Mental Starvation Is Invisible

In Maria Montessori’s book The Absorbent Mind, there is a parable about a starving man. It compares the desire to learn to the appetite for food, and it points to the problem of mental starvation in children, who need mental nourishment. Physical starvation is visible, so its seriousness is easy to grasp; mental starvation is invisible, so it almost always goes unnoticed.

A Starving Man

“If a man is starving for lack of food, we do not call him a fool, nor give him a beating, nor do we appeal to his better feelings. He needs a meal, and nothing else will do. The same thing applies here. Neither severity nor kindness will solve the problem. Man is an intelligent being, and needs mental food almost more than physical food. ”

(In other words: when someone is starving for lack of food, we do not call them a fool, beat them, or lecture them. What they need is food, and nothing else will help. The same is true of children. Neither strictness nor gentleness will solve the problem. Human children are intelligent beings, and in most cases, to sustain their intellectual life, they need mental food even more than physical food.)¹

Our Children May Be Suffering from Mental Starvation

Suppose we observe a person who is physically starving. We notice many things.

A physically starving person is ravenously hungry and wants to get food into their mouth as soon as possible. So they search desperately for food dropped by the roadside, beg for food from anyone who looks as though they might have some, or even try to take it by force. If they truly go without eating for a long time, they will weaken and die. I imagine they would try to stave off hunger by eating things they should never eat, such as contaminated or poisonous food, because that is better than dying, or by eating things that do nothing for their health but keep them minimally alive, things with almost no nutritional value.

What, then, would we see if we observed a person who is mentally starving? We invite you, the reader, to think about this for yourself.

We believe this is not merely an analogy, but may lie at the root of the problems that trouble children, such as bullying, school refusal, and other problems in school education. It may also explain why children become excessively absorbed in fantasy worlds such as anime and video games.

We also think this perspective may offer clues for solving the problems that trouble adults, such as mental illnesses like depression and cognitive issues such as developmental disorders and dementia.

Why Developmental Theory Research Matters

Through the work of Polymath Research, we want to look at things from the perspective of “mental starvation,” which today’s society gives little weight to. Working from the hypothesis that the many problems surrounding children are symptoms of mental starvation, we intend to create environments that address its root causes.

To end mental starvation, we must understand what the human mind needs, and that requires research into the theory of human development. What is decisively missing from today’s debates on education is neither more time for discussion nor deeper study of educational case studies from around the world. It is insight into human development.

We believe that research on human development is the bottleneck in the evolution of humanity’s educational systems. For that reason, our work follows two clear guiding principles: first, “advance research on human development and gain insight into human development in the process”; and second, “based on the insights gained, create the environments children need.”

Examples of Our Current Insights into Human Development

Here are some examples of the insights into human development we have gained so far.

1. Humans strive toward universal capability, that is, polymathy (they externalize bodily functions as tools and evolve them)
2. The development of the whole personality is achieved by maximizing the capacity for self-education (as the Zen sayings furyū monji and kyōge betsuden teach, truth is not conveyed in words and is transmitted outside of teaching; what matters most cannot be taught, and can only be discovered through one’s own experience)
3. Wisdom is granted only by the natural universe (human common sense and preconceptions get in the way when we try to unravel the mysteries of the universe, such as the laws of physics)
4. The development of the heart requires a diversity of experience² (for each developmental stage, there are several optimal activities)
5. Room for self-selection is needed to acquire initiative (the open-world principle: children must be free to choose all of their activities, as well as their time and space)
6. Absorption in work brings about self-organization of the mind (order is attained through hard work that makes full, integrated use of one’s intellectual abilities)
7. Freedom for trial and error is needed (repeated attempts lead to refined movement and a felt sense of growth)
8. Kindness is needed to cooperate with peers (relationships must be built on mutual cooperation, not mutual interference)
9. Rely only on self-assessment (improve one’s conduct through self-assessment rather than the assessment of others)
10. Healthy things grow only in a healthy environment³ (in an unhealthy environment, children spend their energy destroying that environment)

Our developmental theory research is still very much a work in progress, including the question of whether these insights actually hold for all human beings. We will keep moving our developmental theory research forward and press on, as quickly as we can, toward putting it into practice in society in order to improve children’s environments. We would be grateful for your support.

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Footnotes

1. Polymath Research’s own rendering of the passage. ↩

2. At Polymath Research, we define the heart (kokoro) as the part of the mind (seishin) that is expressed outwardly. In terms of the Earth, the heart corresponds to the biosphere, the topsoil, while the mind corresponds to the geosphere. The topsoil of the primordial Earth was rock, and that rocky surface became habitable only through the diverse activities of living things, asteroid impacts, and interactions with other celestial bodies. Earth’s present homeostasis depends heavily on biodiversity. In the same way, we believe that the homeostasis of the inner world (including both mind and heart) depends heavily on diversity of experience. ↩

3. Montessori developmental theory describes a phenomenon called normalization, explained by the principle that once an environment is normalized, the minds of the children who spend time in it are normalized as well. At Polymath Research, we believe this principle applies not only to humans but also to plants and non-human animals, and that it may be a law applicable to living things in general, including all plants and animals. Discovering laws of this kind, applicable to all living things and what might be called “the physical laws of development,” is the guiding aim of our developmental theory research. ↩