Part 25 (1/2)
=The education of the moral sense=--Thus the conception of moral education, like that of intellectual education, , and be built up thereupon, if we are not to lead the child towards illusion, falsity and darkness The education of the senses, and liberty to raise the intelligence according to its os on the one hand; the education of feeling, and spiritual liberty to raise oneself, on the other--these are two analogous conceptions and two parallel roads
Consider our position in relation to children We are their ”sti so delicately, should be exercised
For the intellect, we have the various objects, colors, forms, etc; but for the spirit, the objects are ourselves The pure souls of children must derive nourishment from us; they should fix themselves on us with their hearts, as their attention is fixed upon so us they should exalt themselves in their intimate spiritual creation
When interest leads the child to take the box of colors, and keeps him absorbed in them, the objects lend themselves passively to his manipulation, but the colors reflect the luin retinae of eyes not as yet completely matured and adapted So, too, when the child's heart turns to us, and fixes itself, asking nourishht to be always ready, like passive objects, inasotism, fail to respond to the child's needs; we should respond with all our intiies, to reflect upon him the luminous rays required by his pure soul, as yet unadapted to life
We ought not to call hi him to accept our help; but, like the material objects which attract him by their s forms, and by ocular demonstration of the means of lofty intellectual exercise, as in the colored alphabets and the rods which contain the first secrets of nu the child feel that we contain a rich material which is at his disposal, ready to be taken as soon as he stretches out his hand to grasp it Our ”response” to the child should be as full, as prompt and as complete as that of the objects which he ive an upward impetus to the intellectual life of the child
How many persons must have noted that on some occasion when they have caressed children, the little ones have retreated, as if repelled and offended; and many must also have remarked that when the affectionate impulse of a child has been checked, he shrinks into himself, humiliated, like the mimosa when touched Now the respect e to the spiritual liberty of the child should manifest itself as folloe reatly as we races; nor must we ever repel his outbursts of affection, even e are not disposed to receive them, but must respond with sincere and delicate devotion We are the ”objects” of his love, the objects byhis life The most perfect teachers and mothers will be those ill take the didacticthe full of response in every detail; passive in abnegation, yet active as wellsprings of affection And if all the sensorial objects combine all possible vibrations accessible to ht and color, as also those of sound and heat, so too should they combine in the for the thirsty soul to choose a them
It may be asked: And how shall we make the child love us; how shall we make the child ”feel”?
If a child could not see colors he would be blind; and no one could give hiive him sensibility; but since Nature has united mother and child not only by the flesh, but even more closely by love, it is indubitable that at birth the child brings with hih it be only a single object, has in hi iht, therefore he who sees an object will see
He who loves a mother or a son, ”loves”; that internal sense vibrates, and certainly not only to the object present to it at the moment
Even that poor spider, artificially deposited in the bag of another s, because the spider is capable of maternal love
Therefore the child whom his mother has loved and as helped by that love, has that ”internal sense” by means of which he is capable of love The ”human objects” which present themselves to that sense have reflections from it
We should ”wait to be seen” by hi all the intellectual objects, the child will perceive our spirit, and will come to us to take his ease within us It will be to hi, when some one of the objects first attracted him and held him It is impossible that that day, that moment, should not arrive We have perfor to him theourselves felt, keeping ourselves in the background, but always present and ready to help We have given great satisfaction to the child by succoring him; when he needed to clarify the order of his e, we offered hi at once without asking anything fro from ourselves We have revealed to him the sounds of the alphabet, the secret of nus but restricting ourselves to as useful to hi, our person
When he felt a desire to choose, he never found an obstacle in us; when he occupied hi time with an exercise, ere careful to protect the tranquillity of his work, as asleep of her babe
When hein us but the echo of his joy
The child found us always indefatigable when he called upon us, almost as if our mission to him were to offer him what he requires, just as it is the ive perfume without limit or intermission
He found with us a new life, no less sweet than the milk he drew from his mother's breast, hich his first love was born Therefore he will one day beco who lives to make him live, from whose self-sacrifice his freedom to live and expand is derived
And undoubtedly the day will come when his spirit will becoin to taste that supreht which lies in the intier be heard by his ear alone The power to obey us, to communicate his conquests to us, to share his joys with us, will be the new element in his life We shall see the child who suddenly becomes aware of his companions, and is alress and their work It will be delightful to witness such a scene as that of four or five children sitting with spoons arrested over the ser because they are absorbed in contemplation of the efforts of a very little co to tuck his napkin under his chin, and finally succeeds in doing so; and then we shall see these spectators assume an expression of relief and pride, almost like that of a father who is present at the triumph of his son
Children will recoress, their spiritual effusions, and their sweet obedience The fruit they will cause us to gather will be abundant beyond anything we can iine Thus it comes to pass when the secrets of life are interpreted ”Give and it shall be given unto you: goodover shall ive into your bosom”
=The essence of moral education=--To keep alive and to perfect psychical sensibility is the essence of moral education Around it, as in the intellectual education which proceeds from the exercise of the senses, _order_ establishes itself: the distinction between right and wrong is perceived No one can _teach_ this distinction in all its details to one who cannot see it But to see the difference and to know it are not the sa
But in order that ”the child may be helped” it is essential that the environood and evil should be duly differentiated An environood is confounded with apathy and evil with activity, good with prosperity and evil with misfortune, is not one adapted to assist the establishment of order in the rant injustice and persecutions occur
Under such conditions the childish consciousness will become like water which has been made turbid, and more poisonous than is alcohol to the life of the foetus Order ether with the clarity of the consciousness; and we cannot tell what may be the consequences to the ”moral man” ”Whoever shall offend one of these little ones, it were better for himthat he were drowned in the depth of the sea” ”If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut it off and cast it froanized environ Even in intellectual education it was not the spontaneous exercise alone which refreshed the intelligence; but further, the lessons of the teacher which confirmed and illuminated the internal order in process of developreen” Now she will say: ”This is right, this is wrong” And it will not be unusual to find children like the one described above, whoit above material bread and intellectual nourishment, will propound the question ood? and what is evil?” But we et that moral lessons should be brief; and that Moses, the father of the sages, in order to inculcate ave ten simple commandments, which to Christ seemed superfluous It is true, however, that at the head of these was the ”law” of love; and that Christ substituted for the Decalogue an amplification of that lahich coislations and ood and evil uished by nitions of ood and evil in question would be absolute; that is to say, they would be bound up with life itself and not with acquired social habits We always speak of a ”voice of conscience”