Merging art, spirituality and science: making math fun and holistic using the MEX system

Math is a tool that navigates phenomena like quantity, structure, space, and change.

Therefore math education needs to be a blend of spirituality (philosophical and psychological expansive thought), art, and science.

The spiritual element of math is reflecting on the abstract. Did life originate because of a stirring, a bang, or a sound in the cosmos? Can we calculate humans' probabilities and destinies based on their frequency and space-time placement? How can we receive signals and messages from other worlds? Does human genius and consciousness come from some uncalibrated energy field? etc.

Nikola Tesla stated: "if you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of vibration, frequency, and energy."

The more vibrating energy that is compressed into a field of energy, the more intense the vibration gets within that field.

Hypothetically, if a space of nothingness existed (a zero-point energy space with no kinetic or potential energy), there would be no movement (vibration or frequency) and, therefore, no math, no calculation.

The art element of math manifests these vibrations, frequency, and energy into visible and audible beauty by interpreting them as geometric patterns, sound, colors, symbols and thoughts.

The scientific element of math is calibrating energy, vibration, and frequency into numbers, forms, and theorems - an entire world of phenomena can be deeply explored and understood.

Vedic Mathematics, Pythagoras's teachings, and other ancient schools integrated life, art, and logic. The primary focus was on working on knowing themselves and their place in the cosmos, balanced with expressing themselves through art and understanding logic. Today math is stripped down to mere logic.

Our MEX films provide a blend of the three elements – merging spirituality, art, and science. MEX utilizes the neuron mirroring effect by combining an engaging narrative with gamified learning. This potent combination of observing (watching a film) and executing (applying the skill being taught in VR) enables the viewser (viewer + user) to learn any skill in minutes.

The observing segments of the MEX film inspire expansive thought and awe, in a captivating storyline, while the VR segments teach theorems and formulas through practical applications.

The origin of Einstein's famous Theory of Relativity was not in equations or numbers but in intuitive thought. While sitting on a train one day, he noticed a clock tower outside and looked at the watch on his wrist. He wondered what the two clocks would show if his train suddenly began moving at the speed of light. Einstein first saw the complex relationship between energy and matter visually. The equation e=mc2 came much later.

The MEX Math film will encourage intuitive thought. e.g., if a person is asked to guess dimensions, proportions, mechanical workings, calculations, etc., and they are corrected if they get the answer wrong, over time, the brain will visually be able to intuit approximations.

When learning through an engaging narrative, the creative and intuitive areas of the brain that generally shut off when provided a mathematical question will need to activate, and this is as it should be, as math teaching should not be limited to the logical centers of the brain.

Nikola Tesla used to design complex machinery directly in his mind, function them mentally, and locate and rectify flaws visually, all without the aid of pen and paper.

The mathematical artist George Widener says he does not use formulas, instead numbers just line up automatically inside his head, like objects – without any effort or strain on his part.

Poet and mathematician Daniel Tammet sees numbers as shapes, colors, and textures. The number two, for instance, is a motion, and five is a clap of thunder. "When I multiply numbers together, I see two shapes. The image starts to change and evolve, and a third shape emerges. That's the answer. It's mental imagery. It's like math without having to think."

To the Vedas, Egyptians and to Pythagoras, numbers had "personalities" that we hardly recognize as mathematics today. When people do math, they are not visually seeing the spirit of the topic. The love of numbers allows one to see them as patterns. e.g., cosmology, proportions in architecture, fractions in musical timing, etc. The formulas and theorems then become of great value when math is visible and applicable in this way.

Applying mathematics is essential to create a need to learn it. Using the MEX system, a person is taught calculations and formulas for accounting within a comedy and crime fiction film, or during a sports drama, a viewser is taught to improve their performance in tennis by analyzing probabilities, evaluating strategies, tracking and predicting trajectories, etc.

The current math learning system is like stumbling across a cave of hieroglyphics that are potent and full of meaning to the creators and perhaps far more powerful, visual, realistic, and effective than the English language. But they are still a meaningless jumble of symbols for a person who has never seen them before and does not know what they represent in practical application. Expecting a person to memorize these hieroglyphics and manipulate them in various ways is not enjoyable. Humans have a natural need to understand, comprehend, link up and integrate matter to form a meaningful part of their knowledge bank. Thus, it is clear that the current basic approach to math education is painful.

The intuitive brain needs to be taught to see math in everything (numbers come to life). The advent of VR allows the logical brain to be the one playing catchup (i.e., understanding what the intuitive brain has seen).

"The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant." - Einstein

Education today doesn't balance the spiritual, artistic, and scientific elements that should teach a human they are capable of phenomenal powers that they are not utilizing. Most people balance a mundane logical life by seeking instant gratification through vices, distractions, and fear-based decisions, instead of seeking self-actualization, which is much more fulfilling and satisfying. Others try to find the answer in religion. But religion usually lacks the practical means to systematically guide each individual to self-actualization in today's busy society. Rituals, chants, rites, years of meditation are not for everyone. A healthy, balanced, and integrated life of spirituality, art and logic needs to be encouraged.

Numbers communicate; this teaching is beyond words and needs much silence and reflection. To enjoy math, one needs an entertaining space, expansive and inspirational stories, and visual stimulation to trigger the higher brain cognitive centers of intuition, heightened focus, and creativity.

Note: The first MEX film, Polymath, will holistically teach the fundamentals of music. Using the exact same methodology, Mastertude will introduce films that teach math, medical science, law, and languages using the MEX system.

Elements of Math are even taught creatively and visually in the Polymath music-teaching films and games. e.g., different weights and vibrations create different musical pitches; intervals in music are simply ratios; chord, harmony, melody, and tune create different geometrical patterns; musical timing and fractions, and the correlations between color, sound, and light.

#education #science #art #spirituality #math

Productive entertainment - inspiration for a smarter audience

Technological advancements and industry shifts are not the only reasons film need to evolve. Productive entertainment (edutainment) films will inspire a generation that takes a lot to be wowed for good reason...

The average IQ in industrialized countries has risen to keep pace with the complexity and technology of modern life, while people are in more sedentary jobs than ever before, so it's only natural that they look for stimulation in their leisure time. 

People today are stimulated by heightened and faster brain activity. This is why the gaming industry is flourishing, and fast-paced TV shows with multiple storylines and perspectives are so popular.

While it may not seem like it in some quarters, we are smarter now than we've ever been -the average IQ increases about 9 points every generation - and today we have technological advancements and access to knowledge at our fingertips to aid us. In these times, humanity yearns to evolve, learn, and grow, hence why self-improvement and higher education markets are worth billions.

In light of this, a golden opportunity is being missed if we don't also use entertainment to educate.

When it comes to film, to keep up with this smart generation we need to help viewers tap into heightened brain states (i.e a combination of alpha, theta, and gamma brain waves) through productive entertainment - providing viewers with a film experience that will stay with them long after the credits have rolled.

Mastertude Education eXperience (MEX) films will use the medium of storytelling to bring about the superhuman. As they watch the story unfold, this generation of thinkers will 'mirror' the attitude of impeccability, will, discipline, and focus that they observe in the story, thereby accessing their own genius.

To launch this concept of learning through narrative, Mastertude is creating a first-of-its-kind XR-3D sci-fi fantasy film called Polymath.

With the full weight of the "Hollywood machine" behind it, Polymath will be an exhilarating film with a robust and compelling narrative; it will also be embedded with a learning system, using MEX to teach the audience the skill of playing music with no prior experience needed. And this is just the beginning...

The human brain can learn and adapt best by merely observing and copying the actions of others. By watching the story unfold, and witnessing how the characters view and interact with the world as their best selves, the viewers are put in a state of participatory awe. Their consciousness is elevated to that of the characters, and through this "neuron mirroring", they are able to access their own capacity for genius. 

What distinguishes the MEX system from traditional teaching methods is that it focuses on the attitude of the learner, rather than the skill being learned, echoing how Pythagoras, Plato, and Socrates approached and blended the concepts of learning and entertainment. By merging the approach of ancient polymaths and the latest XR technologies, we aim to form a new learning system, and ultimately, a new reality.

 As Lawrence Pearsall Jacks stated: "A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both." 

Film - the key to closing the gap between education and entertainment

Before the dawn of the Information Age, academia was the fount of most "knowledge" - not Google. Back when thousands of alternate possible answers were not a mere click away, it was easier for the so-called knowledge holders to position the truth as binary - one singular "right" and one singular "wrong".

As a result, society on the whole had less opportunity to be broad-minded than we do today. People were more inclined to believe that there was one, definitive answer to every question; one distinct and complete point of view to every story. After all, that's what we were taught. The truth was "black and white". To be educated was to know these binary answers.

When knowledge came mainly via books, if you could spout facts from the study books, you were considered educated and, conversely, if you could not - or if you strayed any distance from the accepted point of view - you were considered ignorant.

Today, the average person has so much knowledge available to them that the limited mode of binary thinking is outdated and becoming increasingly discredited. With every argument for, there are as many arguments against, and both can be presented convincingly with "irrefutable evidence". Does that make both wrong, or both right, or is not that simple?

For example: the profound question of how our world began has baffled scientists and spiritualists since the beginning of time, with each side convinced their theory was correct beyond a shadow of a doubt, which meant that everyone else had to be wrong. In this era, we are intelligent enough to recognize that every answer is a point of view - science fiction, more than science fact. In some cases we even recognize that there are scenarios, such as in quantum physics, when two different answers can both be right (or wrong) simultaneously. Mark Twain, a radical thinker of his time, put it eloquently when he said: “Education: the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.”

Historically, story-telling has also suffered the plight of binary thinking, such as the "heroic" story of Christopher Columbus: a great pioneer who discovered the new world. Yet, in the same way that the binary walls of knowledge are crumbling so too are some of the stories we have been lead to believe. Today, the story of Columbus the hero is accepted as a dominant point of view, but not the unequivocally correct one. There is also a strong case to be made for the view that he was a tyrant who committed genocide.

In our time, to be considered educated one is expected to know both these points of view and also, to be open to even more possibilities. Yet, ironically this mode of thinking is not reflected in the current education system adopted by most learning institutions. Despite knowledge being at even a child's fingertips, education is still taught in a narrow and rigid way, more reflective of the old ways, than where this generation is heading. For this generation to be open-minded and inspired by the length, breadth and depth of knowledge that we can access, education needs to encourage expansive thinking and curiosity.

Which is what brings us to film; where education is narrow and rigid, films are the opposite. Film makers constantly strive to be groundbreaking in both their substance and their style.

It is this novelty of film substance and style that we relish, and because it is classed as entertainment, we do not automatically assume that the point of view of the narrative is singularly and definitively correct - that the conclusions are binary, or binding - we accept that if another filmmaker had made the film, the end result could be quite different.

And this is why, to keep pace with the world’s ever-expanding thirst for, and access to, knowledge, it is Mastertude’s vision to pioneer new knowledge channels by merging education and film through the Mastertude Edutainment eXperience (MEX) system.

People are often scared of learning, because traditionally it has been synonymous with feeling like a failure in front of our peers. But no one is scared of watching a film (unless it's a horror!). Shared viewing experiences, such as in cinema or in the home, provide a non-threatening and non-competitive environment, where the audience is there to share in a group experience, rather than be ranked from best to worst.

From an education perspective, for this concept to take hold, Mastertude's edutainment films must have mass-market appeal and be readily accessible all over the world. This is why we are using the enduring, globally revered Hollywood film-making "machine" to launch this new way of learning.

With the release of our music learning feature film Polymath, we will demonstrate that edutainment films are the future of education. Our students will become students for life, because one never tires of watching films, especially not ones that stimulate, inspire, provoke and demonstrate, and most of all, get one thinking from a different perspective. It is our dream, that as more and more films that teach from multiple viewpoints and entertain, are released, this phenomenon will herald in a new kind of student: a student that will never stop delighting in the glory and joy of learning.