If, in accordance with the plan I have sketched, you follow rules
which are just the opposite of the established practice, if instead
of taking your scholar far afield, instead of wandering with him
in distant places, in far-off lands, in remote centuries, in the
ends of the earth, and in the very heavens themselves, you try to
keep him to himself, to his own concerns, you will then find him
able to perceive, to remember, and even to reason; this is nature's
order. As the sentient being becomes active his discernment develops
along with his strength. Not till his strength is in excess of
what is needed for self-preservation, is the speculative faculty
developed, the faculty adapted for using this superfluous strength
for other purposes. Would you cultivate your pupil's intelligence,
cultivate the strength it is meant to control. Give his body constant
exercise, make it strong and healthy, in order to make him good
and wise; let him work, let him do things, let him run and shout,
let him be always on the go; make a man of him in strength, and he
will soon be a man in reason.
Of course by this method you will make him stupid if you are always
giving him directions, always saying come here, go there, stop,
do this, don't do that. If your head always guides his hands, his
own mind will become useless. But remember the conditions we laid
down; if you are a mere pedant it is not worth your while to read
my book.
It is a lamentable mistake to imagine that bodily activity hinders
the working of the mind, as if these two kinds of activity ought
not to advance hand in hand, and as if the one were not intended
to act as guide to the other.
There are two classes of men who are constantly engaged in bodily
activity, peasants and savages, and certainly neither of these
pays the least attention to the cultivation of the mind. Peasants
are rough, coarse, and clumsy; savages are noted, not only for their
keen senses, but for great subtility of mind. Speaking generally,
there is nothing duller than a peasant or sharper than a savage.
What is the cause of this difference? The peasant has always done
as he was told, what his father did before him, what he himself
has always done; he is the creature of habit, he spends his life
almost like an automaton on the same tasks; habit and obedience
have taken the place of reason.
The case of the savage is very different; he is tied to no one
place, he has no prescribed task, no superior to obey, he knows
no law but his own will; he is therefore forced to reason at every
step he takes. He can neither move nor walk without considering the
consequences. Thus the more his body is exercised, the more alert
is his mind; his strength and his reason increase together, and
each helps to develop the other.