The strongest constructive factor in the education of a human being is
the settled, quiet order of home, its peace, and its duty.
Openheartedness, industry, straightforwardness at home develop goodness,
desire to work, and simplicity in the child. Examples of artistic work
and books in the home, its customary life on ordinary days and holidays,
its occupations and its pleasures, should give to the emotions and
imagination of the child, periods of movement and repose, a sure contour
and a rich colour. The pure, warm, clear atmosphere in which father,
mother, and children live together in freedom and confidence; where none
are kept isolated from the interests of the others; but each possesses
full freedom for his own personal interest; where none trenches on the
rights of others; where all are willing to help one another when
necessary,--in this atmosphere egoism, as well as altruism, can attain
their richest development, and individuality find its just freedom. As
the evolution of man's soul advances to undreamed-of possibilities of
refinement, of capacity, of profundity; as the spiritual life of the
generation becomes more manifold in its combinations and in its
distinctions; the more time one has for observing the wonderful and deep
secrets of existence, behind the visible, tangible, world of sense, the
more will each new generation of children show a more refined and a more
consistent mental life. It is impossible to attain this result under the
torture of the crude methods in our present home and school training. We
need new homes, new schools, new marriages, new social relations, for
those new souls who are to feel, love, and suffer, in ways infinitely
numerous that we now can not even name. Thus they will come to
understand life; they will have aspirations and hopes; they will
believe; they will pray. The conceptions of religion, love, and art, all
these must be revolutionised so radically, that one now can only surmise
what new forms will be created in future generations. This
transformation can be helped by the training of the present, by casting
aside the withered foliage which now covers the budding possibilities of
life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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