common.
Now I’d like to talk about this concept from human body. For example, the development process of brain in embryonic development of human is similar to the human brain evolutionary history in hundreds of millions of years; the appearance of the fetus in nine months of development is extremely similar to the whole evolutionary history of human; the reflexology zone of human’s feet creates a complete corresponding diagram of organs of a sitting human.
(Besides, from the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, celery is hollow and its water system is unblocked, so eating celery is diuretic; the shape of walnut is similar to that of human’s brain, so eating walnut is good for brain; the shape of bean is similar to that of human’s kidney, so eating bean can tonify middle-qi; the color of medlar is the same as that of blood, so eating medlar can enrich the blood; jujube is ruddy, so eating jujube is good for the complexion, etc. The above are all the application of the concept of “similarity”.)
To explore the concept of “similarity” enables our imagination to discover commonality through correlating things. The concept of similarity will lead us to explore the relationship between the universe and the human body, between earth element and trace elements in the human body, between DNA pairing and the evolution of 64 hexagrams in Bagua, between the structure of Chinese character and the original painting, between painting and mind, between date of birth and birthplace of a person and his/her personality, etc.
Similarity is a universal concept, the basis of association, as well as the premise of discovering and exploring commonality, which belongs to not only science but also art. In fact, in the process of acquiring knowledge, human also start from the existing “similar module” in mind. For example, when seeing a drop of water, some people may think of sweat, the other may think of tear, and someone may think of rainwater, etc.; in terms of visiting World Expo, the architects see the architectural art, the painters see the beauty of color and structure, the businessmen find business opportunities, and the leisure people see lively scene that broadens their horizons, etc. The reason why different people receive different things from the same thing is that the modules existing in their brains are different, namely, human are used to making the existing cognition in their mind correspond to the real world. It can be interpreted that the cognitive process is similar to the process of matching similar modules. The more similar modules in mind a person has, the stronger ability to acquire knowledge he/she will have.
Shenmo’s painting and calligraphy courses are brain building courses created and researched according to the principles of similar activation, similar association, similar matching, and similar creation in the concept of similarity. In the stamps and lines course, numerous patterns can be derived from the single form and multiform combinations of twelve stamps, and when these patterns are placed in front of the students, their similar matchings will be sought immediately in the mind of the students, for example, the circle will be matched with balloon, ball, wheel, apple, steel ring, 0, O, and many other patterns in the student’s mind, and these matching patterns will be activated through association and painting, thus becoming clearer and more specific. The modules similar to the circle in a person’s mind are limited and more information of things similar to the circle can be obtained through communicating with the teachers and students. Once such information is obtained, the similar module reserve will be enriched; with such benign development, the ability to obtain information of the children will be stronger and stronger.
When the children use printing and painting tools, the cognition will be constantly produced and accumulated in their mind, so that their concerns will increase and their curiosities will be stronger and stronger, thus enhancing their receptivity.
The six major painting courses of Shenmo are designed based on the principles of similar activation, similar association, similar matching, and similar creation. The courses inspire the thinking and develop the right brain of the children from the perspective of aesthetics and thinking. Painting is the best way to develop the image thinking module system. Particularly, the image thinking can be enriched through storytelling, games, and picture description.
Painting involves the wisdom of thinking and sprouts comprehension.
What is “Happy Education”
On Sep 22, 2015