Sometimes I think us pastors don’t trust the Holy Spirit.  We don’t trust God’s Word to shape the spirit of our our people, so we say too much.

A business blog I frequent had a post up recently highlighting how the brain operates and that it is much more engaged when it has to solve a puzzle vs. processing information given to it.

From the story:

Brains are turned on by puzzles. Brains are turned on by figuring things out. Brains are turned on by even the smallest "aha" moments. And despite what some of you (*cough* men *cough*) might believe, the brain is more turned on by seeing just the arms of a naked woman behind a shower curtain than it is by seeing all of her. So if you’re trying to engage someone’s brain, don’t show everything. Let their brain connect the dots.

and

In learning, the more you fill things in and hold the learner’s hand, the less their brain will engage. If they don’t need to fire a single neuron to walk through the tutorial, lesson, lecture, etc., they’re getting a shallow, surface-level, non-memorable exposure of "covered" material, but… what’s the point? Obviously this doesn’t mean you just never tell them anything period. This is about graduated hints, mental teasing, cognitive treasure hunts, sparking curiosity, etc. Things that engage the brain. (This is part of the brain-friendly strategy we use in our books.)

Whether you’re trying to get someone’s attention, keep their attention, motivate them to stick with something, or help them to learn more deeply and retain what they’ve learned, leave something for their brain to resolve. Do something to turn their brain on.

The implications….wait a minute….if I tell you what to think vs. letting you think for yourself I may be defeating the point of the article.

Please note that if you decided to go to the source there are a few things that my Mennonite readers might find offensive.  So consider yourself warned.

Source: http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/11/cognitive_seduc.html

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