Avoiding Dotage
Of the mind anyway
My wife, Melinda, and I had a conversation about mental dotage. Specifically, people losing their mental faculties, going senile if you will.
We both know really large numbers of Masons, most of them older. We also, through our work, know really large numbers of other people, also most of them older.
We can’t help but notice that this loss of mental faculties appears to be a heck of a lot less common among active Masons than in the broader population. Maybe our observations are incorrect, we certainly have no way of knowing for certain, but it sure seems that way to us.
And that got us thinking.
Why?
I can think of something…
Now in my physical life, I’m not too big on exercise. Indeed, hitting the lever on the La-z-boy in order to recline seems just about the perfect amount of physical exercises to me.
But, I do exercise my mind. Quite a lot. Indeed, coming here again and again with genius level writing that would surely make writing professors everywhere swoon, has to be excellent exercise for my mind.
But, Freemasonry really does it.
Memorizing, or trying to memorize all that ritual. That’s got to be good mental exercise.
Trying to remember correct answers to questions that new Masons ask, that’s got to be good as well.
The study of symbolism. Looking at a Masonic symbol, then trying to glimpse its meaning from behind the veil so that it can be applied effectively to life. That’ll make the old brain sweat.
Coming up with good arguments, and presenting those arguments well in Lodge discussions. There’s some mental workout there.
Lots of things we do through Freemasonry seem as if they would be really solid exercise for the mind.
Does that exercise, that use of the mind in slightly different than normal ways help preserve our mental faculties? Just as physical exercise can help preserve our physical abilities?
I don’t know for certain, but my hunch is that it certainly does.
What do you think?
I rabbit-holed on this for a bit after reading. If you look up the Rush Memory and Aging Project, the research seems to say to the same thing, people who stay engaged in intellectually demanding activities show slower cognitive decline and lower dementia rates, even after controlling for education and other factors. The mechanisms they describe (cognitive reserve, neural plasticity, more efficient frontal networks) all seem to buffer against age related decline.
My wife always says having something to look forward to and plan for on the calendar keeps you moving, and the science backs her up, social engagement and forward looking purpose are protective factors against cognitive impairment. Active Masonic practice seems to hit all of it: the memory work, the retrieval practice through examinations, the symbolic analysis, the structured speaking. Add regular lodge nights and degree work giving you something on the calendar to prepare for, and you've got the perfect mental gym.
I have had my own theories about this for some time. I'm not a scientist or researcher, nor am I a brain specialist.
My theory is this. Engaging in activities that help you learn new things is a good way to "exercise" the brain. A Johns Hopkins study of 10,000 Americans found that dementia had declined between 2000 and 2012 and they attributed the decline to those staying in school longer. That means active engagement in educational activities.
My first real job was in the HVAC/R industry where I installed and maintained air conditioning and refrigeration systems. A trade that requires knowledge in electricity, pipe fitting, plumbing, electronics, mechanical aspects, and some chemistry. A lot of different areas of focus in there.
Later, starting in 2000, I made a switch to full-time IT related work. My last job at Microsoft saw me owning the design and development of curriculum focused on artificial intelligence and cognitive services in computer technology. After Microsoft decided to eliminate my position, I worked an independant consultant in the same field doing teaching and content development.
That work requires you to look at how computers are able to "reason" in the concept of AI. You have to first think about how intelligence is defined and how it works in humans. Our intelligence is gleaned mostly from experiential learning. This is how our minds grow and learn to acquire new knowledge.
For example, if we teach a toddler how to recognize a bicycle through images, they can identify other bicycles that differ in color or size. However, they might also identify a motorcycle as a bicycle due to similar characteristics. We "train" the toddler to be more accurate in their identification by performing what is known as supervised training. We give them many images of bicycles and tell them they are bicycles. Then we show them more images they have never been exposed to and correct them when they identify incorrectly, and reward them when they properly choose the right image.
Believe it or not, supervised training is a method used in computer AI to train models.
But what does that do for the human brain? It creates new neural pathways and connections in the brain. Johns Hopkins believes that these new pathways and the ability to form them is what helps the brain overcome injury or other issues and keeps it functional from a cognitive standpoint.
But, I also try to relive or recall past occurrences to keep my memories fresh and to "reanimate" those other neural pathways. I don't want to lose those pathways that are already established.
Masonry helps with this as well as I memorize the degree lectures or the installation rituals. Not only am I exercising the memory neurons but I am learning at the same time. Every time I work on memorizing a degree lecture, I often find myself having a revelation of a connection between what we do in lodge and what the lectures teach.
I have often joked that at some point, I need to take a break from IT. The rapid pace of change requires me to constantly be reading, learning, and trying new things to remain current. I'm getting tired from the mental effort as it feels like I have no time to rest, no downtime.
The joke I make is that I will soon do a semi-retirement and go work at UPS where all I have to do is move boxes from one conveyor to the next. In reality, I have watched many workers on assembly lines in meat processing plants (recall my HVAC/R days), and recognized that I could not perform that kind of work on a daily basis. So I guess, I'll keep learning new stuff.
By the way, my philosophy is a simple one.
Knowledge is a light load to carry. You can never have too much. Strive to learn something new every day.