PHRENOGARTEN SYSTEM OF EDLJCATION H W HOW ALIG THE FAC LTI •S I THE HE D D HOW TO TRE GTHE AND DEVELOP AN MATER •ATE
BY DR. A. S. RALEIGH
A COURSE OF PRI ATE LESSO S GIVE T HI PERSONAL P PIL
THE HER1'1ETIC PUB LISHI NG COMPAN Y 3006 LAKE PARK AvE.
CHICAGO,
ILL., U.S. A.
Copyright, 1932 by The HERMETIC PUDLI HING COMPANY Copyrighted and Registered at Stationers' Hall, London, England (All Right• Ruerv•d)
CONTE
TS
LE SON I
The Pbrenogarten
Po.gc
ystem of Education. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7
LESSON II
Origin of Talent ..... .. ...... .. .... . .... .... .. .... . 14 LE SON Ill
Genius . .. .. .... . . .. . ... . . . .. ... .. .. . .... . ........ 22 LE
0
T
IV
The Prodigy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 LESSO V Ob ervation . . .. ... . ..... . .. . .. . ..... . .. . ... . .. . . .. 39 LESSO
VI
Perception of Form .... .. .. ... .... . . .. ..... . ... . ... 47 LE SON VII
olor
.. . .. . ...... . ....... . .... . . . . ... . ...... . . . . . 53 LES 0
VIII
Lo ality .... . . . .... . .. . ........ . .. . .. . .... . ... . ... 60 LE
i tory
0
IX
......... . . . . . ..... .. . .. . . ... .. . ... ... . ... 65 LES ON X
nl r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 LE
0
XI
R ason
0 LES
Intellect
N XII
5
LE
T E PHRE
ON I
ARTEN
TEM OF EDUCATION
" du ate' means, etymologi ally to "draw out" to ' ' unfold.' Tb word in tb Latin terminology from which we g t h word Education is l.it rally to draw out that wl1ich is within. It is, con ·equently, in its nature purely volutionary. 'rh· modern yst ms of clucation, in .fact not only the mod ro but tl1c med i val m lik wi , ar modifi ations of tb ' ramming" proc . Tb r have been appli ations of the theory that the hild mind is a blank pi c of paper upon which you can writ anything you want to. In tead of ducatin"' th hild, th mod rn id a is to t a h hlm, to impart to his m mor , in. trtl •t.ion and we have an idea that w ca n simply give him the proper in truction , impart to him tl1o prop r degr of knowl d"'e and he will be educated. This is all non nsc. p r on may acquire vast crndition and yet be totally devoid of education. To ducate i a we have said, to draw out. It is not by t a IDn"' th pupil thin"'S, but by dev loping his fa ulti that we make him truly ducat d. '!'be fu., t lo ical syst m to be put forward was the 'ndergart n r tem by i ro b 1- th e ' hild. Gard n." Tbi is tb 1 .i al m thocl. t is sane and con tructiv . All the oth r sy · ms ar absolut ly erron ous, ar found d upon a fal. prin iple of putting into th m mory a onglom rate ma s of ah tract facts and fanci s which have ab olut ly no conn tion and no relation to the p ychologi al dev lopm nt oi th mind or b ing. AU ur· progt along p ·y ·bololl'i al lin s o du atiou ba b n by the application of' th Kindergart n
7
THE P
E
AR'rEN
Y TEM OF EDU ATION
that is, of th fundamentals of the Kindergarten System. Of cour h re are a great many featm s of the Kind rgarten ystem which are not Phr nogarten, whi h ar not truly kindergarten ; that is, a great deal of teaching is impart d; but a t rue Kindergarten yst m would be the appli ation of t a •hiug only in an indire mann r. The valu, of any syst m consists in its infl.u nee upon the evolution of the fa ulti s of the mind, and does not depend upon th impartation o£ tmy assumed facts. In other words, popular ducation, which is the teaching of b m mory, is altogether wrong. We require a ystem of education which will aim d.ir ctly and primarily at the evolution of the faculti and employ teaching only a a m ans to that nd. If the pupil comes out of school with a well d v loped mind, it do s not make any differen e whether he knows anything or not. He does not n d to know anything if he ha a mind that will nabl him to :find out things, and with a properly d v loped mind he will 1 arn anything that he ·wants to. Th refore, in our ystem we aim not at tea hin(J' th pupil things but at d v loping hi mind o that h will be able to learn whatever h wants to after bjs period of education i ov r . The conventional syst m aims at the sup1 lying the pupil with au elaborate fund of knowl dgc while be i going to school, and its m to be based upon the idea that · soon as h g ts out from under th school mast r' rod h is not goiug to study he will not r ad anything, he i not oing to tudy aJ1ything, therefore, all that he ev r ]mows must be beat into him while be i going to school · that if you do not make him know all tho e thin s, h will u v r know them, and o you mu t give bim as gr at a fund of knowledge as po sible while he is in s hool. ow, the school hould not b inteJJded to t ach him anything. It bould not be d sigu d that the pupil should learn anything whil · he is iu school. H hould go there :for the pul'pos of developin(J' his brain aud, through that, hi m ntal faculties and wh n be is turn d out o chool h hould b a bjghly p rfe t d being with a well balau ed brain, a w lJ balanced mind and all th fa ulties dl'iven to th highest degr e f p rf tion in heir evolution. M d rn dueation i m r ly an application of the "cramS
THE PHREN
AR'rE
Y TE:rvl OF' ED
ATIO
ming'' process. The Phrenogarten method is the application of botanical process , of th process s of growth. The term m ans lit raUy "Mind Garden. ' It is tb garden in which mind· ar cul livated anu the ordinary prin iples of gard ning just as we woul apply them in the cultivation of plants, are appli cl in the Pb1· uo..,.arten m thod. Wbat are the pri ciples embodied in the cultivation of plants in the garden 1 V\T U, we plant the seed, or, in oth r words employ involution. Then we supply thi seed with soil, wat r an nnshln and other lements and tb cllemical n sary to d v lop that eed to the high st degr e of p rfection. By cultivation, we keep the groun in the b t pos ible shape for be r alization of that result. Likewi. e, by ultivation we remove from it verything that will interfere with the highe t perfection of that plant, surrounding th plant, in other 1vord , with th most p rfect environment possible and when w hav accompli bed his, we wait for it to unfold and it always do s so. Luther urbank. in his system of plant work has mploy d tb se principles. He ha realized what he wanted to accompli h. 'rhen he has taken plants, planting them in the proper way so as to give the best possible results; then smrounded them with the most favorable envil·onm nt po ible t o bring out all of those attribute which he desir d. In the arne way w hould sunound the child with th environment suitable for bringing out the highest perfection in bis fa ulties. We . hould r alize that the entire o j ct of our training is to call out the faculti s so that they will be unfolded will be dev loped to the high t degree of perfection. To do this we should b ar in mind the Lamar k an doctri_u o..E evolution by u . We ·bouJd r ealize hat all g1·owth clep nds upon exercise; that the d velopment of the faculties are dependent upon the amount of exer cise which they get. In order to d velop a faculty, tb · refore give it exercise. That is the only thing that is necessary, and the only value there is in the regular school of education is in its utility as a m ans of giving exer cise o the mind; in other words, it is of value only as a syst m of mental gymnastics, and in no oth r way. When you t ach a pupil, yom· teaching benefits him in act proportion as he bas to think in order to understand. 9
T-
4
PHRE
A.RTEN
Y TEM OF EDU
TI N
If you make things so plain tbat it doe not r equir any thought on his part to compreb nd them it i of ab olutely no value. It is fo this rea on that many progr s ive t acher do not work problems for th ir pupils at all, will
not work them, but make the pupils continue to work on until tb y find th olution th mselves and thu they are developing their faculty of calculation. Of cour , the teachers do not r ealize till , nev rthele , they ar doing it, and ar cons quently, d riving a great d al of b n fit from it, which they would not d rive if the ordinary method were employ d. The exerci es that are employed in education are us d as a mean of calling out this activity of the faculti s which leads unto their dev lopment. row, it should be borne in mind hat ach faculty of the mind functions through a defini e organ of the brain. Phr nology give the key to all m ntal activities and operations. t i only as we study Phrenology that we ru:e able to understand the operation of the mind. Each faculty o£ the mind ha a c rtain vibratory rate. .All the thoughts whi h are operativ in that dir ction that i , which go to m.a.ke up tha faculty, vibra e on a c rtain g neral scale or vibratory chord o to sp ak ow, tbe result i , in order for tho thought to com into manife tation that is for th e mental impulses to xpress thcmselv s through thought vibration into the realization or xpre ion in thought, there must be me ph •sical m d.ium tb.ronah whi h tb y may op raf · that i. to say th r mu t be a. part f th brain uffi ienUy s nsitive and al o sufficiently k en to this rate of vibration hat it will respond to such vibration and to no oth r. The divers faculti of th mind hav , ons qu ntly, d v lop d organs in tb brain, suitable to their manifestation, or"'ans which are keyed to their ame rate of vibration and thus will allow tho e faculties to manif st. Tlris is really th genesis of the functional area of the brain. 'l'h dcv 1 pmcnt of a faculty, therefor·e, is po sible only thr u rb Lh developm nt of the diver e phr nolo ical organ . d v lop tho organs w con quently dev lop the s ' m ntal fa ·ulty, or, on th other band, as we develop the m ntaJ fa nlty we consequently will d . .,, lop the phrenolo rical organ. Th d v l 1 ment of th organ con ist , first
10
ED
THE PHRENO ART •
TIO
in the mu. 't pas from tb brain ur ·a in fact, make a circuit, a it trav l both way . The impuls thu pa from the urfac to the c nt r and lJack to th urfac ov r other fibre. ons quently th longer th fibr i , the long r will be th circuit, t her for , the tronrrer will be he forec of the thouNht. They mus b 1 ngthen d in order to giv power of thought. Now, the fibr is len,th ned by r a on of th though vibration pa. iog thl'ough it. The mor time. the pecifie brain fibr i utiliz d in this way, th long r it will b come, consequently thi pha of developm nt is brought about by the continual r peti jon of the thought. By thinking alon certain lin , w d v lop the power of thought. Likewise, the fu1ene of thought, th r for its levation and pUl'ity dep nd upon the finen ss of h brain fibre, and th brain cell , and b th refining of the thinking we refine the brain cell and fibre. In the third pia e it should be borne in mind that we can manifest our mental impulse in the fotm of thought only by havincr brain cell keyed to that specific vibratory rate appertaining to that thought, cons quently, a thought can n cr manife t it lf until we have d v lope a brain cellular combination and a fibre adapt d o th mani£ tation of that rat of vibra ion. Th great r number of brain cells we hav con equ ntly the r ater ran"'e of thought it gives, that is, it gi e the capaci y for expre sin"' more differ nt thoughts. .As our mind thu expands enabling us to xpre. s more thought we d v lop a gr ater numb r of brain ce!Js and thu of cliff r n rates of vibration. on equently th Phr nogartcn y tern must consi t in the devclopm nt o.f n w brain cell all th time th in r asing of th number of cells, and this is made po ible by in reasing th convolution of the brain and also by making the eli mall r. Th fourth fa tor con ists in changing the rate of vibration in th cells, that is to say, by de elopin"' th m to that point wh r tb y are capable of di:ff rent rat s of vibration, and it sh01:Lld be borne in mind tha in mental evolution, as w ll a ju ver other kind of volution, it i the pro es. of b "Ev r-h - omin "'· We ar alwa s be oming soDJething
11
'I" E PJIRI!l
m r . Jt i · by
Th capacity for original thought is d veloped only by origiJlal thinking cons quently, a system of education should consi t in th e timulation or originality of thought to the highe t po sib! degr c. '1' ach the pupil to generate original thought and you will develop the apacity for original thought. I o, it hould l born in mjnd that we can make the brain ac1apt it elf to th expr sion of spirituality or of soul xpr s ion rath r in addition to the more intellectual. Likewi.· , we should in cr a c the gray matt r of the brain so that it will b ca1 able of manHe ting a gr at r amount of mind . .All th s fa tor ar to b taken into con id ration. The Pbr nogart n ystem is in brief, the application of what v 'r method will most surely r esult in be evolution of the .fa ulti s. We rnn t impart our instruction, not for the pw·pos of tea bing anything, but for the purpose of giving xcr ise to the faculty that \Ve want to dev lop, and give the exercise at the prop r time and in the prop r mann r . We should also bear in mind the importance of the law o£ p ri dicity in the mental d v lopment, as well as in v rything l e. W should realize that it is xercis of the .faculty which counts and that i really the redemption of our entir system of ducation. If it were not for the mental gymnn. tic , th pupil g ts in school hjs whole life would be a failure be au , it sho :tld be borne in mind that nine out of cv ry ten of our fa ts are absolutely untrue and i£ w bav to each the pupil nine lies in order to teach him one truth, how ar we going to accomplish anything1 The only r 'dcmption is in the excrci e which ibe mind g ts so that by the tuclying h acquir a rtain dev lopment of his faculti , which will ultimately enable rum to study out tho matters. B ar in miud, ih n, that while the conventional system will
12
T .ffi .E liRE
Y 'l'E 1 OF E UCATIOr
ft h tb pu il what l1 ought to know, the Phrenogarten y t m will cJ velop in him the capacity for thought. It i no a syst m f teaching, but a y ¡tern of du ation; that is, a system of uniolding tb latent powers of mind, and there is no limit to th capacity for such unfoldm nt, neither is th re any limit to the e ' tent to which tbe pupil may unfold. n this method we, tb refore, give ex rcise to the faculty. That is the um and substance of the hrenogarten System - ive exercis to the faculty, and give it in the proper manner and to the faculty that you want to dev lop. 'l'his yst m could never be systematically appli d until Phrenology had become a science, but through Phrenology it is now po sible to d v lop th mind in any way we want to, to any d gree we wish. Mental evolution i made pos ibl by the application of these rational methods to the thinking ru1d also to the physical organ itself. Ev ry f ature of the Phrenogarten ystem, is therefore, a means of applying the law of growth and evolution to the Phrene organs of tb brain in their development, o that they will be fitt d as fit v bicles ru1d in trumonts for the ex.-pre ¡ion and activity of tb ir eorr ~:;ponding mental faculti s and likemse for the d velopment of th mental faculties by their excrci e in ord r bat bey may be properly developed and may xpr s themselves brough their corresponding Phr n rgans in the orr ¡ponding tal nt, g nius, prodigy, mental power, etc., which must nece sarily follow their particular degree of unfoldment.
t
13
LESSON II ORI
IN
F TALE JT
By Tal ut we m an tho special mental pow rs which are manife ted in uperior b ings those attribute of mind which conÂŁ r upon p r on certain intellectual exc 11 nces, placing them, in a en e above the g n rality of the human family. Th sp ial capacity for fitn due to pecial mental developm nt we t rm a Talent. The Talents ar ab olutely neces ary to fit one for the higher walk of life, to fit on for exerci ing he more important fun tion that may be pre ented in human d v lopm nt. W peak of one per on b ing talented and another being d void of tal nl. What do we m an by this 1 imply that on ha a mind adapted to the performanc of certain fun tion whil anoth r lack that sp cial functional adaptation. TI may b int lligent in a general way but the tainted man mu t hav a mind adapted to special work. o he may hav a numb r of tal nt . It doe not follow that b must b con:fin d to imply on tal nt. Talents may b itb r inh rited or acquired by tudy. Many p r ons ar born with them; oth r acquir them in the ours of tim ; in fa t, it is th purpo of a true education to impart to th pupil a many talent as po ible, or as ar conv nient. But the bing w want to under tand at thi tim i th e e n e of tal nt; what i i that imparts to diff r nt talents. It hould b borne in mind that force in the world which pacifically adapt theme rtain office su h as the race and the Muses w r upposed to p rsonily among th ancient Greeks and oman . 'Ih s for s mov along certain vibratory note through a brain that ha been adapted 14
TALENT
OR GI
s of vibration, that is to ay, tb brain stru tore uch a quality a to form the r qui "te gr e of r i tan to vibra ions o£ tho e forces, in ord r that th y may orne forth into manifestation. Th Mana or Mind tuff of th nivei L divid d into a number of the e cla having a g n rnl vibratory tone and as it vibrat in this way it mu t proclu in the individual mind the same p tha i pr s nt in the univer al mind. In fact, it i the mi ion of th inC!ividual mind to mbody and manife t he univ rsal mind. It can do his only to the degree that it is adapted to r pond to that univer al mind. Now the cliff rent talent in th e ind ividual mind represent the orr . ponding qualities and attributes of the universal mind; that. is to say, tho e a pect of th univer ¡al mind which bave a common rat of vibration hrough the cbaracri tics, or ratb r activities of he individual minds having the same general vibratory hord. Thu , the talents that arc mani.fe ed in be univer al mind are m r ly the individualization of the orresponding Grac s and 1\iu es of tl1 unhersal mind. A more simple statem nt of the problem would perhaps be that the Iaculti s of the indhridual mind ar al o pre ent in tb universal mind and a the faculty in th individual mind becom sufficiently developed t o enabl the ttniver al mind to manifest it. elf through i with ea and con nience, so tha in tead of b ing faint or ,liO'btly :xpre d it becomes prominently expr ss d it becomes in fact active and has a suitable cha.nn 1 through which it may ma.nifcst, this faculty becomes a talent. Th difference th en, betwe n the tal nt faculties and the ordinary fa ulti i mer ly a differ n of d -gree; the talent is be pecial fitnes for a thing which a p cial development of the fa ulty give . In the ordinary facu lty w may go ahead and perform thi ftmction tbe same as we can any other function but when thi faculty ha become ufficiently developed to impar a talent for this thing, it becomes ea y and natural for us to perfo rm it. It do s not require any p cial effort of the will to ex r i e it; w do not plod any longer, but go ab ad and act e sily and natm¡ally. The .force which i a o oncentrated tluough that fa~ulty i due to it stronger d velopm nt. It
15
THE PHRE OG RTEN
TE if OF •D
ATIO
crives u p ial pow r that w did not pr viou ly hav b caus it allows thi force of tb univ rsal mind or l\Ial1at, to op rat in tl1i. parti ular dir ction with a high d gree of succ It must be borne in mind that the facullie of th individual mind are tb Microcosm of the facultie of the Mahat, th Mabat bavill"' the v ry same faculty diff rentiation a the mind ha ·. Wh n the m ntal faculty bas b come nffici ntly d v lop d to nable th Mahatal fa ulty to op rat in u h a d crr a to in1part a Divin Power a Gift as we might alm t say tl1at op ration of the Iahat becom s what w migh denominate a Talent. It may o cur to th pupil, then to inquire what it is that giv thi d velopm nt of the 1ental 'acul y while the mind i continually operativ on ome lin . Now, a h faculty ha its g neral vibratory tone ru1d as this vi l ratory tone i always op raLive in the thoughts which b lon"' to that faculty, the re nlt i that the thinkincr of tho thought must continually maintain that vibratory tone. 'l'o make the matter a littl lea rer, very thought wh n proj ted or more p1·operly v ry m ntal impul e wh n proj ct d through the lana , in order to the g neration of a though , e tabli h a ' hirl in the Mana . Thi whirl i the imp11l whi h gives birth to th thought. 'rh b ginn ing of a thought is thi little whirl in the lana . All the whirls pertain to a certain faculty, moved in accordance with a common tone. 1 be oftener tb . whirl are repeated, the troncr r become the habit of their reproduction; the Manas acquiT s a habit of whirling in ibis particular ay. 'l'hus th e whirl ar trcngthening be tone, o that it becomes charact ri tic of tb Mana with ever incr a ·ing sir •ngth. 'l'hi ton , in time, rin s forth spontaneou ly out of the Mana tic condition, and thu we hav built up a faculty. That faculty, mind you, is a propensity toward a rtain tone or whirl, just a man will 1 arn to play a pi ce o.f music or to do anything 1 e in a certain way and in the course o£ tim he will develop a prop nsity for doin~ it that way in prefer n e to some other way; ju t as a horse will learn to walk until he develops a propensity for walking in pr ference to trotting or an thing lse.
16
RIGIN
OF
T
LE
T
ow, thi one, which is the mean of all the whirls of a given class i. the b innin g o£ a fa ulty. Thi is tbe r a on why man hi.t k along c rtain lin es; why he think: in a habi ual way. His habitual thought, that is to ay that which spr ing forth sp011 an ously, without a cr ativ impul operaliv through the will of the thinker, is g n rat d by the spontaneous repetition of the whirls, that ar e tablished in the Manas. s th whirl are r epeated from time to time th y tbus tabli h th ir common tone in the Manns until this ton is b ing genera ted, continu11lly r peat d without an £fort on the part of man. It doe not r equire any conentration of th Will, but i s lf-generativ , a it were. It a quires a certain individuality and perpetuate its own xi t nee. row, this habit of whirling in a cordanc with that ton , lhi. habit of the tone perpetuating its lf through th continuous generation of its own whirls in the Manas, i th u is of a Mental Faculty and as th r i in tb l\Iahat or niv r ·al Mana al o corr ponding whirls going on all lh tim , and a thos whirl move in accordanc with th ir on pondino- ton -for all the tones ar operativ th r all 1h time-it will se n that thi: ton or faculty iu the ianas and the corresponding ton or faculty in the Maha , in r ality bear the relation of :Microco rn and 1\f.acroco m. 'l'h faculty in th 1:anas become , therefor , th fo a1 point ou whi b the fa ulty in the Mahat may b cone ntrat cl, the incl ivicl ual faculty being th n gativ pole of th univ r al ra nlt.y whi h acts as the positive pole. Jn thi way w can e that by the d veloprnent of a faculty, that is to say by the acquiring of a certain vibratory prop nsity in th .Manas, we are op 11 ing the door for tl1o op ration of th same tone in the !fal1at or niv r a1 rind. fa ulty, then, in the Manas, is mer ly the in. trument ou whi h th niversal Mahat i able to play. Our fa ulti , lh n, ar· the in trum nts, the keynot s a it w r , n whl ch l h Maha t play , and are the mediums of the Mahatic l•'a ulti s. 'l'he 'l'al n ts which they give are the degr e of p rfcction, the dearee of r alization which it i po ibl for th Mahat to attain hrough them. 'J'h Fa •ulty f th MahaL is really th worlnnan; the ]7
'1'11
i'
~'1'1~
RYH ' I'I~J\1
I•' l•l lll
'J\'IIDN
ia ul y io tl1 Muua th l I with which I~> ' •·I R, Hnd t II Tal nt the product o£ hi op ration a it .-pr s il:-~ Jr in apacity, power achievement, tc. Now in order for am ntal faculty to op rai n th ph ' ical plane, or in fact, for it to come out into c n: io L n s for a mental whirl to e:\.rpr it lf in a thought tber must be a phy ical brain structure through which it may op rat ; that i to ay, th r mu t be a brain fibre pecially adapted to the _whirl, so that H will offer the nece ary r i tanc , and by r i tance, will communicate th vibratory impul to the brain cell ; and the c lis mu t be adapt d to re ponding to that impulse, o that tha vibration g n rat a body which we term a Thourrht orr spondin to th whirl in the Mana . Each thought b fore it an expre . it el must bav brain fibr and cell adapt d to its expre ion, and a the hourrbt ar tb outward realization of the differ nt m ntal wlrn:l , whirl ven so, the faculty which govern a group of th all moving in accordance with a specific vibratory tone, in order for it to manife t all of i wllli·l in thought it mu t hav a group of brain fibr sp cially adapted to that tone, in tune with that tone o to p ak, and in thi way it i able to om to the ufa e. But in ord l' for it to g n rat though and cxpr its lf through thought there must b a group of brain c ll all in une with that parti ular ton . It is in this way that w have the organ of tb brain. Th . e iliff rent fun tional ar a ar r ally area of the brain fibr and brain ells pecificalJy adapt d to rc pon to vi ration of that parti ular m ntal facu lty. Thu no fa tilly o · th mind can op rate in om· con ciou ne s, can be activ nor in pby i al mbodim nt ex pting as it ha a con·e ponding physical organ in th brain. The d grc of p rfection in the dev lopm nt of th phy i al organ and al o of them ntal faculty will indicat th d gr of manifestation wbi b it is po ible for that factlity to realize, whi b it i p sibl .for that attribute of the univer al 1\fahat to expre in this particular Ilana , and this degr e of manife tation giv the degree of \vhat we term Talent. It should be borne in mind that Tal nt is not simply general pow r, but i the p cifi manifestation of a parti ular faculty. One's 'l'alents, tb r fore, dep nd upon the develop1
l
'1'
T
.f lh mind tog tber with their 路 rr . p uding l' Yflll in lh bt路ain. 1ath matical tal nt, for instan i lh pro lu t f tb :fa ulty of Calculation and n i. t.h d v I pm nt of that aculty o is the degT e of its rl'nl t. 'rh nstructive talent is the eff ct of developm nt i11 h Ja ulty of constru tiven and as is the d v lopment or lhat .fa ulty 0 will b the d gree of it 路ral nt. 'l'aleut f r u quiring, accumulating, boarding etc., as well as tb prop nsity for tho e activitie , iJ the effe t of a corr ponding d v 1 pm nt of the fam:Llty of acqui iti n s and o we might go n ad infinitum. 'l h 'l'al nt for ompari on ritici m and nyth i is th fi t of a dev lopm nt of the organ of compari on. Tal nt for tracin.,. the r lation of au and effect, for r asoning and plannmg is th eff ct of a development of the faculty of can ality; and so on all the way through . Mu ical Tal nt i the effect of a development of the faculty of tune. Talent for v rbal xpres ion oratory, verbal memory, tc., i th effect of the dev lopm nt of the faculty of language and th degree of the talent will be in exact proportion to the degree of facul y clev lopm nt. It should b borne in mind howev r , that there i a differ nc b twe n Tal nt and Propen ity. Th y are both the product of fa ulty d velopment, but the propen ity is the inclination the thiTst after this particular line of activi y; it i the d ire for it, th appetit which grow out of th habitual whirl, or habitual direction of the wbil'l and ha i ual tone. Tal nt, on th other hand, is the capacity, the power which is d v lop d by rea. on of the following o 路 the propensity. Propensity is what timulates one to do; Tal nt i the abili y to perform wh n thus stimulated. Prop nsity i desire; Talent is capacity for action. The educational ystem in common us , quite oft n d velops a considerabl degr e of Talent, but it does it by r a on of the stimulation of tho whirls the noel ization of that particular tone in the vibration of the Mana and con quently in the d v lopment, thl'ough xer i e, of the faculty . Exerci e of a faculty must always t end to its development and consequently to the production of its talent. We see, consequently, that as a result of the conventional sy tem of
19
THE PHRENOGARTEN SY TEM
F EDU ATION
education, talents have been acquir d on a numb r of occasions, but th ir acquisition has been accidental. No effort has be n mad to acqwr thos tal nt , they have b en the r ul of th xerci which was ecured ju t a a man by manual labor acqui.r s certain kill in doing rtain things, though b has not tried to acquire it. In the same way, people inherit the tal nt of th ir parent , or by procreative infiu nc , etc. We ee this operating all th ' ay through in the entire law of natural 1 ction, but what they have n v r attempted has b en to sy t matically d velop those talent . ow, the Phrenogart n ystem of Education proposes to go about it to d velop the Talents in a y t rna ic manner. This i wherein our ystem differs so much from the conventional system. The Phr norrarten ystem o Education does not aim at t achin<Y thing , but at supplying talent and thu it ha the same r elation to the other sy tern that pbysi al culture bas to work or that an appr nticeship bas to ordinary labor. We cxercis a facul ty for U1 specific purpo of dev loping it corr ponding tal nt. By the Phr nogart n method, therefore, the pupil will make u e of any m thod which will tend to timulate the activity of a c rtain faculty; that is, which will cau e the production of tho e whirls in the Mana along a certain tone and thu will d v lop the faculty and it corre ponding or an, so that the talent growing out of th high development of that faculty and organ, will be prodn ed; and the natur and aim of the Phrenogarten method is the sy tematic development of talent. That i what we aim. at, and the entire cou1 e of education i a cours of Tal nt Training and th r is no limit to the extent to which the talents may be dev lop d. The law b ing fundamental mployinrr the fundamental principl s of nature, it therefore follows that we are able to develop the talents to any degr e that we may wi h. ot only this, but we can develop all th faculti s of the brain if we so desire, o that they will furnish their corresponding talents. We may have th universal talent instead oÂŁ merely certain individual kind , on or two or a few at most. In fact, the brain may become the vehicle for th manif tation of th entir rfahat to the point of the high t po ibl talents. However, it should be borne in
20
RIGIN OF T
LE
T
mind that it is not pos ible for man to d v lop all his talent to the point of g nius. Th r i of cotuse, only so much nergy which it is po ible for man to manifest au very few can become the univer al embodiment of intelligence.
21
LE S N III
GENIUS Genius is the term used with reference to that high dev lopm nt of a iv ll .faculty which make it the keynote o.f on ' m ntalli£e. It should be born in mind that whil Talent may be vari ¡ d while th r may b a number of faculti d velop d to the point of talent, Genius i u ually foun -in .fa t invariably found-in only one faculty and we u the term Genju in the s n o.f b ing that mental d velopment which becomes the g nius of a person. When on of b faculti s ha. bPen dev lop d to that degre that it directs th activities of all th faculti s, giving haracter to th m, imparting its tone o that all th faculti s ar dominated by his one, it becoming the type of the mind, we th n have G nius. G niuses are born -not mad . This, how ver do s not m an that i i impo ible to d v lop geniu if w go about it in the proper manner. It simply means tha the m thods of training whlch have from tim immemorial be n adopted, nius. Th r is are not conducive to the dev lopment of no gr ater indictment to be brought again t the educa ional system of the age than the fa t that so f w g nius ¡s ar dev lop d amongst the tudent of the educational in titutions. ';Ve find that man i born with Genius, r Is he n v r attains it. 'l'he fa ultics dcv lop according a th y ar u d, accor ling a the educational work stimulate their exerci , but in no in tance does a chool develop the faculties in its pupil , to the point of g niu . G Diu has b en aid to be only one step remov d from insanity, and this is tru . There i but one step from g nius
22
GENIUS to in anity or r ath r monomania; that p i the Prodigy. 1onomania i simply that ex:tr me state of g niu , or that xtr m typ of g niu wh re on of the faculties is abnorma 1 d v lop d to ·u b a d gr e th at the qumbrimn of the brain i ov r tu·ned. t is develop d out of all proportion to the oth r faculti s, tb r .for those facul ies will not r train it and the ntire mental Kosmos i ov rturned and thrown into a chao . enius is that more healthy stat of mental dev 1 pmcnt wh r a a ulty i iev 1 p d to a high iegr e so a to dominat and guid he otb r fa ultie , but not o a to b thrown out f all gear. Wh r eniu i found without a foundation of talen it alway I ad to idio. yncra i , and is in fact, but littl b tt r than in a11ity. Tho per on who bav from tim to tim appear d in th world ' hi tory, witl1 rn- at g nius but witbut common ns , who gcniu ha be n min ntly impractical, who have nev r lmo" 1 how to mploy their g niu , hav b n in tb po ition th y w r b eau of tJJ fa t t hat th w r m diocre in v ry other re pe , but th ir geniu ha lifted them high in that parti ular lin , and b ing m dio r_ of the lowest form in all th ir oth r facultie , th y have b n unabl to prop rly apply their g nius. niu hould b und r toocl a. that 3 v lopmcnt which •stabli ·b s a de.fini.te m ntal type or talent, giving c rtain pow '1" and capacities; but th r • is no hara t r given to tl1e miud by rca on of the talent . A person may have a doz n tlifl' rent talents and there may b no connection between tb m. Th y are imply o many ifts or Pow r , apacii , that man ha d v lop d. 'l'h man, tber for , who has Lal n , but no genius i the man who ha a numb r of ·apa iti s, a. number of pow rs, but no d finite tend n y no LYJ i •al character. We hear very often of those ca ; peopl who ar abl to turn their hand o anythina and yet have l'tl l' 'ly su c d din aJ1ything. It i 1 rov t·bial ·hat th Jack f all lrad i. good at none and it may even b tatcd that lh man who is master of all trad y t amounts to bu very littl when it comes to th practical application of hi talent ; an I why is tbi ' Evidentl b au e he ha no goal to which h t t ring; tb r i no rudd r; no helm to hi life. He
23
'l'HE PITRE
A.R'IE
Y TE '[
F ED
ATI N
ba. a numb r of talents wbi h ar d · half a doz n or a doz n or more facultie may b con' ·n tratcs his att tion on th m or as he is directed by the force of his en ironm nt, but ther is no d fini fore which drives him in a given dir ction, which will prompt him to do certain things. 'l'he cour e of ills life is no definit ly mark d out by a k ynot . T alents th r for , may be describ d as tho powers -.;vhi h are exer i d und r th influence of the law of natural scl tion, or wbjch may be mploy d und r th direction of self sel ction th principl of per onal choi but tb y arc tbe rvant of tb will. ClenitL i tb ma t r of th WilL -uius is th predominating tal nt which direc the COlli' e of man' will and of his d ·ires. It manife ts it l£ in an all-controllin propensity -.;rhich caus · man to a pir to certain things in pr f rene to anything else. Ev ry other de. ire is sacrificed a being wol'thl ss. <very oth 1· impulse is laid a id . Tlti all-controlling, all-dominati11g 1ropen ity comp 1 the man to eek after c rlain nd , to h·ive after that which will gratiiy thi prop •n ·ity. 'l'hus all hi faculties are brought to b ar upon on , the one aim of uring the object of tbat propen. ity. The oth r prop nsiti have becom pa ive, as it w re b coming t o l in the hands of thi all-controlling propen ity to bring those fore s, ho e faculti into activity unto h nd of secm·in the gratification of tbi propen i y. Geniu · is n ver pr sent unle it manife ts it elf through an all-controlling and dominating propensity, a keynote of all the propen itie which become the one desire, the on wish, th one obj ct of life. 'l'lti. is u ually ind p nd nt of man will ; i in fact, direct the will, the will being the outward ruanife tation, tb outfiowin"' tend ncy that motion or vibration which 'tart in th nt r and move outwar 1; th d ir s, on the other hand, b ing tl1e indrawing wave, going from the surface to the cen ter. It is becaus man i n gative to c rtain thing that hi. will is caused to mov in that dir ction.1 The prop n ity bould be w1d r tood as being a chronic desire, that i a desir which nev r waver·, which has n ith cr varianc nor shadow of tul'niug an 1 whi h i ntinually directed to the obtainin o.f a dcfiuit end. As this ontinu24
GE
IUS
ou de ir or propensity is ev r r aching out for the accomplishment o.f c r ain nd. thu mainta inin a p rp 'tually n gativ condition of the enlir mind r lativ to that nd, it i natm·ally dev loping the organs of th brain through which fun Lions that i to say the n gativ activity of those organs, tb ir a tivity under the dominanee of that propen ity dev lops tJ1em, so that th 'Y are capabl of g nerat ing a much greater force. In thi way, tb prop n ity ontinues to rrrow. 'l' h mini a t in tha way with gr at r and gr at r power. ot onJ i t lti trne, b w v r, bu the prop n ity cau an a tivity of tb will in th clir ction of its r alization. The current of Mana which is continna]Jy flmving inward generat s a con pondn1 cturent to flow outward; in other word , the current mu t b a circuit and a th mov m nt flows inward from th surface to the c nter, a refleaction must tar up from the cent r ou ward. Th r sult is, Will i generat d a. the :ff t of D ir , and this prop nsity manif sts it elf through the continuous Will-ingness-willing for the obj ct of that propen ity. The dominatin" propensity, consequently, mauif st it eli in a dominating will, which chang s th · dil'ceiion of th a tivit of all the curr nt of tb will, mak:in.g the "'ratifi ation of thi, prop nsity th on nd of tb ntire human will, s o peak. Tb will, i on qu ntly the eff ct of the propen ity, and as the Will directs th outward motion of tb 1:anas, it cons qu ntly, give direction to the thinking, thought being the xpr , ion o.f thi will in the high r more metaphysical ens of the term as th will i , in turn, lhe outgrowtll of tbe propen ity. row a ther i a k ynot prop n ity, mani£ tin it. lf throu"'h a. domina in" will th rc re,.ults, of necessity a cerlain trend o£ the thinking. The faculty is, th refore, x rei ed which ha the sam typ as h will and prop n ity, on equcntly all tb oth r fa ulti es are brought into harmony and ar thp gnid d by this propen ity . .., niu i lher f rc, that d v lopm nt of a faculty and its · rr spom1ing pro1 n ity whi ch cau c i to c1ir ct the url'l'nt of the in dividual will instead of b in"' directed by the will. In the ca · of 'l'al nt, w x t' i otu· facultie acl'diJtg to th dire -tion £ouT will. We dir ct om· thinking b au w bav ad lini l obj t in vi w. e want to attain
25
THE PHRE to
'l,EM 0
.ARTK
j
E
ATI N
rtain end and, ther fore, we formally and sy ematically
GENIUS
However, the m thods of ducation that ar no' in u e are d . tructive rath r than con tru tive of g niu · and why is hi true 1 Becau e they do not train the prop nsities, but ratb r train man to think by rule. Th re i a defirrite rul lald dO\'m, by whi h ev ry p r on i to think. Man i uppo d to have a rain c1 mind, to b a train d think r, to think according to law; 1 ut gcniu n ver do thi . enius is alway lawl ; i r ft1 t be h d.., d about by rul . , but p r i ts in thinh-ing and movin along according to it own swc t will; i p r ists in gratifyin h propensity, and as
long as man undertakes to direct his mental operations by d finite rul he never dev lops G niu . Any ··ystem of oea.ll d cientifi ultur i , therefore, antagoni tie to G nius. Genius is fonnd on1y where a faculty is develop d o that it acts by rea on of its own momentum, irrespective of any re traint or con rol whlch particular training and form will impo e upon it. It i for this reason t hat so many cc ntriCI 1 are found among g niuses. G nius is never on rvative; it never respect th e tabli hed tandard ; in fact, it has no tnndard, but acts under the guidance of the propensity. In the genius the prop nsity knows no law, but is a law twto it elf. It mov tb activity of th faculty, according to its promptin th fa ul y recognizing no authority, no prec d ut, no rule exe p iJJg th promptings o its overning propensity. 'rhe enius, consequently nev r knows what h i going to do becau he acts under the guidance of hi g nin . The enius refu s all r e t raint, r fn c all artificial standard , all tandards ' hich are not the outgro' h of his own propensity. It i for this r ason that tb g niu i always radi al. 'eniu very oft n spru1"' forth in utterances which almo t approa h the pal of in ·piration b au h y come out from the propensity and are not gov rned by the r traint whi h would l1old the ordinary mind under ontrol. It will follow logi ally that th m thod of ducation, the whole purpo e of wbi h i m ntal, tha has b n along certain lines, or the teaching of rules and r gnlation ·, of sy t ms and l aws by whi h verything i to b done by which ev ry mental operation i to be r .,.ulat d will not, in th very natm· of things, b conducive to the dev lopment o a propensity which scorns all rule and all rc traint. eniu an, th r for , be dev loped only by the xercis of the faculties independent of any systematic training. It i for this reason that geniu e ar invariably ound among th uneducated among hose wh o have never r ec iv c1 scholastic trainin .,. to amount to anything. The residents in the ountry, tb :Carmel' , among the mountains, are tho e who have b n abl thinke s, 'rec lancers without oil e training. Many mor g niuscs are poiled by edu ation than are ver d lop d by it, duca ·ion being und r our lassi al y t m,
26
27
x rei e our will in order to the realization of tho e ends, or els ouT will :is directed by reason of the external force , the evolutionary fore s in the world without, which prompt it in a certain direction so that we go along the lin of tbe 1 ast · i tanc . But in enius there is an all-dominating propensi y, o powerfully d v lop d, acting with uch fOl'ce that it direct the will and drive all of om· faculti to act in a certain direction in relation to it lf. It doe not permit the force around us to ontrol, b au e the impulse which it imparts o th operation o.f the will i much more pow r ful than the infl.u n of xternal surroundings. nju , th n, i the dev lopment of a Prop nsity, which cau ·e it to take ontrol of us, to mo ·e u along in the dir ction whi h it take. and to dominate our thmking and all om· activi , ev n the activity of our will, so that our will, in r ality, b om sits po itive e~rpr . sion. It operate mainly in . the ubconscious r egion, while Tal nt i more objectiv . of a domGenius i mor ubj ctiv b caus g niu con i in atin prop n ity which dir t tb activity o the diver faculti s through their brain or.,.ans. 'Ibis b ing true it can b readily seen that he on probl m in the d velopment of g niu i the :formation or e tablishmen of an all-dominatin"' prop en ity. We may dev lop any faculty to the point of G niu ·, if w dev lop it as a propen ity, so that it ilir cts all th oth r prop ns.i i s of th b ing and 1 ads our m ntal p rations; that :is r aDy the E . nee of G nius. It i one fac ul ty developed to the point of I ading all th oth rs particularly through the d v lopmen of it orr pon ling 11'0P D
ity.
THE PERE
'l'EM 0
.ARTK
j
EDU ATI N
rtain nds and, ther fore, we formally and sy tematically x rei e our will in order to the realization of tho e ends, or els ouT will is directed by r ason of the external forces, the evolutionary fore s in the world without, which prompt it in a ertain direction, o that we go along the lin of the 1 ast r i tance. But in enius th re is an all-dominating propensity, so powerfully d v lop d, acting with such fm-ce that it direct the will and drive all of our faculti to act in a certain direction in r elation to it lf. It does not permit the force around us to ontrol, b au e the impulse which it imparts to th operation of th will i much more PO'" rful than the infl.uen of ext rnal surroundings. eniu , th n, i the development of a Prop nsity, which cau ·e it to take ontrol of us, to roo ·e u along in t he direction which it take and to dominate our thinking and all ou1· activi , ev n the a tivity of our will, so that our will, in r ality, b comes its po itive expr sion. It operate mainly in . the ubconscious r egion, while Tal nt i more objectiv . of a domGeniu i mor ubj ctiv b caus geniu con i inating propensity which dir ct th activity o the diver faculti s through their brain or.,.ans. 'Ibis b ing true it can be readily seen that he on problem in the d velopment of geniu i the :formation or e tabli hment of an all-dominatin"' prop en ity. We may dev lop any faculty to the p int of Genius, if w dev lop it as a propen ity, o that it ilir cts all th oth r prop nsiti s of th b ing and 1 ads our mental perations; that i reaDy the E nee of Genius. It i one facu lty developed to the point of I ading all th oth rs particularly thl·ough the development of i t orre ponding proP n ity. However, the methods of ducation that ar now in u e are d structiv rath r than con tru tive of g niu · and why is thi true 1 Becau e they do not train the propensities, but r ather train man to think by rule. There i a definite rul laid dov.>n, by which ev ry per on 1 to think. Man i uppo d to have a train d mind, to b a train d think r, to think according to law; but gcniu n ver do thi . enius is alway law I ; i r ft1 t be h cl.,. d about by ru l , but p r ists in thinking and movin along according to it own sw t will; i p r i ts in gratifyin.,. h propensity, and as
26
'I' II J~J P fll ill
'Al 'l'l!.N !::! ,"1' t M
It' .illl
U fu1it fOJ'I))U]Il, 1-tain J' rm 1la f r· training th pupH; du at d in this way according to th patt rn. Thi i th first and all important ~·ul that is given to very teacher when h start out in training pupil·: ' e that thou mak th 'VCrytbiug a corclin to the pattern hown lb ' and because aU the training mu t b ac ording to the pattern w bav a va t ollection of mind. of uniform chara t r. But u h unifonui y of d v lopment does not manife it cl f iu genius. It is rather th mind that i free from all tbos influ nc ·, and which foil w it prop n iti under 1.h :fre an untramm led xer is o its thinlring power, ~ •h110ut any goiclan whatever, that dcv ·lop the faculty to th po · t of genius. Any faculty may be d velop d to the point of g nius. In fact th re are many more geniuses than \ r alize, but invariably th y ar of little valu to th world owing to the fact that th it· facultie hav n t been dev lop d so as to on£ l' upon th m tal nt. Thus th genius i deprived of the foundation of talent, which would nable it to go on to nee . . Th · l' i a guidino- propcn ity, but uniortunatcly it has nothing to gtl ide. It would be much better for every person to hav a well-rounded developm nt, to hav a numb r of tal nts, well develop d a spl ndi 1 quipm nt of tal nt, to enahl l1im to do all kind o · work, and then have some one faculty d veloped to tb point of geniu o as to provide a helm for tb guidanc of th ntit· m ntal proce niu in this way can be d v loped by the st matic development of the faculti es, by greatly intensifying the acti ity of a certain faculty. It i · po ible, wh n we k-now how 1·o do it, to develop any of the faculties to the point of geniu though, of course it Vlrill be mnch a. i r t tak th 1 adina fa ulty alr ady in th mind and d v lop that to a ruu b high er tat . It will lo,.ically follow th r fore, that according to the hr uoga:rten 1etltod £ Edu ation, tb • c1u ation of ach pupil mn be direct d in refer nc to the mental development of tbat pupil's individual faculties. o(
U
2
LE SON IV T
E PRODIGY
p to the present tim all of the prodigies who have a.pp ru: u, have b n, with v ry f w exe ption , tho,e approaching very closely to in anity. In fact we find them u ually r epresent d in a high d grc of development procligiou , in fa t, of on · f aculty whil th e oth r faeulti · ar u ually of a very low cl1m·act r and it i fo r his t•eason that the prodigy approach so n •ar to insanity. anity of mind is really tb product of a ta of m n al equilibrium. It is the balancina of all the faculties wbi b 1 ad up to the perf ct stat of mind, tha tate which is best expr ss d by the term equilibrium. Insanity is an Ullbalan eel state of miotl. It do not n ces arily imply m ntal weakn . s for i:f one fa ulty, or in fa t several fa ultic , be abnormally developed and the other b, far b low the normal the result will n •c sarily be an unbalanced state of mind. 'l'h I rodigy is, the · [o , the connecting link b •tw n Genius and I nsanity; in fact, he is an xtr me form of Genius, genius d veloped to the point of the Prodigy without corresponding d v lopm nt in th o h er faeulti . . Prodigies are not produced through the conventional y tern of education, l.Jut are always the spontaneous product of natm·e, without ru.1y ref r enee to trainina. Mo t o them ar born, and, in f'ae , it ha ' been fotmd that training will in vitably destroy the prodigy' power. Th prodi<ry ha usually been onnd or in fact, invariably ha b n found to possess on faculty a velop d to a tremendous degre and the oth r faculti es ri ing not above the lowest plan or mediocrity, that i , we mean, the prodigy as h ha been known until very r cent times. In fact the la. t f > y ars
29
T E PTIRE 0 ARTE
Y TE
I[
F EDU ATIO
have dcv loped a few who have b en prodjgies and hav had a tol rably high dev 1 pm nt of many of the otlt r fa nlties, but he Proiligy is invariably found t.o b on with a high d v lopmen of one faculty and the other faculties only mediocre. The rea on for hi has been that prodigies hav not been y temati ally d v lop d, but bav b n accident . The sy tem of ducation ha not favored a higl1 development of th fa ulti s and the prodigy ha u ually b en d v lop d under the influ nee of natural el ction, the ore · und r certain condition b ing favorable to a very hi h development of this one fa ul b caus they have continually called it out or what is mor lik ly tb ase th y hav b n the product of e rtain pre-nata] or her ditar iufln n es, which have giv n a tr m ' ndou imJ etus to that fa ulty. Lik wj , they may b tho produ t of Karmic forces over hadowing th par nt at the tim of hi birth; or of planetary influ n s. But in any of the e case , tho e influ nc are ucl1 as will all out the a tivity of that facuJty to an almo t miracuJous degre and 1 ave the oth r faculti alone or v n withdraw from th m a gr at d al o£ tb ir force. It hould be borne in mind that the fac11ltie ar clev lop c1 by an acti ity o£ certain n rgi in th y t m. 'l hc nergy which go o the faculty is tak n from the others; ons n n ly a proiligy be orne such by withdrawin"" hi en rg from all the oth r fa ulti in ord r that one of them may b v ry highly develop d. It is, in otb r word , a a e of ' r bbing P t r to pay Paul. ' A this i true it will logically follow that one who ha a c rtain fa ulty dev loped to the prodigious point, will be corre pondingly me iocre in his oth r facnltie , because the proiligy i an e4"treme manif tation of genius. The grea difficulty i that in th prodigious dev lopment of a 'acuity, the oth r faculties are likely to b entirely n gl cted be au e thi i n t only causing the prodigious faculty development, but al o a prodigi u d v lopm nt of he on paneling propensity o that th p r on will take no intere t in anythiug 1 e but will pra tically live in that facility. It will b his tcmpl , o to speak and th r e be will liv , and alllil att ntion will be concentrated in that direction. The r ·ulL i ·, the oth r faculties and propen ities 30
THE PR
DIGY
must ne es. arily becom ~warf d f1·om Jack of u ne of th gr a till n ration of the Pro lig wa '' lind T m," tb n -gro musi ian. II wa almo t a t tal idiot in very oth r re pect, but bad tb mo. t wonderf:ul car for mu ic th world ha v r known b ing a man who ould not play a all by 11ote, ye could play by ar in the mo i wond rful de"'r being o p rf ctl att u.n ed in his ar that by h a1·ing a piece of mu ic ouce he ould sit ~own and dupli ate it ould r produce it any time in aft r life oul l do o to p rf ction, et he did not lruow how to care for him elf or anythint'l' of the lcind. There have al o been mathematical prodigie who ould work probl m in the roo t wond rfnl manner and y t had no d v lopment at all in any oth r r pect. An xaminatiOJ o th e pr di"'ie will r v al th fact that in v r in tanc th y have be n 1 ople having an abnormal d velopm•rtt o.f that part of the brain orr sponding to that fa ulty which they exercised in thi prodigious mann r. Whatever the cau s may b which lead up to the nee ssary development of the fa ul y they mu t yield to the prodigy. Th P1·odi"'Y i not one who follows th ordinary m thods of invc Ligation; he do s not r ason unl s he be a prodigy of th r a oning typ ; he do s not re. ort to the ordinary method of discov 1·ing truth or of a quiring hi ·kill, whatever it may be. It i n t tbe work of art in any u whatever. o rul are followed and none can b laid down. In fa t, the following of rul b corn a gr at drawback, greatly ha~pering all tl1 a tiviti s of tJu prodi •iou aspect of th min . f w years ago th re was an Italian boy who wa the mo ·t wonderful math mati al prodi y known to the age. Tb Italian professors tbooght it would be a great thing to bav him cdu a ted, a be could . ol ve any problem pre ent d to him, v n givin ... in tantancou ly th quar root of number going up into million . J wa thought it wou ld be a gr at thjng if b e w re tau< ht scientific mathematic and th n by appl ing botb methods, h would b a wonder. Tb y ut him o ·chool until be wa graduated, but strang to ·ay, [ bj prodigiou mathematical pow r, he had lo t all trac and wbi l b ing a bigl1 ly educat d math matician from a ienti point of yjew, yet h p d absolutely no intui-
31
THE PHREN
ARTE
Y TEM
• ED
'rT
tiv pow r . Th tudy which h o.f math mati s, from th tan lpoint of th . . ci nc a. taugh in th h 1, had d •v l p u his oth · fa nlti , bnt had no xcrci d thi iutni1iv a p ct; in fa t thi had b en n e lccted an l had become atrophied from la ck of u.·e. 'l'be r salt wa h had 1 t all tltis pow r. '£he r gular y ·t m of edu ation, th n, far fr m levcloping prodigie r ally has th t u 1 ncy to d t roy them by ·onforming th m to th ordinary mold . 'l'bere must b som thin"' ftmdamentAl thcr for , in th d v lopm nt of the prodigy '"hich i interfer ed with by th ordinAry methods of t aching som thing which is diam trically oppo d to th r gular m th d and th · i th h·ulh. A pro igy i. d v lop d when a fa ulty ha rea h d the point of acting intnitiv ly. Wl1 n v r we hav d v lop •d a fa ulty o that it act intuitiv ly w have suppli d a prot:Ugy in reference to that particular faculty. Wha i · it wbi h cliff r ntiat th intuitiv action of the faculty 'r mall otb r a tion 1 W U, in th ordinary action, it i dir elcd b tb Will. fix ur attention up u e rtain things upon rtaiu ubje t and we think of tho subj t or ob rv tho bj <:t a · th ea e may b . but it r quir an effort to do so. 'l'ak for in tanc the fa ulty of ob rvation and the other facultic. a o •ia ted with it. rdinarily p aking th y mu t b lir t d lo crtain obj t . W mu obs rv , tak ognizancc of th obj ts around u . ry f w people r ally do tbi . Very few peopl se in on e compt·eh n ive vi w all the fcat<Ir of an obj t that i pr cuted to th ir onsciousn . 'l'hey overlook pra ti ally eY rything and may ·ee here and there a f atm·c. This is the way that a talent for b rvation, or any of h p erceptive faeulti manif st it elf. It r quir tb e driving of th will to ompel it to and wh n not ·o h ld to th rigid a ·t of b r ation, it drifl -in fact, it d uot e v n wh n ·o cli.r ted, finding it a matter 1 p1·a tical impos ibility be a.use of the fact that it has not b n traiued to such minute ob. crvation, to u h exa t cletail· in eli ov riug ev rytbin"' that come along. G nius on th ontrary, man.if ts it 'lf thr U"'h a much stronger propen ity, which will mak th tcndeDcy f the min 1 p r p ctiv , whi h will cau Lh fa ultie to a t 32
THE PRODIGY in that dil:ection which will keep the will concentrated in that ay, but still it is an effort, though th is is the principal :ffort that is made, but when the faculty b com d veloped to the point of the prodigiou it act intuitiv ly ; it no long r requires any con cious direction of the will. We do not have to have a definite purpo e in ob erving. We do not have to look for anything as we would in the lower tages of dev lopment, but the faculty ac independent of the dir ction of the will; it will act above and b yond it in uch a way that we will be lit rally fore d to ob rv , wh ther we wi h to or not. It will requil路e a con iderabl :ffort to avoi uch p r ons taking notice of everything that com along. will be found to have a perf t mania for ing thing and tb y will see them without looking for them. t will be perfectly natural for them to e thing , but on the other hand, th y will not pay atten ion to anything xc pting objec , while if the prodigious development be of the amc faculty, it 路will act in th ame way. 'rhat whi b tli tiugui h s the prodigy from the lower tat s of fa ulty i v lopm nt i tha wher as the latter have to be directed, th y act under the gu:idanc of the will or th consciousne s and pr nt their results to the mind, the intell ctual facultie in order that they may compare and analyze the facts presented, the faculties accumulating them in ord r hat it may b presented to the jud ment, in the a e of the p 路odig the place of the judgment is absorbed by this particular faculty; it becomes the end and aim and acts indep ndently of he other faculties; it goes ahead and accumulate facts for its own gratification, accumulates facts for th ir own sake. The one who is a prodigy along the line of perception literally rev Is in the perception of phy ical object . In tead of examining them in ord r that he may acquire a knowledge of omething else, in order that he may use th m as data to r a h other conclusions, be arche out those things for their own sake. H literally take d Jjght in ing obj ct in he same way that the touri 路t take delight in ob erving landscap s or anything of that kind. R es ar h, to uch a p rson is no long r a mean to an nd, namely, the means of ecuring vidence of uni ersal truth, but it is a thing in its lf. Take one who faculty of color ha become prodigious. In
33
'l'ITE PHH.E
Y TE i
FED
TI
thi case, be will literally r v l in col r . II will b 'Come, if an arti t th gr ate t olot·i t in tl1 world. will literally liv in diff r nt ol 1· ·, bu h will s c nothing I in life that am unt to anything. l1 must n , s arily b impl'actical to su h a <.1 g1·e lhat h will not mak a pra ti al application of his al ility to judg of color , because he will simply b reveling in hi color s hem . Some person may have wonderful pow r but no con eption of the prop t·i ty of tiring , n con ption of harmony and law. 'ro illustrate: There wa a Fr ncb arti t once who was v ry wond rful as an artist but had no cone ption of natm·al law or anythin of th kind. He painted a snow storm one that was the mo t wonder Ttl thing ever s enp rfect, but it did not suit him th re wa · not color nough in it; o he ''" nt to w rk and paint d a gr n 1 t·d er ar tUJd a h nowflak , to make th m b autil'ttl. 'l'h faculti . b c m mi. chicvous, in a way; th y want to a t theix own wa and ar not uided by the judoom nt in any d gree whate r, but a ·t acconlinD' to their own will which i running away with the jnd ment. Ap -r on who is a prodigy in th r alm of beauty or of sublimi y wjlJ. imply r v I in the beauty J: the ublimc or t nific. I will carry J1im away, and b will b all to njoy the. cene and abl to portray them in th mo t wond riul mann r but tb ' fa ulL-y will not be under the control of tb will and judgment. It is for thi r ason that the prodi y is a dreamer and b is almo t my. tical in many re pects. llis faculty become· hi 'tar, his :M:u c, and draws to him tho influ n s. II i al o n ooati in hi relatiou to the tmiver and th force wbi h operate. Th prodiD'ious 1 vclopm n of a facu lty mak one a meJium fot LIJo for s in the univ r . i no longer takin"' the initiativ ; be is no lon<r r doin"' thing but is rather, the channel hrough which 1he Kosmic forces operate. It is in thi way th·Lt it act intu.itivel , :!'or i i intuition in r ality; w p ak of it a b ing immediate igbt or imm dinte cognition of truth as by perception. W u it in pretty much th ·ame ense as we would p r ption in refer nc to fact . W c p rceivc facts with our perspective facuJti s; we perceive truth with our intuition. It comes to us imm diately; we do n r a on 34
THE PRODIGY it ou ; we do not follow any rea oning processe in order to r ach truth; it come to u instantaneou ly, illuminating our on ption. Now, what do we mean by thi statement? W ell, in the first place we mu t understand what r ally take· plac , in our p rc ption of fac . Wh n we see an obje t, the eth ric vibration from that object have, in r ality, pen rated om Aura, awak niug corr sponding vibrations t here which have pa ed to the c nt r of consciou nes , and by rea on of a duplication of tho e vibrations, we become con cions of the object. It is in this way that we perceive objects, that we hea1· sounds and ev rything of that kind. ow, wb n w intnitiv ly perc iv truth that principl , that truth which is operative in natur , t up in om· Buddhic body or ·oul, a wave, a whirl corre pond.ing to it· 1£, ·which, a ting upon the faculty, can e · th r cognition o£ that. We do not r each it inJuctivcly Ly a proc s. of ynth si , n either do we reach it deduc iv ly by a proce s of analysis. It is no r ached by rea oning from data, n ithcr by rea oning f rom fund, m ntal principles, but the principl it l.f is unpres eel upon our con ciousn and it is b canse our facu lty r sponds to that principl , to that law wbi h i operative in nature. We can nev r know anything intuitively when the force is not at that ti.J.ne in a stat of operation. A static force can n v r come to ns intuitiv ly; only a dynamic force . As thi force, however, i operative in natme, following a certain law wh n it acts upon our faculty, it will cause the r cognition, of this principle. ow, a fa ulty mus be very highly d v loped to enable it to r espond to all the activitie of the world without. Remember how v r, that this faculty can r spond only to those a tiviti s in tl1e univer e, those fore which op rate through it and .lor th e operation of which it ha b en volv d. The intuitiv cognition of anything i po sjbl only when it COlT pondin(J" fa ulty bas b en develop d to the point of the prodigious, but wh en this development bas b en reach J, it will naturally respond and thus w becom negatively polarized to that natural fore and become th hannel thr ugh whi h it operate , the medium of it, so to sp ak, and as a p erson develops in this way, that 'orce act so that
35
THE PHRENOGARTEN
Y TEM OF EDUCATION
it sp aks through him without any de ire whatever on his part. It doe not r quire any effort of the will ; in fa t, it would require a d finit ffort to k p from ielding to it, becau it b com a man' nature, and he is pas ive under its influence. Tb mathematical prodigy, th refor , can work any problem in the world, yet he cannot t 11 how be works it; the olution i b yond hi r ach, although he rea he truth without any difficulty in the world; he can solve any probl m no matter how difficult, be cannot tell how he do it. Obviou ly he do not do it. '!'he truth i , the mathematical proce s which are going on in the universe, the great Ko mi harmonic laws which are the ource of, which are back of the outer activities, work through his intuitive faculty an tlm communi ate the olution. e imply s the re ult, not the pro s , because he is not rea oning the matt r out; he is not really making any calcmlation therefore, he is not con cious of any proc e of mental operation. It should be borne in mind that mathematics is Ko mical; it i not imply a human proce , but all nature is re"'ulated along mathemati al line and on equently tho e Ko mic fore s may impre s th m elves upon the faculties, so that the result will be intuitively realized. Other prodigies, such a the mu ical, lik wise re pond to music. ne who play by ear, as Blind Tom, simply catches intuitively the music that has been sent forth by someone el e, while a great mu ical genius like Beethov n or some of those characters, will respond to the music of tl1e pheres and r produc that. We may take up other lines of prodigiou d v lopment, language or beauty, or whatever we may and we can Wlderstand them quite plainly if we will bear in mind that everythin"' manif ting its lf in human faculty is also mani.f ting in the Ko mo . uman faculties are imply the Micro osm of th Ko rnic faculties and thu we develop in our facul ie th op ration which are going on in the Macroco rn. In the ordinary p r on thi i accompli hed dynamically that is to say, he operates his facultie with a definite purpose before him, con utratiug his attention upon c rtain end , and riv s hi faculty along in that way, but in the Prodigy
36
THE
PRODIGY
these faculties act statically. In other words, he is passive in the bands of the Ko mic forces. The ordinary man is a searcher for truth, he i looking into things or lle is doing things, but the Prodigy is an in trument in the hand of the Kosmo , b ing acted upon by the Kosmic forces; he i the channel tlu:ough which hey op rate. It may then be a ked, is it de irablc to be a ProdigyÂĽ From the individuali tic point of view, no; from the Kosmic point of vi w, ye . Individuality disappear in the Prodigy, for he is no longer a man; he is the embodiment of a certain principle ; he is the tool which a certain principle uses, the chann 1 tlu:ough whi h his principle operates. He ha ceased to be a dynamic unit; he has become a static machine; he has b come a cog in the world machine; and so, from the standpoint of th individual, it is not at all desirable, but from the standpoint of the univer al it is very desirable that all men houl i be prodigies becau e they will thus be able to render far mor effectiv ervice to the world and to the Ko mos than they could render under ordinary circumtances. 'Ihe per on who is acted upon by the niversal is capable of accomplishing far more effective work than the per on who is directing his O\VD a tiviti s and o if man can get the consent of his mind to be the s rvant of the univer e it is far b tter that h hould strive to b come the prodigy b cau e be can then pecialize in a high degree this word which com to him from th reat univer al harmony. The highe t development is really found only in tho e who are co:mm.unicating a word from nniver al harmony rather than tho e who are trying to be everything. The Prodigy is d p nd nt upon : irst : a tremendou development of a definite faculty, and he can be prodigious in on faculty, just a well as in any other; Second : upon a high development of the intuitional side of nature, which means a d v lopment of the Buddhic principle; he must also, in the Third place, be n gative; that is, he must repr sent intuition rath r than r eason ; he mu t b brought into the very clos t state of harmony wi h the univer e; in the ourth place, h must have a propensity in the direction 37
THE PHRE
ARTE
Y TEM
EDU
TI
1
of thi faculty, d velop d, o that it ab orb. his n ir b iocr, for it hould be und r tood also that Intuition may cov r a much wid r fi ld than it bas covered in times pa t. While it i true that p rodigie hav in th pa t r pr s nt d but one faculty, yet it is po ibl to d v lop a numb r of facu lties to a very high degree; of course, nothing like as high as one faculty can be dev loped but yet they can b d v lop d o that tb y will act intuitively, but th ir ffi i n y will, of cours , be d cr a d according as more of them ar d v lop d to that point. It i r ally the intention of nature that acb p rson shoul 1 exerci e a dcfinit fa ulty a hi k ynot,; we do not, of course, advocate the oth rs b ing discard d to tl1 plan of mediocrity as th y hav generally b n. very p r on shoulu hav a w 11-rou:nu d d velopm nt, but om fa ulty h uld be :t v loped in a high 'legr c so as to a t intnitiv ly and brin the p r-.·on into dir ct cogni ion of Absolu 'Iruth. The Prodigy i ·, th refore, not node irabl , but v ry c1 simbl the uncle irabl f atur b incr the fact tha in th past he ha b ·n d v loped without any guidance, without any y tern· h has b u an accidental production. He can, ho\¥ever, be dev -loped sy t matically y the Pbr n garten Method. The y t m of ducation neces at·y u:nto the systematic development of Prodige ·, the making of th m to or der, o to speak, mu t d pend lar ely upon tb - d velopm nt of th Intuition. It must aim dir ctly at intuitive development, rath r than the dev lopmen of rca on. It must also cone ntratc its attention upon tb developm nt of Buddhi, or Pur In lligence, rather than upon th find. It mus aim at negativ rather than posit ive activity. It must aim at the recognition of the nivcr a tb gr at fundamental t acher, and the individual a the m dium of that univ r al force. It mu t aim at tb hiqhc t po ·ibl dev lopm nt of a definit faculty, not general evelopment, but th d velopm nt of lhi d fjnite faculty. In hi way we shall b abl to bring about the forces which will give the prodigiou d v lopmcn , whi h will give a faculty tltat will a ·t intuitively and thus lJl·ing th con ciou n into the direct and immediate cognition of truth as well as of fact .
3
LE SON V
Th ba i of modern Jucalion i data. W d not d p nd upon sp culation, upon rea on, but upon p t'c ption. Th inductive m t110d is by the a umulation of data aod th application of thought and tudy to tho e data by mpari on in ord r to their cla sification, the entire m ntal pr ess 1 ing a process of th accumulation and classification of data. o education, whil it is ol' onr e, fundam ntally tb drawing out, the d v lopm nt of our Caculli , yet th 1 arni11cr which we a umulate i th data wbi h w hav , ecur d by the . tncly of th . ut·t·ouncling univ r · . . . our lata is, so willl e our n ·lu ·ions. w· rati nal faeultie may b n v r so ac urat y t if om· p r ·er iv faculties do not opcrat fre ly, if th ey are d f ctiv we ·ball find our con lusions erroneous. Th l'O ar, Lwo pro • Causality traces the r lation of ferenL thing. . Particularly, how v r, i it de vot d t d ductiv r a oniog, to the r asoning D:orn cau: t its legitimate cff t. Thi · is pr - min ntly th logi al J'aculty, but th aus , the principle from which it starts mu t be corr ct. If it i · not, all th cl ductions ,,·ill b in OtT ct and p rf tly !o..,ical thlucti ns will b mad J'rom an iUogi al p1· mi , th refore, conclusion· will b absolutely incorr ct though locri ally p rf ct. 'l'b valu , of the r ason th r fore, dep nd upon th a uracy of the premi · from wh ich we start. The gr at problem, therefor , wbicb it i n cessary for us to consid r in tbe study of ausality is wheth r r not an irnmed iat ognition of principl · is possibl or wb ther we
39
THE PHRE
ro
ARTE
TE1'11
F EDU ATI
have to dev lop our prin iple , our aus through th activity of om· faculty o compar· on. If tb latt r, it all d pends upon the accuracy o our ynth tic m thod. 1\fod rn s i nee gcn rally, claim bat thi i tru , while the an i nt philosopher took the form r po ition. The Organ of ompari on is pre-eminently the rgan of ynthetic Philo opby, the organ emplo r d in thinking or reasoning in one en , from data. The Organ of ompari on ompar data one with anoth r and thus help u to reach con lu. ions chawn from th comparative study of these data. It will b s en from tbi hat no matt r how accurate our compari on may b , how highly develop d tl1e organ may be or how p rf ct its working unle ·s the data which we are tudying b tru , our conclu ion must n c sarily be incorrect. per.£ t b1du tion bas d upon l'l'Oneous data mu t I ad to rron ous prin ipl . All the errors in om· philosophy are th outgrowth of rron ou data. Men take thing for fa ts, which are not fact. 1 and until we have found a m ans of v rifying our facts until we know fact from fancy, we can never have an exact scienc . b1 t nth of our fa ts are ab olutcly untn1 and if we hav to teach the hild nine li in ord r to t a h him one truth, how ar w going to advane ? We gath r a collection of fact', but nin out of t n of th m ar fak . Then we mak an induction from th fact , so-called, l ading up to certain a sum d prin iple -laws of naiur . Th e laws are not true law • but are found to b out of harmony with the ab olute truth of natur . What is he troubl ? ur facts ar not ac urate and why are th y not a curate 1 Why is it tbat we have taken a umptions to b fact ? The great diffi ulty li s in the source from which fact are derived. .All our facts come through perception, eith r our own or some one el ' . A fact is something which can be perceiv d through tbe percep ive facultie . ithout having p rc ived a fact or ornething similar to one, it is utterly impo ible for man to conceive of th natm· of that fact. Logic ' ill never bring us to the re ognition of a fact. t can be perceived only through the perceptive faculties, consequently perception, is ai the foundation of all fact . All our fact being derived
40
OBSER
ATION
from an inductive philosophy working up these data mu t, th refor , follow perception. Th gr a au of rror is, consequen ly, not o mn h an inaccuracy in the pt路ocess of induction a it is in uffici nt data, or inaccmacy in the data whi h w po e and this inac uracy i due to inaccuracy of per ption. Tb p r: c ptiv fa ulti s mu t b develop d must b xcrci d in the mo t accurat manner if w would ecru路c ac urate data a the ba i for indu tion. It is prov rbial that two m n will n v r have the arne opinion about an obj t. thousand m n may see a tiling trau pir an~ a h will d s rib it cliff r nt from the other. Why i it that men diff r in th iJ: d ription of fact ? We are om time made to b li ve that it .is eli ho11 esty in man that mak s him tell a story difl' rent from an told by others but thi i not the right at itud of mind at all. nc man is r latively a honest as another, y t m n differ very materially in th eir d ription of fact . Why i thi ' B can th y hav n t en th em alike. Each one de cribes what he has en. But why do th y not see th obj ct alik 1 ur ly an obj ct do not have a difl' r nt haract r for each p r on, sur ly it has an identi y of it own. 'rhat i tru , but the identity of anything i made up of ils qualiti . The b ing of a fact, tbe sam a that of a man, the b ing of very obj ct, is a bundl of qualiti s and the e qualili manif t them elve in cliff r nt way . One per on part of the qualitie , another sees other . The cliff rent fea m路e of an object or fact ar s n by diff r nt p rsons con cquently, each describe what he sec , but no one of them de cribes the thing in its entir ty. We rcmemb r the story of the blind hinam n who w nt to de crib an el ph ant; one, g tting hold of the 1 ph ant's l imb said be was v ry much like a tree; one getting hold of hi body, feeling along hi ide , thought he wa v ry much lik a wall and one, getting hold of his trunk, thought b was very much like a rope ; o each one o.f them got a differ nt idea of th 1 phant becau e he came into consciou ness of only a certain featm of him. All our inac uracy in ob erva ion is due to tile fact that we are only partial in our observation. W do not s e he thing in its enti.r ty. Wbat w r qui路 is a broader fi ld of ob ervation, 41
TilE PliRENO
RTEN
Y TE 1 OF ED
TIO
tl1e capacity to see more o the details of everything with which we come in contact. Thi · the foundation of Profes or Agas iz' sy t m f education. We find that he kept a young man th:r days looking at a sin.,.le fi b, would not allow him to do anything l . He had to k ep lookinrr at that fi b until h had seen every fca ure of it· unti l it '"a stamped upon his v ry ina, and this is th proper way of investigating all fa t . W must look at an obj ct until we s v ry J"eatur o.f it, •v ry a tribute and thi apacity i. su ptiblc of cultivation. 'rhe pow r to ob erv incr ases with use and b com s atrophi d with n gl ct. The merican Indian is a thou and times uperior to he scicnti t as an obs rv r bccau e his faculty of ob ervation is continually xcrci ed; h look anu s s. 'rhe Hindu i pr -· min ntly sup rior to p opl of West rn nation as an ob crver, in lli capacity to sec thing . It is for thi · rea on that Hindus do not differ in th h opinion anything like as much as peopl of oth r natioualitie , not b cau e of a slavish or s rfish attachm nt to form, but imply because Lb e ee m r of verything that they s , rr t mor of the detail ; their data is mor accnrat and, b ing more accurate th y ome n ar r to agr ing, for ii w could sc all oC what we ob ·crve we would se xa tly th same thing; our data. would be the sam · w wonll not eli a•'T on the facts· th n out· mind would d v -lop th m owe could reach con l u ·ions not,, r , dill rent. In fact, th way in which our mind. have uc n developed has been th r ult of th data wi h which tb y w re d aling. Om· int 11 ual proc lar.,. ly dep nd upon th charact r of th as umcd data we bandl . rature ha provided a p ial organ for th ob rvation and a cumulation of fact . 'l'lll i th rgan of bservaLion, lyin immcdiat ly b twe n the e e ·, and just a li Uc abov - between the brow -like A-tending from tb root of the no · up a hort distance, xtcnding n up; in .fact, to th low r bord r of the rgan of Event uality. 'l'his orgnu i iu two clivi iOJ]S, th lower section of which is devol d to pby ical observation and the upp r s ction to m utal b ·rvati n. 'rJlC c ·tion or phy ical ob ·ervation d •a ls witb physi ·al bj L , the obj ct of the physical world uud wl.J •n highly d v lop d with the A tral world al o. W 42
OBSERVATIO com in contact with tb obj ct of the pby ical and stral world through the activity of this faculty. Th upper portion deals with mental obj cts, m ntal ohscrvation, but this is not to be und r tood a relating to a pro s of intellectual inquiry or an bing of tha kind, from r adinrr books; while it, to a certain ext nt does that, in that it will s in an argument certain points, will r ecognize th details an<.l principles in an argum nt or in a story, will pick on c rtain points rather than tak the whole, y its bighe t function is the going into the Mental Plane, and accumulating fa ts there, which is xaetly on the same principle as the phy i al observation does on the physical plane. This faculty has for its sp ci£e function the gathering of fact and wh n we accumulate our facts through th x r ise of om· ob rvation, if this organ b d v loped so that it will make careful and proper ob ervations, our facts will be accru·ate. Education should consist in the training of the observation and until tllis facul y is developed o that the pupil can see things, can take pains in ob erving, until be i train •d for res arch work, to se thing , he will be utt rly incapable of any real progress along educational lines b cause tho source of all knowledge is fact·, and the channel through which these facts come is obs -rvation. :M:an r quires, ilierefore, to be tauah to s e thing not taught things. He mu t develop the power of seeing thing . This power comes only through the development of his ob ·ervation, with a few other faculties. The Phr nogarten M thod, th refer , r quires teaching the pupil to take pains in his observation. 'fhi painstaking o.bservation to see everythiJJg in an object to get all the details, develops the capacity for such detailed obs rvation. Understand, it is not so mucb in teaching a per on to do thi , as in th ·erci · which his organ g ts in this painstaking ob ervation. It is said by some that genius consists in an infinite capaci y to take pains. In on sen e this is true. Particularly is it true in the genius of p rception. Ther it requires the ability to se everything. Tiowever, in tim , a th faculty :is d veloped i t will no longer be difficult to see things. It will no longer require any pain but will be p rfe tly natural; will be just as 43
T
PHRENO ..ARTEN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION
natural for him to s e erything as it is now natural for him to drift through life withou se ing thing . It is the paying of a tention to ev rytbing that tran pu· around us that (!. v lops the capa ity to ob rve by d v loping this organ by its volume building up its c lis, increasing its fibre vitalizing it, and ev rything of that kind. Exerci e in observing dev lop th capaci y for ob erva ion and exerci c in obs rving a thing in all its details, in ob rving ea h of its £ atur , dev lops that phase of ob ervation so that it becomes natural. We al o d velop a propensity for ob rvation o that w really d light in ob erving v rything. ow we s e in th one who loves b autifnl landscapes, the works of art, etc., a propen ity for ob ervation of thos particular things, but th one who has dev loped ob rvation with suffici nt a ctua y, to a u.fficient d gree, will dev lop a prop n. ity for detailed ob ervation. In time it will com to him like a flash. He will see immediately all th detail of an obj ct and this apa ity for ob ervation of an obj ct in all of its d tails, in the prop nsity going with it, will give th apacity for securing accurate information about the world around him, the apacity fo r curing accurate data a the basis for accurat con lusion . 'rh ·acuity of Obs rvation takes cognjzance of ·hings in a g n ral way. However, ther ar p ific fa ultie that d al with rtaiu attributes singly. For in tance, lying on ilh r side o Obs rvatiou are the orgAlJS of ize, the func1jon of which i to obs rve objects in r lation to their magni ud . 'l'h y do not take notic of anything 1 e, but obs rve tl1 izc an i, wh n uffi i ntly d v loped, be orne accurate in th ir stimation of the br adth of str am , of di tanc and .f th ize of anything either ar at or mall, so our bscrvation shows u th ize o£ anything and the accuracy of our estimnt of iz depend not upon our int llectual d v 1 pm nt, but up n th d v lopm nt of thi particular part f 1h brain. izc, that i , he imation of size, is not an int ll ctual faculty at all, but is one of the p rc ptiv s. L ing on ither ·ide f iz just above the ey . and exl udioa o tL si.,ht of th ~ the organ o.f w ight, and brow n that parti ular part of this r an 1 va s h 44
OBSERV
TIO
the ridg above the ye ju t before we come to the sight. This facul d als with the w ight of obj cts. It enables us to stimate their weight ·w-ithout taking them in our hand · imply looking at them, we can timat th ir weight and it is a d velopment of tlti faculty, not exp rien e in timating, that nables stimators at tockyard to timate the weight of animals. It will al o give the capacity for weighing bjects in the hands and telling by mu cul r contraction, their relativ wei..,.ht. It is the s at of dynamic and al o of tlle lairo-dynamic senses and is not confined to phy ical influences, but xtends to the 1: ntal and Astral Plane a w ll and giv , in a gen ral way, th capaci y for recognizing the dynamic force of everything and he amount of muscular ontraction nece sary to lift an object. It i the cen er o£ con cion ·nc s, in fa t, for weight, and the more highly d veloped it becom s, the more accurate is otu· abili y to estimate the weight of clif[erent objects. But it has another function and that i · the pr scrvation of qnilibrium in the body. It is th development of this facnlty that nables man to maintain bj c nt r of gravity, and without a good development of the fa ulty be will not be able to do it. Men who can stand on hi<'h elevation , who can climb to great heights with impunity, are able to do so because of the great dev lopment of th ir organ of w ight. Their organ of weight gives them the capacity to maintain the unity of their being, as it w ro, again t a shock or anything of that kind. a s of panic that come on people-fright-are very often not du to a lack of coma"' , but to a lack of equilibritun, growing out o£ a weak ned state of the rgan of Weigh. The Organ of Weight also giv s equilibrium of mind, a balanced state of mental powers and of the character and everything of that kind; in fact, it is the eat of equilibrium on whatever plane we wish to deal. It is the seat of poi . No p r on · well poised without a good organ of w i..,.bt. Rem mber the law of evolution that everything develops by usage; consequently, the way to develop your faculty ight i by exerci ing, by pr erving a stat of pois and of quilibrium, by end avoring o the b st of your ability to 45
Til • PHREN
ARTEN
Y TEM
F EDU A'riO
maintain the attitude of balance; by also taking physical c:xcr i es which make it difficult to maintain the c nt r of gravity. ogi practices, where one ha · gr at lifficulty in doing this ar f in timable valu . The x rcis s of the pinning D rvi he arc xcell nt; in fa t, there i nothing equal to th dau ing of some of th D rvi h , wh r b y describ the rotation of the planets and each r valves on his own c nter o.f gravity and then r volv s around th 'h k a tb same time. Ther i gr a value in any e:xercis that mak it difficult to maintain th ent r of gravity. Experim nts in investigating w ight in testing th w igh of obj cts by holding them in tbe hand or anythizw of t hat kind, trying to guess at what tl1in"'s w ic:rb, ar all ad\7 antageons. Ian dev lops this fa ulty, not by tudy but by u , th amc as h lo s all th o h r faculti ; th r fore, l t him b ar in mind that only in proportion as h us s his fa ulti c will h d v lop tb m and tbu b ducated and a man without a w 11-dev lop d rgan of bs rvation, iz and W eig ht will JJ vcr mnk orr ct observations. H knows ab olut ly nothing of th ph nom nal world; his data will b distort d; h will be lik a bliDd man d scribillg anything .for b is blind ill a c rtain n. e. rot only i b blind but deaf and v rytbing 1' . Th sens s can s rve us only as th ' Y bring to cliff rent faculti · the impre sions o.f xterna1 bjects and the . tcrnal objects as tb y impr s lltem •lves upon tb se fa nHi es, b come facts. o fact are simply th impr ions whi h we hav receiv d cone rnillg th obj cts ext rnal to u and th y are, tber fore, just as accurate a. our ob rvation. 'rh ba i · oi all learning is, therefor , a development of tb facultie of Observation ize and Weight.
46
LE SON VI
PER EPTIO
OFF
RM
On of the mo t important el ments in ducation i a orrect knowl dge of form. Object of a phy i al character may be de •ribed as the attribut s of size, weight, color, form and a f w other mi110r d tails. In fact, there are quite a number of other qualiti . , but th s ar the most promin nt qualiti s w m wi h in the physical obje ·ts with whicll we orne in contact. Ob. rvation tak cognizance of the g neral qualitie , but th more promin nt qualities hav the special organs of weight, s.iz olor and form to take notice of th m. .A was bown in our la. t l on, ·haract r thinking is depend nt upon chara ter observation for our thought are the r ult of tbe id a w g t of things. Physically peaking, w think in accordanc with the id as \Y form of the phy i al world about us. 'l'hat whi h we conceive of tho ph i al world i the r sult of th impr ·sion we hav gained of th pbysi al world through th physical son~ . Th re is no tl'Utll of gr ater importance than thi . All w know of til phy ·i al 'Yorld we know by perc ption throuah th physi •al s ns s, th organs of perception, and wh n an impl·c;si n ha been made through th p •r ·cptive [acul ies upon tb , con iousn s. , r ulting in co1'I' sponding thought, we • 111 into a r alization of the world without, correspond.in L 1bat impr si n. It will logically follow that if our irnprcs 'i n b in omplet , all our thinking in reference to ul r worlcJ will b • con sp ndingly iucomplet>. W lhat a bliu man's cone •ptiou of thing i much IHl m by J' usou of hi inability to p r iv them, in l'a L. • n ptiou is fonnd t b v ry lo ly allied to percep -
47
TilE PHRE OGARTEN SYSTEM OF EDUC TION tion. on s p rception is o will his con eption be. The horizon of our knowledge i , therefore, limited to a great d gree by the horizon of our p rception. e can n ver xpect to form correct opinions of the world of form without co1-r ct id as of form and we do not have those corr ct id a of form unless we have corre t perception of form. It is highly important that mankind hould realize that in xact proportion it s e form, will it view of form be. We may have the best proce of reasoning imaginable, but w can never by an intellectual proc solve a orr ct conception of form unl s we have een form correctly. Until we hav attain d unto the idea of form through p rception, we can have no conception of that form. Thi is xemplified in the p culiar figur that ha e b en made by artists from time to time when trying to paint som thing that no on had ever s en-an imaginary being monster , gods, d il etc., what v r they may be. The most grote que is found to b but a ombination of a numb r of tho e forms which the arti t ha en and is familiar with. Tie can n ver by hi imagination build up a n w form ; it is simply a combination of other forms with which b i familiar. It, therefore, follows bat one can never arrive at a conception of form, whi h i not the re ult of a perception. All forms, th refor , that are imagined, exist. Man does not form any imagination of them until he has perceived the already existing form. n 's education must, therefore, b gin by correct perception of form, and the Organ of Form, lying b tween th yes and back of the root of the no e, manife ting it elf, th r fore, in the prominence of the no e immediat ly between th y , ha for its fun tion the perception of form, and a it b com s dev loped, it gives the capacity for a more de1ail d ob ervan e of form. 'rhe differ nee b v en a person with a well-developed facuJty of form and one who faculty is but sEghtly dev lop d is a diff renee in detail of ob ervation. '!'here are in v ry organi m 'i ith which we come in contact tl10usand o{ diff r J,1- ¡orm . V ry few of tbo e are ob erved, ordinarily p aking. Jothing like one-tenth of tb m are ever bs rv d. W simply kip over tbo e p culiarite of form and th u fail to take no tic of th m. The more highly de4
PER
EPTI
F
M
v lop d tbe faculty of form i , th more pow r.fnl will b our capacity f r taking notic of tho form . Not only do tb faculty giv apacity fo1· ob rving form, but like· wise a propensity for noticing form. 'rhe prop 1l ity au e us to be interested in :form, to take plea ure in ob erving all the angl s, the lin s, everything that manif t it I.E affu·matively, and th capacity which i found to accompany the d velopm nt of the prop n ity giv to u th ability to satisfy tha prop nsity. Tbe ability to b erv form and the propen ity to xcrcise thi , ar e thus foun ~ to xactly coincide with the d •gr e of d velopm nt in this fa ulty. Inasmuch a our conception of Corm mu t be th result of our p erc ption of form and inasmuch as otu· p r p1ion of form must be proportion d to th dcv lopm nt and activity iz and fitn s of our of our faculty and this upon tl1 organ of form, it follows that the d gr of dev lopment presented in this faculty will exactly r ulatc the d gree of accuracy and compl tene of onr conception of form. Our education mn t begin, th r for , with th cultivation, the prop r raining of our organ of Form. It mw t be taught to obs rve ~ orm. It mu t ha.ve thi capacity and al o his prop nsity. A par of th ducation of every pupil should, therefor , be the dev lopment of his Faculty of Form. It iJ far more important than grammar or arithmetic, or quilting or· dre smaking, or anything of thaL kind for th pupil in public school that they should 1J taught to observe Form. The pupil sl10uld be given instruction in a ural Hi tory-that is, he should not be giv n any instruction at all but should b r quir d to give in truction to the teacher. He should be required to tak in ect , bugs, and parts of flo'v r , l av and v rything of th kin l and not di ct th m, to see what tb y are mad of, what is inside of th m, look at them and d serib ev ry f ature of what he e . H e sboull be rcquir l to de crihe th e shape of the f eathers of the birds or petals o the flowers the shape of the leaves and if there b any pcculiari y i.n th leaf or petal, in th feathers of the bird or anything of th kind-th l a t p culiarity of form houJd he notic d. In fact, it would be advi able to introduc the 1 ment of a omp titiv examination into th our e; that i , o:ff r 49
THE PIIRE OGARTE
Y 'l'E '1 OF EDU A 'I IO
special inducements for the pupil o find out a mu b about th form a po ible and mak a b point ount on . 'J'hu , by having th 1 upil ontinually looking for those 1 cnli ariti s of f orm, continually fixing th i~· aitenti n np 11 U1 m, in tim they will dev lop th apacity to ce them. Thi looking for peculiarities will stimulate the propCllsi y for discoveriug pcculiaritie of for·m and as th pupil ·i employ d in thiJ way in ob erving fo nn, he "ill d v lop hi· faculties. Al o, in drawing, litU a tention should be paid to olor to rri ety of lin s or anything of that kind but the Form sl1ould be the all-important point. Any Cl viation from corr ct form honld be critici1.ed ' verely. ro toleration should be given to a blund r of this kind, hut n th ontrary th pupil :bould b r eq11ir d to mak t he .form exa t. By uoiug this, capacity for takiug noti e of accmaci a.ud inaccuracie of form will be dev lop d. Lik: wi. e tl1 e teacher bm.1l i not riti .ize th e, but hould make the pupils criticize th form djscoverin the error if po ible and the one who can s any mor than tb oth r pupils h uld take tum in crili •izing o a th ina curacies in tb form. y so d ing the pupil ' ill x r i e th u· di criminative p w r in r f r- n to F rm. It mu t b always born in mind that v lution i by n e. We d V ] p a fa ·uJty in CXa proportion flS ·w X rei ' it and we develop this capacity for the pecilic things J:or which it is xer is d . For in tanc , a per on ma,y a quire a p rfect geniu for b r inrr 1raigh lin , but have n apacity o ·p ak of, for any otlt r form. 'l'he tndy of 0' om tJ·y will b found of gr at valn iu th d vel pmcn of f rm particularly if it b lucli d mainly by diagrams rather than by th or ·ti •a l instru tion , and as a matter of fact, a om 'try ·honld be taught in v ry nbli · cbool. In fact, it hould b taught in the kiuJergal't n in a imple f rm o tbat i can b und r tood, but yet th principl should gradually d v lop<~ d us th upil g t · abl to und l'staud more and mol'e. 'l'he teaching Lould have r feren ' to th cxcrci c of th faculti s; in fact, the pupiJ should not be taught an_y thing, hut hould simply be induced to u bis rgaos an Ums b' t a vi ''' of natur as it is;
50
PERCEPTIO
OF
FORM
learn to p r ecjve th orm of everything even though it be tb most minut d tail or there is nothing too subtile to be ob rved in ord r o develop this faculty . Wh n we realize that th. re i · nothing forml s in tb uuiv r , that the whole Kosmo. i built up of the g ome rlcal :figures formed by vibration, that all the universe i but th geomctri al xpres ion of motion, tba physics manif st itself throucrh eom ry, we can th n realize bow important it is that w should have a correct perception of form because ther i no such thing a an ab olutely formle . object. Ev rything in the univ r c is formed. The only ac urat way o assaying min ral is by xamining the form o the crystal and the only p erf ctly accmate ~· ay of conducting cb mical analysi i by xamination of the form in the rystal, the mol!:!cule,-whatever it may be, and when we have lear1Pd to use a sufficient dcgr of accuracy iu tb examination of tho c things we will redu e them to an exact scien , and not until t hen. Other experim nts are doubtful, but the ob ervation of tLc geom trical fignr pre nted in he cry tals i alway p r.f t. 'l'h l'efor , th e child should be taught f rom infancy, to observe form, so taught as Lo develop a propen ity for obscr>ring all the p culiarities in form, a prop ensity o tl·ong U1at it will be perf ctly natu1·a l for him to look for those peculiaritie , so that h will really revel in the per ption and ont mplation of form, and wb n we have succe d d in brincring him to Lbat point w will have given him a p erfect mental appreciation of form as it manife ts brou"'h nature. In order to the attairun nt of u h a uracy, the Organ of I< orm mu ·t be exerci ed in he highest po ible manner for year . By uch e , rcise for a period of time one may a quir a talent for observing form ancl by till gr ater x 1': tion, one may in time dev lop thi into a. geniu for form . If it go on long enough h wm be able to d velop his g niu of form o th pl'odigiou point so that l1 e will b om a p rf ct prodigy f or form. In time th' fa ulty g ts o a ting intuitively so that withou any ffort of th will on e ob erves t h form of v 1·ything that pr •n s its lf b fore him. Thus bis enius for Form becomes self-ac iug, and when w Tealize that all we shall ever know of orm must b the result of
51
'I'III•J Pill ill
TEM
l
l
ED
ATI
T
n iou n Ian · wl1 n on attains to f ntal on ciou ne s it will obs rv fo ·ms on th M ntal Plan and thu it i of gr at value for lh · p rc pti n of all tho ·e matter which are not of a
s iritual or Buddbic character. Our conception of forms n th high r planes of nature must, therefor , d p nd quite ns mu h upon our per eption of uch forms a does our one ption of Phy ical • orm depend upon our p rc ption of the same. Th cultivation of the faculty of Form will, therefore, r gulat th ext nt of our 1 ere ption and, th refor , our con eption of form. ur lrnowledg of all t hing must, th r fore, b dependent upon the d gr e of th d v lopment of thi faculty and this faculty can b d v loped only by - r ise unless it b by the application of magneti m to that organ or by th u of music vibration. That may help to d v lop it, but a tivity of th faculty i th only m au unto j · t1 v lopm nt; th r for , dncation in th lin of Form must n ver be by tea hing the pupil thing about form. docs not need to know one thing about corr ctn of form . What he must have i xerci e .for hi faculty, so th<tt h , him lf, will obs r form Ol'l' tly. Th n his kno' 1 dge of form will be a curate, not otherwis .
52
LESSON VII
C LOR Th ability to differentiate differ nt color , shad s and tints i the out rowth of a d v lopmen in he faculty of olor in the mind and tb Phrene rgan of olor in the brain, thi organ being locat ju t above th white of the ey , out ide from the sight being the or <m lying on either sid of tb head ou ward from w ight and a. it d v lop , caus th l vation of th y brow in that parti ular part whi h is ou ward from th sight of the ye. It al o ives prominence to the ridge above he ye at that particular pojnt. In order to ob rve properly to fo rm an acquaintance wi h the worl ~ without, it i very nee ary that we should take notice of the color of things as w ll a their form. This facul y ha b n provided for the purpo e of endowing man with a capacity for color ob rvation ; likewi , with a propensity for ob erving olor, and in exa t proportion as this organ i develop d o will bi propensity for ob erving color be. olor blindn s , on the other hand, is du to an undevelop d condition of thi faculty. There are pl nty of m n o color blind that th y cannot tell th diff r enee betw en blue an green; to them tho e colors appear to be the arne h de, the same color all the way tlll'ough. Other have it so highly develop ¡ d that they can not only distinouish all the olor , but ven the different shades and tints. It should b und r tood that as thi organ i dev loped, the apacity for diff r ntiatiog b tween th dill r nt hades incr a es; lik wise, the propensity for uch notice in rea s. On with a hiohly d ~~ l op d organ of color will be very much displ as d at a sam n s of olor. He will insist upon 53
THE PHREr
G.ARTE
TEM
F EDU
TION
a blendi11 of a JJWllb r of different hade and tint , a color scheme involving quit a nUlllb r of diff rent colors, while on with a low velopm n of thi faculty will be ati fied ffi th only a £ w olor or even one. great deal of non ense about implicity in regard to color, about w aring garment o.f' a somb r color and avoiding vanity in this way i ~u to a form oE color blindne . Undoubtedly the old Puritan had th wor t case of color blindnes in th world with the exc ption of th ranee can i ria1 . It i th design of nature that man hould hav a highly dev lop d facult of color· that he should be able to di tingui h b t'l en differ nt color . implicity wh n it come to olor, i not right, for th rea on that it dwarf the faculLJ'. Th education of th mind l1oul be in diff rentiation and in rea in,. the rang f apacity by m an of continually calling out the activity of the faculty in a many ways a po sible. iffer ntiation i th tr nd of evolution; i th trend of advancement, and it is in exact proportion a the power is cliff rentiat d that it r ally grows. <or thi r a on the tud nt b 11ld ulti at th capaci y o cliff r entiat be ;ve n the cliff r nt had m1d tint , and, by x rcising thi apacity, he will d v lop it, he will tr ngthen it and he will al o dev lop a prop n ity for rev ling in differ nt colors. It is advi able in the edu ation of people that their faculty of color be e er ised in diff rentiatuJ..,. b tw en h s different shade . If people woulu Jearn th · importance of thi principl and provi l th pupil with an environment u,.g tive o.f' varietic of color they would thu h lp to call it ut. For in tanc , thi impli ity of dr o fm· as color i concerned, bout be don away wjth. P oplc should cea e dr ing in th form h y do, and hav at 1 ast, two or tbTee dozen differen olor in their co turn . 'l'he differ nt garm nt for different occaions, houlu be made o.f' dill r nt olor and hades or tint o as to con inually pr . nt to th ye a variation of olor. Lik w:i p r on houJd have tb ir garmm t symbolic in o that in a rowd of per on there would be some two or tbr e hundred differ nt color. of garments, tht1 pr scntiug a very omplicated color scheme to lhe eye. In till way w would b compelled to take notice of the
54
LO dill 1· nt olot·s and would, on qucntly, clcv lop thi faculty . In U1 fa ·bion f dr·e s worn n have b en much more ane than m ' U in this r 1 ·t. 'l'h man when he dl'e , goe out in a nit of black cloth · his linen i white· th refor , he present but two color . Woman in . king cliff l' nt color and pr . rvin(Y mor indivi<luality in the olor of the garm .nt hrlp to d v lop th' s n e or color. Again, the Latin ra are far mor· sane in thi r . p ct than th English and Am ri ·an women r . ortincr to a gr a cr vari ty of olor. Al o, th re sl10uld be as many differ nt color s as possible in the rngs carp t and pap r on Lbe walls in t he curtains and ev rything of that kind; sere n paint d with cliff r nt d igu in a many olo1· a po ibl b -d pread , ofa pill w and verything of that !rind arrang d in cliff r nt col rs · cliff r n olored flow r ; vcrything in fa , pre e11ting a vari ty of olor to the e, will h lp to in n c obs rvation of th sc differen color , a di tin ·ti n which will help to d vclop the apacity for u b distin lion and also lh pr p n ity. Jn thi way th pupil will dev l 1 hi fa ulty and thus th ability to di tingui b a ontinually in r a ing number o diver had and tints will grow upon him. But, i t is not imply the capacity to du tingui h th different olor that is important. A hao of color is of little value. In order to obtain the be t re ult , U1e n of color should be a Ko mo r th r than a chaos; that i , h pupil honld 1 arn to a ·o iate colors in the prop r ord r . H boold 1 arn to lev lop a sy tematic olor ch me, to blend th different c lor ' had s tint so as to pre ent a pleasing, harmonioo Ko mic view to the eye and this can be d v lop d only by practi e, by a ociatinrr the dUierent colors and al o by d v loping a ta te for such arrang ment; th 1' for , tbe pupil should be smrouud d by uch ta 'tcful, harm niou o mi • color blendings. The ri ntal patt rn ar v ry d sirable for such in tructiou, as th y do not pr ent di tinct color lines, but, n the contrat·y, all th color. al'e bl n ing harmoniou ly, one running iuto anoth r o that it becom pra tically impos ible to distinguish on from the other. Again th pattern in riental rugs b r ucb olor and a b. figur b come a part of the general ch me, no
anu
55
'rEM
'fHE PHRE 0 ARTE
i
E
T[QN
di tin t figur b ing pr s nt d as in the .Amel'ican pattern , but rather a va t number o.f small figure bl nding to form an harmonious re ult, b lp tb ye to ob erv harmony or color; th p rfect blending, so that no bing a.pp ar striking; tb gr at t diff r ntiation i r du cd to implicity. This i th pr p r fi 1<1 for educating th facul y of color. In this way it b com s Kosmic rath r than chaotic-b comes harmonious. The olorist is thus d v loped, ani all the edu ation in the world will never t ach au arti t to be a colorist, U11til h ba acquit· c1 the capa ity both for ob rving au infini numb r of djff r nt tinl and al o of harmonion ly bl ncl ing th e cl i vel' e lint ' in uch a way a to produce an harmoniou r ult. Th gr a est ma. 't rs of color in the world ar th Indian quaw . 'l'h r is no colorist in the world who i anything to ompar with th quaw , wh n it come to diff r n iating differ n colors and to al o harmoniou ly bl nding th m. If you want to se the gr at t ma t rpieces of color-bl nding in tb world, look at an Indian ba kct; n ·t to that, an Indian blanket. It i by he practice in tudyina, in looking for ign and th n bringin"' th m out in his way, that the InP.ian wom n have dev ·loped their wond rful sen · of olor. Also from g n ration to g neration th y bav band d till fa ulty down, o that both men and wom n have d v lop d this wond rful olor in tinct, whjcb i again c1 v lop d by th study and contemplation of the differ nt tint d 1 av s and flow r , tb tints of the 'U11Set, the full moou and all those seen s. In th sam way man mu t dev lop his color .faculty in any environment. He must be provid d with an environm nt that will call out the x rei e of this faculty, for only by xerci ing the faculty will b develop it. Th r are tbu , two directions for development· one in dirt' rentiati n, in ob rving as great a variety of color a po ibl , in taking notice of th div rse tints, hade , tc., paratel and di tin ui hing b twe n th ro; and, cond, in brin ina about a tat of order, of harmony, a bl uding, a Ko. rnical arra.ng ment o th color so that it i on harm nious r ult, not a hao but a osmos. Thi capacity will d pend larg ly on tb a tivity of the faculty of order
56
OLOR in conjunction with color. ow v r, on mus learn to bring ord r into bjs olor observation, to always look for harmony, ord dy arrang ment an.d Ko. mo , and if h dev lop thi apa ity h will, in time, volv a propcn ity for ord rl arrang m nt of olor harmoniou olor bl ndinc.r that will make any antagonism ab olutely painful· tha will cause disorganized, inharmoniou states of color to cause him great u1f ring, to ,iat· on hi nerv but by d lopiurr a prop n ity of bi kind, of our. , b will! ok for harmony verywher . 'l'hu b will d v lop tl1i asp t of the ol ri. t dili r nt a h grow. 1.1p in that atmospher · 11 obs r tints look for them tak s noti c of all the liff r nt shade and tints in color . He will in time d v lop a prop ru;ity for ob rving tho e thing , looking for th olor . 'l'h r ult will be th e tw prop ns iti \\rill work side by id , and d velop the pupil into a colori t of th high t ord r. Wha we should realize is this: the olorists of the world are not accid nts; th y ar the produ t of law and v ry colori t in th world ha had the facult o.f olor d velop d along the lin s indicated in this 1 on although it was not carried out s t matically tber was no att mpt mad to dev lop in thi way. 'fhe law operated in a kiJJd of accid n al manner; nev rth 1 his apacity a a colo1·i t and hi propensity for olor observation were develop d along these lin s and by th operation of th, laws and th d gr of bjs apacity as a colorist is absolutely dep nd nt upon the degre of such development, such cultivation· ons qn ntly, by applyin these law , any one may be d v loped into a gt· at olorist. iv n a child, absolutely color blind so that h cannot di tingui b th differen b tw n blue and gr n, and pla him for twenty y ars in an nvironmcnt s1.1 h a.· i her sugg ted, giv him ·ucb x r i s as we here iudicat , to all out his xpr s ·ion f color to mak him tak notice of all these thing , a k him qu · ti ns about the diff r nt colors have him indicate th various ·olor op ration and manifestation. , have him poin out the differ n olor in a color scheme, offer a prize to th pupil who a complish the mo t in thi way, so as to indue bim to look for tb m, r ort to anything that will h lp in bringing out this color ob rvation making him ob erv color, also teach him draw-
57
T
PIIRENO
TE
TEM 0:& EDUC TIO
ing wit h color d •rayon, painting in oil and wat r color , etc. and have him :follow out his inclination ab n the colors that l1 will u , out encomag him in introuu ing a many ·olor as po ibl , lik wis , in g •tting up the mo harmonious color heme p ibl . In olb r wor ls make the instruction consi t lar•$ ly of h pra tice of na ure paintin on he p art o.E the pupil it being a good idea also to have xhibitions and have the d iffcrent pictmc xhibi d; ba\ him also paint chlna, d orate gla and ev rything of that kind, in diff r ut olors; ev ry m an , in fact, calculat d to indu rivalry in arranging the differ nt olor ·hom , to timulate th high . t ori<>'inality and the mo t str nnous c.Efort to xc l, to r ach b yond him elf. Follow out the dire tion , and in twenty year from the time . ou begin with tb hildren who w re o olor blind that th y · uld no t 11 he difference b tw n blue and gr en, we will guarantee you will have a la. not one of whom will .fail to be far snpctior to th great st colorist living 1.1pon the earth at lhe pr ent time for th pra ti are exa tly the ones that hav h n employ d in d v •lopiJJ"' every colorist :in the world. Yon will not only produce a gr at olori t, but ou will likewise ev l p a great artist in oth r respect , lf you dev lop the organ o.f form, imitation and ideality in conjunction with bjs olor. By mplo ·incr th e principl you can d v lop he fa ulty of olor to the high st point of ffici ncy. In fact, tLDtil it becomes a tal ut, in tinw becomes his genius, so that he will become an abso1u e genius in color, and in tinJe h can d v lop in o a prodigy of olor i.f you wi h to do thi . gain you may ha ten the dev lopment or th facnlty y th application f 1\iarrneti m to tbi part .f t h brain, the am as you give a trcatm nt in h aHng, or anything, so a to awaken its activit. . llypnotism may al so b r orted to, and ogg t i u may b u ed to can e a ULT nt C .f r e to flow into bat part of tb brain. How ver, w lo not r ·omm •nd 1h u e of hypnoti m. nything, how ver that will cau nctivity of that faculty will hlp t o d -v lop i t. v I pm nt, bow v r mu t be in th two rure tion incli en t c1 l1 rc that is, diver ity o.f ob rvatiou and harmony association. 5
OLOR Again the more scnsi ive and fine the facul y bccom s, the £ner, more delicate will be the tint capable of b ing observed through it. Lik ,vj e, if you dev lop the stral Body in connection wi h this facul y, you will b n find tba it will give th pupil th capacity fo r bsen,ing tral a w ll a Phy ical colors, and by dev loping the Mental Body with it t he capacity for ol cning mental olors will also accompany it. When the Buddhic and Spil¡itual principles are developed, color on those planes may b observ d also; in fact, there i no limit to the ex ent of th prop n ity and capaci y for color observation and a o ¡iation, if th i dev 1opment i properly conducted. It is limited only by the undev loped condition of the faculty. is the dev lopment of this faculty so will be the range of one's color perception ; lil>ewi e, th order, harmony and taste maniies cd in reference to olor combination, color schemes, etc.
59
LES 0 L
III
ALITY
In order to acquire in ormation it is n c sary that one should ob crv localiti s; that h bould find ou matters whi ch in tb ' ordinary com of thing will b rather obscme. For this purpo there has been d v lop d tb Faculty of Locality, having two functions fit· t, to locat and se ond to xplore. In tb fir t ftmction there is a propensity to carch out localiti to la ify matt rs in relation to th plac wb re lh y o cur; lik wis , to a sociat v r thing in r lation to ome pot, to om lo ality, to gi a geographical cla ification of all ma t r . Thi propcn ity can e a man to search out and a ociate definit localities wi h all happ ning . Wer i not for uch a propensity he would never think of anything with refercn to locality; it would always b in b i. consciou n s g n rally, not locally cla ificd. 'I his propensity, of cour e, prompts him to ob. erv matters locally on quently, r ulting in the exerci e of the facul y for locn1jug. As h s arch s out localiti s, he d velops the fa ulty .for ob · rvi.ng th m taking notic of h m. IT has, tb r fore, growing in him the powel' to ob erv lo ali i , to as.o int all v uts, all object , t , with ome definit piRc . 'fbus w ltav th l ocalizing fa ulty ro' ing in onjunction with th lo aliziug propensity. s tbi prop nsity prompts man t look f r localiti , to try to localize e erytllin , h ac umulat data in reference t location. Jo p r on an have a devcl pcd mind, cau b du at d who bas n t develop cl thi pt·in iple, b cau e he may hav all lh fa ts imuginabl a hi i i posal, h may be in po sion '( a ast fi ld of g n ral r 1di ion, bu i.f h is not in a posi-
60
THE PHRE
G
TE
Y TEM
.• ED
ATI
tion to localir. u h Lm wled" to plac . it wh r it b l ugs to classify it in r elation to place, h will be quite d fective in hl arrang m nt of fact . .A:ny adequate information must, ther fore, be largely d p nd nt upon the dcv lopment of this propensity and faculty. As all happenings ar rela d to time and place, it i very neces ary that we should know th tim an 1 place of v ry occurrence, in ord r to have i prop rly relat d o th Ko roo , tl1at i , our own Ko roo and without u •h r •lation hip our min s will b but chaos. Th only way to prop rly acquire such knowledg i by dev loping th faculty and its prop •n:ity and a the propen ity grow , th incentive for taking note of th 1 ation of everything will grow. It i the work of any prop n. ity to indue us to u th fa ulty and a volution i by u , thi dev lops th faculty. Th only sound way of du atiug one in r lation to locality is, th r .for to indu e him to locate things and to look for them, to search for thing in c rtain pla e , to try to ucce d in localizing, to find v rythi11g aud to know its plac . It i advisable that the pupil should b taught to put v rything in ad finit lac to alway lmow just wher it i . In this way he '''ill be trained to alwa sa so iat verythiog with a d fi.nit loca lity <md if h alwa s finds that particular object in its proper place so that he will know exactly whcr to find it, it will h lp greatly in developing his localizing faculty, and the con ponding propensity. In d cribing any obj ect its locality hould always be giv n. On hould nev r try to relieve the mind of the localizing of an object b marking its place, or anything of that kind. A bookmark should never be mploy d. On should fix in his mind the r lation of each plac and each object to oth r things, for location is alway r lation. Ke ping thi relation fixed in mind, he should d p nd upon it, ab olutely. One should try to locat various buildings, in a block, th cliff r nt room in a building, diff rent blocks in a city. e should have the r elation o:f the different streets as ociated in his mind, should, in a word, as ociate all the information he may ecur , with locality. Nothing bould be chaotic; it should all b mapped out. In this way, as we
6
T
t
PHRENOGARTEN S
TEM OF EDU ATION
map out tlw information we secme, as we put everything in i place and associat it in thi way, we will volve our informaLioll i tlo a Kosn:to instead of a hao . At th same tirue we will b d veJoping a prop n ity for tha kind of m ntal activity, likewi a fa ulty capable of almo t infinite la iii ation along th lin s. Auything that gi' e xerci to thi part of th brain develops it, but the more ubtile it xerci e i , the more subtile will be its pow r of activity; that is to ay, locating larg object·, immen builliug , tc., exercising our l ality only in ref r enee to thing on a large cale will uev lop the propensity and the faculty o that w will be able to locate ev rythino- that 'vay wiLh ea e, but the tiny object will not be so associated. In order to acquir the power to classify small obj ct in relation to tb ir locality, 've mu t ex rcise our localit upon such minute obj cts for as is the ·erci e so will b the d vel pment both of the fa ulty and the prop nsity. s we d velop our lo ality w r a h th point wher it becomes p r:fectly natural for us t o associate everything we see or hear with some place and to fix its p lace d finitely in om memor , ther will b no dif'fi ulty .for us to :find it again. e will have no trouble discovering the locality where we have a ociated verything. But with thi faculty alone, th · i no tendency to search out thing· that we do not know anything about, ncith r i · there faculty to carry out that tendency. W imply l ocate v rything w do , ev r yth.i.n.., with wb.i h w come in contact, but the s ar hing, f rreting out ten 'l ncy i not pre ent. 'l'h oth r faculty, E:11:pl ration, provides this faculty and it corres onding prop nsi a propen ity o explor , to s arch out to bunt for thing whi h we hav not y t di cover d. H we a urn int llectually the cxi tence of som thing v n if we a sume it only a being po ibl , th re grow up imm diat ly in u a trong d sir to find that. I tb re i Elllything that w a· ept a. ing xi: t nt, y t do not know wh r it i · particu larl y if no on 1 know it ::met lo aliou, w ar not satisfied until we hav lo a1izcd it. IIere there is a distinct propensity for the localization of that ' hi ·h w hav not found and hat which ex.i ·ts for us only in a · rtain s us . We u giu, therefor , to search out tho e ob-
62
LOCALITY j cts, begin to explore and ee \Vhat we can find. If tl1e xi tenc be ace pted only in a gen e1·al way, if we do not really !mow anylbillg auout it, we wan o fiud out what we can find t here. b gin to s ar ·h, to look and a we giv way to thi prop n ity, it outinually gaiJJ tr ngth driving u on, so that we k ·ep · arching keep looking and making di cov ri s l ating objects. Locality is thus driven by tb ·ploring prop n ity 1 and thi exp loring propensity , a it grow develops h capacity or finding thing:, fo r ear hing out and making di coveries. Thus we ar ontinually adiling to our tor of information. Our Ob ervation and ur g n ral percep tive faculties are dl'iv n on by these faculti es, to making new di coverie and locating them. Thn it may b aid tha our fa t 1 a we accumulat them are larg ly d p nd •nt upon th ex rei e of our . ploring propen ity, becau e our pr eptiv m r ly ob et"ve tho thing with which w me in ontact. nr location a ·oiat s them with lo ality, but it is our exploring propensity hat makes us look for things. Without this, w imply oberve tho e thi11gs that om om· way but with om exploring prop n ity we IYO and arch them out; go out of th way to find them. Tim no p r on will v r amolm to very much in th line of orioinal r ar h a an ob rv rand di ov r er of anything unl s his exploring propensity .is stron..,.ly dev lop d, unl s it i active, and in proportion to i strength will 1Jj succ ·s in the lin of di covery b . Ho\~ is tbi · t o be i velop d ¥ By ex rei e, h . arne a all the other acultic . w·io ity in r fer nc to locality is tbe stimulu of the E~-pl rinO' Prop n ity. Wh enever one is curious to 1m w what i in a certain place and giv · way t hi curio ity and goes tlt rc to se 1 he i xcr i ing this propensity of Exploration; in fact, all urio ity is the activity of the Explo1·ing Prop n. ity. Child1· n ar naturally curion , anu th h· curiosity i. not a vic , but mer ly the activity f their EXJ)loring Propen ity. In ·tead of th ir cmiosity b ing uppr s d it shoul l be stimulate!] to the high st po ible c1 gr . If pa1· nt and tea h rs wil l ncourag an stimulat the uriosi y of lh pupil or child, as much as pos-
63
THE PITRE
AR'l'E
Y TEM
FED
TI
sible en om·age him to look out, to explor and find thin!!S, en ourage this t ndency in every conceivabl mann r th y will find that wonderful re ults ~ ill be ac omplished, and no tru u ·ation is po ibl wi bout th i · prop n ity. In proportion, ther fore, a th child i uriou about finding thing· about knowin what i in a certain pla , about earching out and exploring, so i h x re1smg a faculty and propensity that nature intended him to hav ; and it bould e fm·ther noted that be i exerci ing th very prop n ity and faculty that ha made ev ry succe ful · xplorer in the world. It i not a base or childi h prop n ity, this urio ity, it is really the spur that lead o.n to all ci ntific di covery, all a tainment along the e lines and hould, th refore, be encouraged in ev ry onceivable way. y stimulating curiosity and directing it toward di covery, xploration, the s arching for what may b in a certain place, we will b able o d v lop in b child that prop n ity and faculty wh.i h will nabl hitu n: ore than anything 1 e, to accumulat data, to a h r information. Edu ation docs not con i t in t a Iring th pupil anything, but in d veloping in him the capa ity to acquire knowl dge, and his depends mor upon hi Exploration and Locality than perhaps anything else.
64
LE
0
IX
HI 'TOR Having a c rtained those faculti s whi h are naturally emplo d in th ac umulation of data in the percep ion of all th happenings exterior to us, thus having learn d the m ans by which we secme our fact in relation to the obj tiv world, it i important that we should know what i done with tho e facts . the ac nmuJation o fact is only one pha of education, one may b able to ac umulat data p rf ctly may gatb r any numb r of facts but th y may be in a hao ic state. '1 bey may be disa sociated in the consciou n , or they may not cv n r main in the consciousne . To a cumulate by r ar h i only one t ·p in the lin of u ation. In ord r for on to ac ompli h an thing in thi line h mu t make us of tb :lata which b ba ac umulat d. 'fhe fir t wo t ps in tbi proces ar lV[ mary and ction and As ociation of the acts. One mu t r tain in hi m mary a con ciousne of the fa t which he ha p r eiv d. 'l'hus h will retain all th fruits of hi ob rvatiotl; but her tain th m in a dis onnected, heterog ueou mann r only; he must a ociate them so a to produce a Ko mic ord r. This i the function of the fa ulty of Mental A o iation. History r ally p rtains to departm nt ; the first i th r countin of tho e things which l1av happened in th pa t, m mory of actions, v n · tc. This i · th form of th old time history. We find that hi. tory began in th tales of tb Bar I, who recount d th a hi vement of the gr t ones of hi cotmtry. ~or a long time th Bard was the olliy hi torian. In the oms of time we find tb pro tal oming on and hi tory up to th pr s nt 1 tury wa imply a r counting of
65
THE P R•
G RTE
TElvi
li' ED
TI
event without any very gr at By far th great t. of the histori whi h at1 mp nnalyz thing i th gr at on of ibhon. app ared quit a number of work whi h aim at an analy i of event rath r than mer ly a r counting of th m. But b fore we can accomplish anything int 11 ctually it i. n ssary that we have the materia] and the material for intellectual activity is supplied by Per eption . We cannot tcaso~ ow- lv s in to a con cion ne of om thina unl v fh t have the data. Til e data ar uppli d by th p rccptivc fa ulti . , hut th y must b r tain tl iJ: w woulcl mak us of th m. r we d void of a faculty for r m rob rin<r action , we wonld simp ly have that which we at th pr ' nt tim from whi h to make our induction. M mory of a tion is th r for the firs tep aft r p r p tion. lt occupies the pace imm diat ly above th r"'an of Obs rvation, giving prominence to that pa1·t o' U1 cranium and is the lower ha l£ of what i orclinarily t rmed lhe rgan of Eventuality. 'l'hi fa ulty giv th apa ·ity for r m mberiug action . Lik wi e, it giv the prop n ity or memorizing action ev n , which will for on to :x 1· i hi intellectual capacity· in ther word to r memh r a ·tiou . Bear ill mind, this do 11ot enabl one to r mcmb r word . nam , form or anything of that kind. It i ·imply mcmor of action . Tim it is pr min ntly tb hi torica l mem ry. M mory consi in the ·ormation of a t r otyp d impr s'i n u ron the brain c 11 1ikewi . i 11 th format ion 0 [ a whirl in the Manas corr . pondin to that parl of the brain that is, th Manas which function in that part of the 1 rain. Wh never y u s an a tion wh n anything tran. pire · in your con i usn you naturall orm a whirl, th r ul of th picture of that v nt for in h boliling an v ni it i na t ·d in your on ·iou n . a w ll a xternally · in .fa ·t, the only lmowl dg w hav of v nt i in tb pi tur f them which we form in our on iou n ·. A t lti tran pir s in our con iou ne , the pictnr .,. n rate a whirl in the Manas which is the ibratory fl'ect of that pi tm . trang a it may seem that whirl may continue f r . ar iu t he Manas, without pa ing outward. Th mor' p werful our c u entra.tion may b , th m r p l'fe t ur att ution, the
66
III
'l'ORY
stronger will b th whirl. Now if at he . am tim we tart up thls whirl w cau the thought to b com o pow rfully cone ntrat d in th brain cell hat it r ates a t r otyp d thu form a irupres ion of th s n ation upon th . c 11 center around which thi whirl ·ontinucs to move. The stereotyped impression in the brain cell thu become the hitching post for the m ntal whirl, pr v nting it ·ape. Thus it continues ther for year in om ins an forev r, and wh en ver the c 11 tou h, tbi impr ion produ a corresponding n ation . Tbu th experi >JJ the n ation is r produced from im to tim . Thi · is the real l>a ic principl of memory. You a k why it i that we continu tor mcmb raft r the brain cell bav di app are], aft r ll w U have ak n th ir place dozen of ,inJe . imply forth J' ason that a th old c 11 i di olved and the n w cell is !mil up, th whirl reproduces the impression in Lhe cell, tim perp •tuatin,., it from generation to gen ration- that is g nerations of cells. When we fo rget anything it i becau a new pictur ba taken the place of the old; b cause tha picture is bl tted out and the whirl is changed. W know tha forg tfuln . i gov rned by law and i not an accident; beCflU e it is posuntil he g t o h sible for one to practice forgetfuln will not remember anything. He live only i the pr nt. Lik wi e, one can practice memory cultm until he will r member everything. Nothlng will ver cape him. The difference b twe n recollection and mem01·y i th.i : in recollection we ar able to bring back into our consciousnes , thi whirl, by an effort of tb ' ill, to bring about the conjunction, so tba it will be brou ht La k into our c nwhil , io m mory, th whiTl is o pow rful the impression so vivid, that it never leaves om· consciousn ss. The factor nece sary to in ure a p l'f ct m mory ar , i irst: lect.ion; that is, the selection of tho hin we want to rem mber, not simply tb memorizing of all our experiences. W mu. t lect the d irable on s and ' pa up'' all the othe1·s. ond: At ention; do not kip ov r thinoo bn pay particular a tention to what you ob erve. Tak noti of all the exp rien tlu·ough whi h you go.
67
THE PHRENOGARTEN SYSTEM OF EDUCATION Third : oncentration; that is, concentration of the att ntion upon orne point with all the power po ible, not thinking about a numb r of diff r nt thing , but cone ntrating the attention upon one point-thi on -pointedne " and" tick-to-it-iv ness" which will enable you to thoroughly grasp the matter and to make the irnpre ion upon the brain cells. La tly : Ab traction; the ability to xclude everything 1 e and b ab olut ly unconscious of everything but the one point of yom attention. By tbu m morizing action which are p rform d in your presence, or which ou bear oth r talk about or which you t·ead about-all u h m thods will memorize any action whether you saw it yoru· l£ or not. You tlms provide the m mory w.ith a tore of facts a tor of activitie , thing which have tran pir d. You thu obtain a collection of fats. The capacity to memorize fa ts grows naturally with development. It may be extended to an almo t unlimit d degree by practice. It is true that practice makes perfec in ev rything, and thi i pr minently true in tb memory of action. We develop his by exercising it, therefor , the pupil should be taugh to rememb r what he has se n or heard · what he ba read, v rything partaking of the natur o£ the action; but, remember, bility to remember other things does not in any s n e assi the memory of action and this is what i nece ary for the hi torical work. It i advisable to teach pupil to read torie and tb n tell them-perhaps give a prize to the on who can tell th most about what he ha r ad about c rtain actions. It mak no difference wheth r th y ar r ally tru or simply a story, just so it involves the m morizing of all g d action. This practice will be found o be very ben eficial in tbe d velopm nt of this faculty . It may be develop d to the point of g nius or ev n to where one becomes a prodigy for memorizing statements. Th re is a man in Arkansa who knows from two to three hnndr d ori by memory. 'I'lle bort one takes him o er an hour to tell, and th lona t on over sevent n hour , y t he will l 11 them without a single error. 'l'his is 6
HISTORY merely an illu tration of what may be accompli bed by the training of the memory and any on may dev lop th memory in thi way by aking the neces ary pain , though, of cour e, it may not be de irable to do this. Aft r having d v lop d the apacity form morizing action it b comes n ce ary that tho m morie bould b as ociated properly. It i not sufficient that we know what bas transpired, that we are able to tell a number of tale . W must also know how to a 路sociate the e activiti s in our min . They must, in other word , be a Ko roo rath r than a hao . W must have a c rtain hi torical continuity in our cons iou n . Mod m history is a science, not merely a syst m of tale telling. We now want to know not so much what transpired at a certain time, but wba relation it had to the making of history; what influen e it xerci d upon the g neral hi torical process; the cause which 1 d up to he v nts and th effe ts of those ev nt . Th r fore, history is a y t m, a plan worked out dm路ing the past, the p 路es nt and th futur ; in otb r word , th hi torian mu t s the Divine nature in all things, the working ou of the Divine purpose. e mu. t e hi tory as an volutionary proce , and to do this he must do more than imply r memb r ev nt . He must pig on-hole them. e mu t know wh re to pla th m, and the faculty of Mental sociation, which is immediately above the M mory of Action, o upying th upper half of the ] aculty of Eventuality, is devoted to tbi pig on-holing of facts, mental association. We trace out the r lation which on v nt b ars to anotb r, and which a h b aJ. to th gen ral hi toric proc . , the la s gov ruing all ev nts. It i not uffici nt to know that th event has tran pii路ed; we mu t lrnow why it has; we mu t lrnow the cause back of it. Thus we r quir in the cience of - i tory, a r cognition of the law gov ruing ev nt . 'Illis facuJty of Mental A sociation gives fir t a propen ity for associating ev nts in this ci ntific way for m ntal la ification of th am , and second, th apacity for uch a ociation. It pigeon-hoi the diver ev nts connecting th m with other vent of a like cbaract r and with the laws govrning uch occurren.c s, thu giving u an under tanding of the basic principles underlying all historic occurrences.
69
THE PHRENOGARTEN SY TEM
i
EDUC TIO
No person who has not developed thi capacity will ev r be an historian. He may be able to write down those thing which tran pire, and thus dispense with the n ce ¡ ity for rememb ring action ; in fact, there i little requirem nt for this memory now, so far as hi torical work i concetn d, because we hav access to book ; but at the time when everythi11g was preserved by tradition, when th re w re no historical works, when the Bard was the only hi torian and the one who li tened to him ing of tb activitie of the pa and and th n, in turn, sang of them him lf, this being the only channel through which the historical continuity wa preserved, the memory of action was absolutely nece ary, but now written records have taken the place, largely, of the memory. Th duty of the historian is now not o much th chroniling of event a the analy is of tb m. Th hi torian do not have to tell us what took place o mu h a why it took place and what its consequences were. For thi rea on, th Faculty of Mental As ociation must be develop d in a high degr e, to enable him to r ecognize this r lationship for this faculty gives him not only the ability to conn ct, but it gives the capacity to recognize the natural relation hip exi ting between ba k of div rse events and al o the ev nts and the cau them and th ir logical ff cts. To trace out this r lation hip, it. on must have that faculty wlti h will nable him t This is developed in exact proportion to he cJ>..'ten of development in the faculty. When thi faculty has be n dev lop d to th point of g nius it will naturally b come th leading ¡haracteristic of the mind. One will be a g niu for tracing out the r lation bip existing b tw en the diff rent events and the cause and effects. Thi will b the keynote of his being. If he become an hi torical prodigy he will have an intuitive capacity for associating vents. He will see at one lightning glance, as by perc ption, the relation which they bear on to another and th forces operative in h hi torical evolution and to .futm activiti . It will not r quire any rea oning, but will act lik a fl.a h as all other intuition acts, revealing the relation which each ev nt bears to the making of history. Thus intuition, historic perception, is the natural consequence of the development of eventuality, 70
H
TORY
particcuarly, and Mental A sociation, at th prodigiou point. Th hi torian i on quently, not one who ba l am d a trad , but on who has d velop d tl1i faculty. All th euucation in th wo ·ld will nev r teach on to b an historian. The qualities nece sary fo r the historian ar , to a er tain extent, irst : Memory of Actions; and econd: In a large and higher degree, the propensity and apa ity forM ntal A ociation. It i therefore, a natural faculty, not a trick to bel arn d. Tiow v r, this faculty may b d v>lop d by ex r i ing, but t d v lop th p w r of Mental A ociation on mu t men tally as ociate thing . It i , ther fore, right and prop r in giving un historical le on not to be satisfi d with th pupil's statinrr what events were involved a they ar giv u in t h book, but to make him philo ophize upon the ubj ct · make him tell you why th se events happened ; make him trace out the caus which l d up to th c happenings, the laws und rly ing them and how h re the relation of cau and ffect. l o mak him trace out the relation which each event bore lo ev ry other at that time and also it influ nee upon th making of hi tory-what transpired lat r, a a re ult of U10 v nts. In oth l' word , mak him analyze th le on in tead of imply reciting it, make him a.ct a an hi torical ·ritic and not imply recite what h read in the book· have him riticiz it, analyz it, d al with it in a philo ophic manner· make him, instead of reciting a. le on, prepare a philo ophicnl e ay upon the ubject of that lesson. By training th pupil in thi '" ay, the capacity for hi tori cal riti i m, m ntal a ociation, will b developed. It doe not make so much difference about our knowing what ha taken plac in th pa. t unle we know h r a on why it took pla and if w kuow tbi tltt.:n we will know the effect it is likely to have. In oU1cr words, the pupil must learn the evolution which is going on in h.i tory and thus learn to judcr th future by th pa t; mu t learn the law governing all hi toric v ntuation and when be has learned this, h will d velop the capacity to alway as ociate things prop •rly so that the s u y o£ hi tory will, for th future be, not the memorizing of ev nt , but the •ein into the heart of
71
Tl
THE PITRE
history and th asc rtaining of hi tori quences op rative in all tlJings; but thi j to b a quir d only by e rei ing tbe fa ul y, th capacity and prop n ity for historic analy i ¡, and, unfor unately, the fool teach rs discourage this. They will not allow the pupil to trace out analogi , but require J1im to rcci what he r ad in a book. Thus be b come a bookworm and not an historian. But by following out the line h r sugg ted, by ncouragin<l' the pupil to 1Nrit e ays upon c rtain vent¡ and to debate with other pupils upon the equenc s of variou ev nts by timulatin"' in ev ry conceivable way, the prop nsity and capacity for hi torical analysi , you will, in the cour e of time, develop th historic g niu . r
72
LES
X
R
ER
.Aft r th ability to per eive obj t in all their r lation and the propensity to ar h out to find thing a w ll a th capacity for rememberin a tion and form ntal asso iation, power , which relate to the accumula ion and cla sification of data, the next important l m nt in the education of a pupil is the acquiring o£ orderly habit of association, cla sification etc. We may accumulate data with th ar a test ease, and put forth the great t amount of indu try in the ar h for facts; we may as ociat them, in a way, but unl we hav acquired habit of neatn s, of ord r u1 our a o •iation of uch data we ball :find our lv s in a position wb re all our fa t will b of littl valu ; it will b diffi ult to g t hold f tb m, o put our hands upon th m at h tim we r quir them. Ev rytbing will be, to a gr at xtent a chaos. Un il ord rly habits of thought have b en developed, we cannot produce that :fine, Kosmic arran m nt of mind which i so e sential to all int ll c ual progress. rder b ing an · ntial featur in du ation, nature has provid d man with a fa ulty sp ially devot d to that fUDction. The rgan of Order i locat d ju t above the tail of th ye giving promin nee to tb ridge ju t abov that part of the y , also lil'tina th eyebrow back to th outer orn r o.f the li in th y lid, l ut n o farU1 r out. 'rbis part o.f the brain, lying outward from color on ither id , con titutes the rgan of Order. Its size, hat i. lo say, the prominence of the surfac of th brain at that point, indi ates th strength o.f the Fa ulty. Thls faculty i r ally two faculti . The inner po · ion, that i tb portion lying next to olor,
73
'I'ITE PllREN
ARTE
Y TEM
F EDU
TI
giv s neatness, while the outer portion gives Sy tem. The faculty of Neatness is both a faculty and a propensity; that .is, the degree of its development gives a corresponding propensity for neatness, together with the apacity for gratifying that propensity. One can never be tau ht to be neat. You may teach a pupil for y ars, b lt be can n v r learn to be neat; but .if this faculty b com s rlevel p db will a quir a propen ity for neatness, which will cause him to continually take pains in that direction. He will al o acquire the capa ity for doing things neatly. The habit of "slatting" through verything is simply du to weakness of this faculty. In oth r words, without the faculty of rd r it wonld b perfectly natural for ev rybody to ' slat" through whatever h undertook. It i only by r a on of the pr · ence of the Faculty of Qrder that one acts diff rently. As one d v lops neatnc he mu t e:Kprc s thi quality in all hi activities. In time the propensity will gt·ow so great that any lack of neatne s will become absolutely painful to him. lie will be hmt by se ing things in a di ordered tate. Thi propensity for neatne s, thus growing into a tal nt, will make .it perfectly natural for him to ben at. It will not r quire any ffort; ev rything will come perfectly na m·al. It will b easier for him to be neat than to be otb rwi c, and as the propensity is continually gratifi d, the faculty will grow nntil, in some instanc , it will develop to the point of genin . The person will have a perfect genius for n atn othing that is out of proper bape, that i slov nly or .in any way antagonize this principle of neatne s, can be tol rai d. There are people who have this propen ity o trong that they are ready to sacrifice all other con iderations m r ly for the sak of neatness. We ee this prop n ity very tl·ong in the ntch and German women, in the w d and in th women of V rmont, whil we notic it ab en e among a gr at many oth r peopl . enerally peaking, th Am rican ar la king in neatn , owing to the fact that they ar alway· in a burr · that th y never hav tim to do thing in a n at manner, which w:ill thus exercis thi faculty and d v lop th propen ity through ex rei . In ord r to d velop thi -.for only by developm nt can i b ur d-w must bea1· in mind th Lamarck an law of
74
OR
ER
Evolution by Use. W mu t r cogniz that only by exerci e can any faculty be dev loped and in exact proportion a th faculty i xcr is d will it be d v lop d, and o will b strength n d it prop n ity. The n at r a p rson i in all his or h r activities, the stronger will grow thi prop n ity and faculty. It i utt rly use) ss to try to teach a person neatness xcepting a you tea h him to b neat, that i xc pting a on teach him to actually live a life of n atne put into practice in all his actions, becorue a ' ti kl r ' for this. The greatc t cause of the absence of neatn s i the fac that ne does not tal<e notic of its nb ence. He is uot awar of th fact, for in tance, that his hat bas not been bru bed in a week; h do not really wan to go with the du t on hi hat路 h imply does not know it i du ty; and h do s not know it becau e he doe not pay any attention to uch matters. Likewi a man go s with hi cloth s unbrushed because he has not tak n any notice of th fact; he is indiff rent to th qu stion. Jt is, tber for , n c s ary to all tb attention of the pupil to thes matters; not by riticism but imply in a casual manner o that be will notic th .fa and will in time, emulate the tend ncy to n atness whi h he see in others around him. If a number of pupil are to b trained, iii advi able to introduc the lemont of rivalry into tb ir traini1lrr o as to indu e them to trive for exc lienee in tbi re. p ct. But in a g n ral way it may b stated, that n atn s can b acquir d only by being n at and wh n ver you g t a pupil to be neat on any given occa ion you are ur ly l ading to that time when the habit of neatness will be permanently acquired. Not only is neatness 11 e ary but in a till highet路 d gl" is system ab olutely requi it for the d velopment of th higher fa ulti s. The natural inclination i to 1 t ev rytbing stand alone, to ntir ly abandon the y t matic id a. Very few person try to a ociate their action into a s t m. It is highly n c ssat路y that w d velop th capa ity for y tematic thinkin g. The habit of ab traction, important m itseli, i as Jik ly to b d v 路lop d to ih total xclu.-i n f that ystemati thinking whi h is quit a imp rtnn . 1
75
THE PHRENO ARTEN SY TEM OF EDU ATION our thinking should b ystematic. It hould be in r lation to otb r thought . Thi do not mean that abstract tillnking should be abandoned¡ far from it; but a soon a we have thought out a problem in the ab tract, w hould proceed at once to relate it to tb s stem willch we have alr ady in our minds. Thus w will acquire the habit of y t matic thought and the only way to acquire it is by y tematic thinking. To develop this systematic thinking it will be found advisable to induce the pupils to always a ociate everytillng in their minds. Whenever r citing a l on or de ribing anything which they have s en it will be advisabl to bav them a ociate it with th sum of their knowledg or with ome part of same. Induce th m to follow out thi lin of y tematic thinking in all th ir mental proc e . Do not permit them to hold anything a being separate and apart from all otb r facts. yntbesi , in other word , hould be the k ynote of education. Analysi should only pr pare the way for ynth i . Wh n the synthetic method has b n perman ntly acquired we will have our entire m ntal life a eries of exerci s for tb d velopment of this faculty and prop n ity of ystem. As our thinking become ystematic, o will our p nking our a tion, and in fact, everything that we do. acter will become synthetic. Everything we direct d unto the realization of a ommon end. y t m will operate throughout our entir e being. ot only mu t th pupil be taught y t matic thinking, but h mt t b taught habit of y tern. Hi li£ must b orne a o mo ratb r than a hao . H should be taught to ke p verything in a particular place; to hav a po ition assign d to ev ry arti le wl1icb he has and never allow that to b in an other than the correct place or position. He bould also be tau ht to bav rtain hours when he doe certain thing . The law of periodicity hould be arefully ob rv d. H shoul be tau ht to do everything at a particula ¡ tim a w ll as k ep ev rything in a particular place. Tbere i no greater mistake mad than tb habit so many mothers have of going around and traight ning up after their children . t i mo t p rni iou and v ry mother ought
76
ORDER to be horsewhipped every tim be does it. The boys should be taught to b so y tematic in everything that it will n v r be ne ary to traight n anything up after them. li an straight niug up ha o be on , tb y hould be mp lt d to do it th very moment i is eli cov r d that th y hav 1 .r omething undone, no matt r in how gr at a hu ·ry th y may b to do oro thing, or ' hat tb burry of b pal' nts may be. There is no cau e of half so much importan the acquiring of habits of y t m by the children. Where examination pap rs have to b mad out wh ,. any writt n work is a part o.f the r citation-anythin that Ol'd r-qui e a much boulcl :t p nd upon th t matic arrang ment of the 1 s on a upon the bara r the answ r giv n. Wh n the pupil ba 1 arn d bat h • mu t arrange hi subject nt the proper form, that b must correlate all the lement of his compo ition, of hi Lb sis be will take the pains nee sary to do thi , and by t.1 ing will d velop the capacity for y tematic an·ang m n A w 11 a the prop nsity for such arrang ment. n should d velop tlri y t matic prop nsity until any d viati tl ft· n1 a p rfect yst m b com ab ol u tely painful ; until it P' due s a distin t bock; until the ordinary haotic tat r thing causes him to approach dangerously near to n t•v u pro tration. It is only as one develops this propen ity, this p r[ •t mania for y tematic arrangement, that b b com abl 1 arrange matters in a systematic .form. The world is suffering from ala k of orderly arrang>m •nt,. People 's id a are chaotic; then· thoughts th ir p ' It ·h it· action , ev rytlring we see is a chao rath r than a smos. Thi 1 du olely to the undevelop d tat of tb facull or y t m, is due to the £act that man i following r lit i 11 ' out singly and is not corr latina th diJI r nt tb n rhl s and action in th proper mann r. The rouble iu tb moll 't' is, we do not r alize the gr at importan f yst m. W( recogniz its value in a bu in way but do no r aliz j[,g tran cendentally greater, p ycbologi a1 utility. development of thi faculty, one can nev r think ally. II will, th r for , n v r hav th pr of thought. Furth r , as b thiul{i in a. ba ti wru1u r, IIi
77
'fHE PIIRE
ARTEN SY TEM OF E U
TION
fac1.1ltic will d vclop baoti al ly; hi id a , hi b li f will be di a ociat d and h ' ill 'orm habit having no relation to ach othe1· and in tim hi hara t r will b com ha li . It i only by acquiring s st matic habits of thought and action that one will form a sy tematic character and only by forming thi y tematic character will he be om a propel'ly a ociated per onality. We read about multiplex per onalitie and no wonder. The average per on ought to have two or three thou and per onaliti by rca on of the haoti habit of thinking and a ting whi b be bas d v lop d. t i only by systematic thinking, peaking and actiug, b the cot-r lation of v rything into on y tcm that mao i abl to correlate all he activiti of hj b ing into a . ingle compact, harmoniou p rsooality. In thi way he will llatnrally look at v rythio .from the center. 1oni m will b com the ord r of the day ;-One who p r onality i p rf Uy yst matic, who e character i one, one in whom the principle of unity is at all times prominently manif t d, can think only in relation to Ullity an think only from the tamlpoint of th tmiv r al. II will r aliz at all time that tbcr i no accdcnt in the univ r ; that ev r·ything that tran pir s i tb op rati on of law. 'l'hu we hall have s t mati 1hinking as the only po ible form of thought, .for one in whom the prill iple of yst m i p rf ctly op rativ ; that i , on who ba b com a g niu for sy t m. Th 011ly way in whi h ·y t ' Hl ca n b , d lop d i by ex r i ing it in our thought a tion and p e b. In xa t pr portion a it i x r •i ed o will th fa ulty be d v lop d and as the faculty i d velop d o wilL grow the prop n ity for y tcmatic thinking and a ·tion. Any method that will em· uch 'levelopm n through . uch y t mati activity of th faculty, will l.J foun] ffi acion as a mean to fa ulty d v lopment. It can r adily b en that by far the most importan par o£ an education in thi r sp ct is doing thing . Being told how to do things, b in told of the importance of y tem is of v ry little n . The pupil will never become sy tematic excep by doing thing in a systemati mann r. The tea her will ac ompli h a gr at deal by providing th pupil with certain xerci es which wiJl T quire th y t matic arrangement of a number 7
ORDER of different statements, the pr paring of th es and an6theses; likewise, writing essays and campo ition will be found to be or gr at utility. But anything that X 1' i this systematizing faculty through th y tematic an¡ang ment of fact or even the ystematic doing of thing wj]) be found to b conducive unto that end. It will al o b found of gr at b nefit t o t ach th pupil synthetic philosophy, to give him in truction which will mbody the idea of unity in all thing ; the idea of a y tern which involves verything. A he learns to look at all lif from th tandpoint of a plan, a sy tern working thl'ough v rytbing as IP 1 arn to look upon 1if , from th tancl point of absolut law, he will develop th Faculty of rd r, and by this d v lopment, will se ure that ord rly point of view which i o nee ary in all true education .
79
LESSON XI RE
SON
The int llectual faculty deal with the phenomenal world purely, its function being to proceed inductively from phenomena to the principles back of phenomena. If we would reach the noumena, the thing in itself, would deal with it in any manner, we must employ a faculty which tr anscends the intellect. uch a faculty is the Reason located on either side of Comparison, the faculty known to phrenologists as aru ality. Thi faculty is really double, that portion lying immediat ly out ide of omparison b ing devoted to analysis, and the part outside of that, to synthesis, the portion known a the Planning Faculty. 'rhe function of the reason is to go from cause to eff ct. W mu t be in po ssion of th caus s, therefore, in order to know the ffects. Thus it will b s en that before the r ason •an be mployed, one must be in possession of the cause from which to reason. Indu tion is the characteri tic activity of the intell ct, whil deduction i the activity of the Reason. We b gin with the ultimate principle as the cause; from this we d du th ff t which \vill logically ome from it. The anal tic faculty must, however, d al with een ffects; its t ud n ·y i to follow a cause logically to som sp cilic eff ·t- ihat ff ct which i mo t likely to flow from that cnus . n in poss ssion of univer al may thus deduc the parti ulnrs whi h will flow from tl os univer als. '!his proce s f r a rung is thus divid d into two d partmen . 'rh first Anal si , i the deduction of individual truths inJiviuual parti ulars from their logical univer als. This is 0
REAS anal is and i that which corre pond to Wi dom. The second ynthe i corre ponding to und 1 tanding, on 1 ts o£ the association of these particular so a to form a logical tructur , the logi al expre sion of the universals in a particular form. Logic i not something which we can l arn a a trick is 1 arn d, not something consi ting of rules. All the in truction in the world will never make a logician. The only way by which th logician can b develop d is by exerci ing hi Logical Fa ulty. Tbe analytic faculty, when dev loped, give one ability to trace out the logical consequ nces of th univer al . In oth r words he can take a universal and follow it to th particular which logically come n·om it. When tb R ea on is applied to th olution of a problem, it does not err but, beginning with the univer al, deduces th particular effect of that cause, th logical ffect, h only po ible effect of the cau e, c ing with the clear vi ion of th soul, just what will logically follow from that cau e. A a consequence, the tru analytic faculty, il ufficiently acute will n ver mak a mi tak in tracing the iven a cau e it will a cerrelationship of cause and ffect. tain the effect of that cause. It does not rr in what it accompli he . The amount of its accomplisbm nt, the d gree of its efficiency, will d p nd upon the d gre of development. In other words, the wi dom faculty, the analytic reason, giv s the capacity for c rrectly recognizing the r lation of can e and eff ct. As is its development, so will its ffici ncy be, th refore, the only way for one to acquire the capacity forb coming a logician is to exercise his logical faculty, that i , r a on from cause to effect-analyze. The capacity for analy i will incr ase in direct ratio to its exercise. At the ame time, this faculty gives a propensity for analy i , th refore, as it is exerci ed, it d velop the prop nsity, o that in time, one will acquire a perfect mania for tracing out the relation of cause and ffect. Given a certain cause, a univer al, it will naturally and systematically trace out th pa1·ticular which logically follows fi·om that univ rsal. The only way to t ach logic is to x rei e the logical fa ulty. Do not t ach logic from books; do not wa te any of the pupil' tim giving him l ons. Mak him rea on. 'l'he system o£ the ancient Greek is the only one of any
THE PHREN
ARTEN SYSTEM
F EDUC TION
practical value in tb t aching of logic. The pupil were taught to form yllogi m and to rea on in various ways. ophi try mula ion of all rational pow r., rational activitie were the order of th day. school wa not o much a s ltool in the modern sens , as a lye uro, where the pupils were ngaged in reasonin d du tively, in analy i . Thus th y v lo1 d th pow r o analysis. This should teach us a 1 sson a to ho th a on is to be d veloped. Pupils hould be ncouraged to h ld de at , to prepare theses syllogisms, to carry on original sp culation , to argu , to carry on ocratic discussion . Debating societie , if riou ly conduct d, ar the gr at t u ational factor in th world. Tb pupil should b encouraged to reason out ev rything, not to ace pt 11ythlng on authority, but to r a on it out. Pupil bou.ld al o be O"iven in tru tion which will tax their capacity to realize, which will require the concentration of their causality to the snapping point. They hould, in th que tion U1at aJ.' propounded, be r quired t o how tb ff cts of c rtain cau 'rhey hould, in oth r words be made to rea on from cause to effect, on ev ry possibl occa ion and under very conceiva le provoca ion . In tllis way they will d velop the capacity and the propensi y for analy is, and in no other way. the facu lty become d v loped, the p1·opensity ·will bem o strong hat the pupil will be forced o ·erci e it and will u ilize i on every po ible occasion. t r a prop n ity for analy i has o ce b en formed, 1h r will no long r be any encouragement nece sary for its r is . 'l'h pupil wm naturally re ch out after all those t·hiug ' hi h hav an in lina.tion for am!l ysis. Thus it will go ou aud c1 vclop to tlJC point of genius. Wh.il analysis i being d veloped, ynthesis should ucomag d. Th pnpil should not simply be enourag c1 to trace ut the parti ular from the univer a! , IJuL a o iat ihos univ r als, to rcdu e them to a ynto show, in other word a universal Kosmos, expre siJl • its li in a pru.· icular Ko mos · to show effect not hetero~ g n , u h ll1 g neou oming out from th homage~ ausnl r alm.. Thus, 11 i taught to alway think o£ r aliz that all ause ar harmonious,
REASON that they are all the manifestations of one principle, being monistic and this cau al Ko mos is continually expressing its lf in the effectual Kosmo . All effects ar thus seeu to be one harmonious whole, diver ely manife t d. en the pupil realize this a a theor tical principle, be will be.gin to trace out those relations, to connect, to ystematize all effects. 'rhus analysis will express itself in synth sis. He will thus trace the universals to their most minute particular manifestations the lowest form, the simplest manifestation as well as the higher ; and by synthesis, all these forms and manif tations the e ff ct of the Ko mic cause will be conn cted o that the pupil will realize the one-ness of all. This x:ercise, which is not so much or the purpo e of learning a truth (although what is learned i absolute truth) as it is for the purpo e of developing the rational faculty by means ()f a sy tern of rational gymna tics, will exerci e that faculty or rather those two faculties so as to develop their capacity and its companion, propensity. ou will not be developing merely the analytic, but also the synthetic faculty. The exercises in systematically connecting these effects will confer upon the pupil the capacity for instantly recognizing their 1 gitimate connection. H e will not merely attempt to onn ct them, but will get o that he can see inductively, the logical relation of the various effects. He will, therefore, be not only a Genius of Analysis, but one of Synthesis as well. This connection will be logical as well as the connection between the effect and its cause. As this capacity for synthesis is developed, the synthetic propensity will be dev loped likewi e, so that the pupil will have a perfect mania for uniting and synthesizing the various effects. In this way it will be po sible for one, beginning with absolute truth, which he must ascertain from his acuity o.f e rship, to trace out the effects of these causes with equal exactness, and to synthesize the various effects into one system, quite as complete as the Kosmos of causes from which it has been deduced. It is thus that we realize the true relation of the Rea on to absolute Truth. Intellect, herefore, d als with the phenomenal world which is perceived through the physical senses and the
83
THE PHRE OG RTE
YSTE :t 0
EDU
TION
psychical sen es as well, up to the Buddhic plan . R ason deal deductively with the cau s which are recogniz d through the power of eer hip, resident in Buddhi. It therefore, is a system of deduction from noum na, just as intellect acts deductiv ly from ph nomena, and in exact proportion as the logical .faculty is ex rei ed and in th way that it is exerci ed, so will its strength be. Therefore, do not for on moment hink that you can teach your pupil to reason. You may train him unto the d v lopment of the Rea on and the rational pow rs by inducing him to reason, but in no other way. It is a system of rational gymna tic , and in this field as in all others, we evolve by EXERCISE.
84
LESSON XII INTELLECT The Intellect a contradistingui bed from the Reason, is centered in the Faculty of Compari on, lying above Eventuality and below uman I ature, imrn diately in th center of th foreh ad. Tl1is Faculty is correctly term d omparison, b cause its function is the comparativ study of facts. We do not deal in ab tract reason tl!rougb this organ, but compare data. The so-call d r a oning from data, although it is not rea oning at all, is the function of this faculty. It is the organ of ynthetic philosophy. The popular th ory that we can know nothing in the ultimate, cannot form any conception of the ab clute, but must study only the r elative, is due to the fact that the human family in the main bas developed its intellect and not its r ason. It must, a a natural con equence, tudy fact , but cannot rea on from principles. The inductive method naturally follows from thi d velopment and in fact, inductive thinking is purely the function of compari on. iven correct data ecured through a proper d v lopment of th perc ptive faculti s, and properly clas iÂŁed by th Facul ty of Eventuality, we will be able to rea ch prop r r sult in exact proportion as our Faculty of inductive thinking-that is, our omparison-is developed. It is not the f unction of this Organ to follow any on principle or facts to the ultimate. That is we do not separate a certain fact from all other a crtions, and study it a a thing in itself. e can only compare it with som thing else ; we can only tudy facts as they are r elated to o her fact , and a a matt r of fact, it i this method of thought, of in e ti ation that ha been r cogniz d by all he modern chool of philosophy. It 5
THE PHRENOG.ARTEN SYSTEM: OF EDUC TION is the ba ic principl of the pencerian chool, this chool b ing ba d upon the compara ive tudy of phenomena. It is pm·ely obje tiv , dep nclillg a it do , upon the tudy of bje tive ph nom na, through tb fa ulty of ompal'ison. In order to r ach on-ect principles through tb study of facts, we must fil' t have our facts in th prop r form. This facul ty Ca.J;I only deal wi th facts comparativ ly; it cannot verify or di prove them. It a urn s very statement made to it by th oth r faculti , to be true, tak everything for granted and mak a comparative tudy of tho as umed fact , comparing them, tl·acing out their mutual relations and thus discovering th cause of such ph nom nal manifestation. 'l'he function of ompari on i thus to discover by a omparative study of fa t , tb law back of and giving pr ion to tho facts. 'l'hi is pre minently the function of synthetic philosophy. Inasmuch a omparison a ume all facts t o be tru , th facts must fir t be supplied in th prop r form, because omparison will not make any n w arrangement of facts, does not cla ii-y them, bccau e that work should have be done by oth r faculties. i irst of all, w mu t have the perc ptiv s d v lop d and ex rcised with gr at accuracy so that we will orne into po e ion of fa t relating to form, color, w ight, ize and t he o her a tributes of the subj ctive world. 'lh n we must have d v loped tu• Mental Ob rvation so as to upply our ompari on with fact discov red, not by th physical sight or per ption i.n general, but by th mind. We mu t b able in going over a ubject, to see with our mind' e, tb mental fact , so to speak. When this has be n done, we are then r eady to dev lop our Memory of Action. Thi must absolutely be brought to a high ta e of ll':iciency, o that we will not only pre ent our ompari on with what we see at a given mom nt but will have tor l up in our m mory, a line of A-periences that may be suppli d. Likewise, we must have acquired a fund of happ nings and occurrences a w ll a mere objects of sight. Wh n th e have b n ac umulated, we mu t next u e our Fa ulty f fental ociation o that we shall have our fa t la ifi d a ocia ted in proper groups. Also om· Fac6
I
TELLECT
olty of rder mu t have b en 1 v lop d so that w have mad an ord rly arrang m nt f all our fact w hall not hav a m ntal chao , but a Kosmo . lnally ·w must hav d v lop d our aculty of Lo ality o tha w hav search d out and found various facts, lmow ju t wh re to look for what w want, and we must have il:plot· d, · arelted and thus a umulated all the facts conceivabl . Wh n we hav a compli h d thi w shall then b r ady to begin tl1e intcll ual pro s, begin our induction. Having now supplied the data and having la if:i d it prop rly, w b gin to compare the fact one with anoth r, o that w may :find what the r . ults will be under given cir umstanccs and thi is r ally tb tru m thod o.f yntb tic philosopl1y. W a k ' hat w r . th ircumstance , what the tat of fa ts and what wa the rc uJt. W find, in time, t hat rtain combination. of facts will produ e c rtain r ults and oth r combination , of facts will 1 ad to otb r r ults. Tbu w discover wl1at i th pr minen and fundamental law gov rning tho activiti . By am thod of this kind, w ar al l to reach am a ure of truth; in fa t, to r ach he high st point attainable by the ordinar m thod of thought. All that omparison an do i to stucly comparativ l , th e data. A · the data, o will b th natur of the con lu ion. If our :fact. be orrect we will r a h corr ct principl s. If our fact b incorr ct, our principl will be incorr ct. 'l'be Intellect as uch , an nev r go b yond the facts; it can only di cover the prin iple un.d rlying those facts. It mu t, therefore, depend upon the ph nomenal. How v r, the Int llectual Faculty is not confined exclusively to ompari on. The upp r portion of thi j acuity, lying nee rest to uman ature, is in r ality, a <li in t FacuJt , though b longing to the Intcll ct. This is the • acuity of ritic' m. ow, riticism make a mu h lo. r xamination of the facts than ompari on doe ; in fact ompari on does not, in any sense criticize it do s not argue; it imply puts tog th r and studi comparativ ly. It a ume all the facts to be true. The function of rit.i ism i ju t the reverse. It i to examine th facts and find out whether or not they have been accurately tated. 7
THE PHRENOGART N
Y TEM OF EDUCATION
The po ition of this Faculty of Criticism is rather uggestive. It is located between omparison and Human Nature or Intuition. rom thi w should r alize that the lower part of the organ of uman ature, th p ychical center, the center from which many of our higher p ychical power are derived, con equently, tran mits to our riticism, facts ascertained by the exercise of the psychical sen e, e r hip. These are, of course, of a transcendental character and mu t not be too readily accepted. It is the ÂŁunction of our Criticism to analyze th e, to criticize them and try to find fault with them, if po sible and thus to r 1 gate to oblivion all tho e things which are not really sound. But the difficulty is that we will exerci e this critical power according to our education; that is, one who ba been educated along materialistic line will have a trong tendency to be rather s v e in his criticism of all facts of a transcendent character, whil he will be lenient with everything of a materialistic charact r. This is the great cliffi.culty. Critici m a it is developed, does not give an accurate judgment of the value of such ma ters; that is, it does not free one from bias, but simply give the power to look into matt~rs and to see the flaw in a statement. Thus our experiences will largely determine the reult of our criticism, but the critical power, the power to see the flaw is given by a dev lopment of this faculty of Critici m. Not only is our fore ight, but our intuition everything of the kind, criticiz d, thus bringing all tho e facts through tb si. ve of critici m b fore they ar admitted into our mental tor hou e. Likewise, all facts pr ented through the r gular perceptive faculties mu t be criticized before they go on to the Rea on, but th re i tb.i di:ff renee ; all intutionally a certain ed fact ar criticized before they go to ompari on, whereas the other facts are riticized afterwards. t is not the facts, but the conclu ion or the laws a s01ned from those facts, that are ubjected to the power of Criticism. They are th re examined and, if they win approval, pa on to the Reason. It should be born in mind that Comparison is not conÂŁned to those facts discover d by the phy ical senses, but the psy hical ens , all below tb Buddhic Plane, ar likewise included in th perc ptives and they supply their data as
INTELLECT well a tb phy ical senses. Therefore, Comparison may be depended upon when the psychical faculties are active for an inductive study of p ychi al a well as physical facts, up o the Buddhic. However this Faculty can not bring us into the recognition of ab olute Truth. As its very nature adapts it to the study of phenomena, it can do nothing with noumena. It can never bring us to cognition of the noumenal, being pur ly an inductive phenomenal facul y. How are we to develop the Intellect 1 By exercising it. o one ver did or ever will learn to think except by thinking. ll schools intended to teach correct thinking or to teach a person how to classify facts and place them in their prop r relation are absolutely worthl s. Th r e is no school in ex.i tence, the purpo e of which is to teach people bow to study, that is worth powder and shot. The only way by which a person will ever learn the comparative study of phenomena is by studying in this way-by exercising the Faculty. Thus, if one would acquire a high development of ompari on, he must compare things, study various facts in a comparative manner; study the r elationsbjp which exi t between different facts and after putting in month and mon hs of this kind of study, tracing out the relation hip, the pupil will develop this Faculty and with its d velopment will come, fu¡ t a propensity for tracing out those relation rup , and econd, a capacity for r cognizing such r lationships. At fh¡st, it may be slightly laboriou , but in time, it will become quite delightful to trace out these resemblances and to see tb relation existing between diff rent facts. As this propensity grows, it will thu prompt the pupil to such study, and in this way, by exercising the Faculty, the power will also grow, the ability to trace out the relation. Again to develop Criticism, you must criticize. You must ee the :flaws that are in statements of facts, th flaws that are in argum nts, even, the :flaw that ar e in your fri nds--anything of the kind. Criticism is pr eminently the .fault-finding faculty and it can b develop d only by findin .fault. y seeing wh re fallacy lie ; in this way on i abl t analyz and by a.nalyz:jug by differentiating between tb fal and
THE PHRE
ARTEN
Y TEM OF E U
TIO
the true he will develop a propensity for such criticism, thus prompting him to more and mor exerc ¡ e of the faculty and at the ame tim h v.rill d lop th apa ity for uch criticism, for s eing the fault in any statement of facts. We may, therefor , say that synthesis is the function of Comparison ;-anaJysi of ritici m, and compari on, tne synthetic faculty, is dev loped only by ynth izing fa ts; Criticism, the analyzing fa ulty, is to be developed only by analyzing tat ment of fact and thi v oul al o apply to a theory, to a doctrine, anything of the kind. It i by analyzing that the capacity for analy is i d v lop d and by synthe izing that the capacity for yntbe is i developed. Therefor , we 1 arn to do things by doin them. t i not that we learn anything. No one ever learned a thing in the world; but we ev lop the faculty for doing certain things and with it a propensity for doing those things. Thu we have an incentive for fm¡ther action. The only way to educate the pupil 's intellect is, therefore, to give exercise to his acuities of Analy is and Synthesis.
90
RALEIGH BOOKS AND LESSONS Complete li t of the Hermetic work by Dr. A. S. Raleigh, publi hed in book form and which will be ent po tpaid at prices listed: T he Central Spiritual Sun and The Virgin of the World .... .... .... . .. ..... $ 1.00 The Lakshmi Avatar, Lakshmi and the Gopis. . . 1.00 The Law of Karma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.00 The Two Paths or the Parting of the Ways.. . . . 1.00 Woman and Super-Woman . ..... . ..... . . . .... .. 2.00 Shepherd of Men .. . . .. ......... .. . ...... . .. .. 2.50 Stanzas of Dzjn (Theogenesis) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00 Philosophia Hermetica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Scientifica Hermetica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Hermetic Art . . ..... .. . .......... ... ... ..... . 10.00 Philosophy of Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Science of Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Speculati ve Art of Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Hermetic Science of Motion and Number .. . . . . 10.00 Hermetic F undamentals Revealed . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Hermetic Consciousness Unveiled . .. .. .. . .. .. 10.00 Magic . .. .. . ... . .. ...... ... . . .. ... .. . . ....... 10.00 O ccult Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Phrenogarten Course (explains the brain) . . . . . . 10.00 Metaphysical Healing, Volume I . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50 Metaphysical Healing, Volume II . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.50 Interpretation to Rudyard Kipling's Story, Brushwood Boy and the Map . . . ... . . . . . ..... 7.50 Interpretation to Rudyard Kipling's S tory, They 7.50
Manu cript Le son , nicely typed and bound. The Secret Sermon on the Mount or the Way of Rebirth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.00 Interpretation to Henry Van Dyke's Story, The O ther Wise Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.00
We al o make a specialty of rare, out-of-print bo n the line of Occulti m, My ti i m, the Kaballa th T arot, Magi Alchemy, Symboli ro, Mythology Ro i ru iani , H rm ti i m and kindred ubjects. A circular howing till and pri ¡ of our list of r are, out-of-print books will be nt fr f , I upon r equest.
HERMETIC PUBUSHIN 3006
LAKE PAJU<
Av&.
C M ANY