{"id":4224,"date":"2013-07-13T01:54:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=4224"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:54:17","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:54:17","slug":"06-mental-education-vol-12-on-education-volume-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/02-works-of-the-mother\/01-cwmce\/12-on-education-volume-12\/06-mental-education-vol-12-on-education-volume-12","title":{"rendered":"-06_Mental-Education.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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 <\/span>\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>
\nMental
\nEducation<\/font><\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\nO<\/font><\/span>f all lines of education, mental education is the most widely
\nknown and practised, yet except in a few rare cases there are gaps which make
\nit something very incomplete and in the end quite insufficient. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Generally speaking, schooling
\nis considered to be all the mental education that is necessary. And when a
\nchild has been made to undergo, for a number of years, a methodical training
\nwhich is more like cramming than true schooling, it is considered that whatever
\nis necessary for his mental development has been done. Nothing of the kind.
\nEven conceding that the training is given with due measure and discrimination
\nand does not permanently damage the brain, it cannot impart to the human mind
\nthe faculties it needs to become a good and useful instrument. The schooling
\nthat is usually given can, at the most, serve as a system of gymnastics to
\nincrease the suppleness of the brain. From this standpoint, each branch of
\nhuman learning represents a special kind of mental gymnastics, and the verbal
\nformulations given to these various branches each constitute a special and
\nwell-defined language. <\/span><\/p>\n

A true mental education, which will prepare man for a higher life,
\nhas five principal phases. Normally these phases follow one after another, but
\nin exceptional individuals they may alternate or even proceed simultaneously.
\nThese five phases, in brief, are: <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>(1) Development of the
\npower of concentration, the capacity of attention. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>(2) Development of the
\ncapacities of expansion, widening, complexity and richness. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>(3) Organisation of one’s
\nideas around a central idea, a higher ideal or a supremely luminous idea that
\nwill serve as a guide in life. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>(4) Thought-control,
\nrejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able to think only what one wants
\nand when one wants.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 24<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

(5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and
\nmore total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the
\nbeing. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is not possible to give here all the details concerning the
\nmethods to be employed in the application of these five phases of education to
\ndifferent individuals. Still, a few explanations on points of detail can be
\ngiven. <\/span><\/p>\n

Undeniably, what most impedes mental progress in children is the
\nconstant dispersion of their thoughts. Their thoughts flutter hither and
\nthither like butterflies and they have to make a great effort to fix them. Yet
\nthis capacity is latent in them, for when you succeed in arousing their
\ninterest, they are capable of a good deal of attention. By his ingenuity,
\ntherefore, the educator will gradually help the child to become capable of a
\nsustained effort of attention and a faculty of more and more complete
\nabsorption in the work in hand. All methods that can develop this faculty of
\nattention from games to rewards are good and can all be utilised according to
\nthe need and the circumstances. But it is the psychological action that is most
\nimportant and the sovereign method is to arouse in the child an interest in
\nwhat you want to teach him, a liking for work, a will to progress. To love to
\nlearn is the most precious gift that one can give to a child: to love to learn
\nalways and everywhere, so that all circumstances, all happenings in life may be
\nconstantly renewed opportunities for learning more and always more. <\/span><\/p>\n

For that, to attention and concentration should be added
\nobservation, precise recording and faithfulness of memory. This faculty of
\nobservation can be developed by varied and spontaneous exercises, making use of
\nevery opportunity that presents itself to keep the child’s thought wakeful,
\nalert and prompt. The growth of the understanding should be stressed much more
\nthan that of memory. One knows well only what one has understood. Things learnt
\nby heart, mechanically, fade away little by little and finally disappear; what
\nis understood is never forgotten. Moreover, you must never refuse to explain to
\na child the how <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 25<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

and the why of things. If you cannot do it yourself, you must
\ndirect the child to those who are qualified to answer or point out to him some
\nbooks that deal with the question. In this way you will progressively awaken in
\nthe child the taste for true study and the habit of making a persistent effort
\nto know. <\/span><\/p>\n

This will bring us quite naturally to the second phase of
\ndevelopment in which the mind should be widened and enriched. <\/span><\/p>\n

You will gradually show the child that everything can become an
\ninteresting subject for study if it is approached in the right way. The life of
\nevery day, of every moment, is the best school of all, varied, complex, full of
\nunexpected experiences, problems to be solved, clear and striking examples and
\nobvious consequences. It is so easy to arouse healthy curiosity in children, if
\nyou answer with intelligence and clarity the numerous questions they ask. An
\ninteresting reply to one readily brings others in its train and so the
\nattentive child learns without effort much more than he usually does in the
\nclassroom. By a choice made with care and insight, you should also teach him to
\nenjoy good reading-matter which is both instructive and attractive. Do not be
\nafraid of anything that awakens and pleases his imagination; imagination
\ndevelops the creative mental faculty and through it study becomes living and
\nthe mind develops in joy. <\/span><\/p>\n

In order to increase the suppleness and comprehensiveness of his
\nmind, one should see not only that he studies many varied topics, but above all
\nthat a single subject is approached in various ways, so that the child
\nunderstands in a practical manner that there are many ways of facing the same intellectual
\nproblem, of considering it and solving it. This will remove all rigidity from
\nhis brain and at the same time it will make his thinking richer and more supple
\nand prepare it for a more complex and comprehensive synthesis. In this way also
\nthe child will be imbued with the sense of the extreme relativity of mental
\nlearning and, little by little, an aspiration for a truer source of knowledge
\nwill awaken in him. <\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, as the child grows older and progresses in his  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 26<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

studies, his mind too ripens and becomes more and more capable of
\nforming general ideas, and with them almost always comes a need for certitude,
\nfor a knowledge that is stable enough to form the basis of a mental
\nconstruction which will permit all the diverse and scattered and often
\ncontradictory ideas accumulated in his brain to be organised and put in order.
\nThis ordering is indeed very necessary if one is to avoid chaos in one’s
\nthoughts. All contradictions can be transformed into complements, but for that
\none must discover the higher idea that will have the power to bring them
\nharmoniously together. It is always good to consider every problem from all
\npossible standpoints so as to avoid partiality and exclusiveness; but if the
\nthought is to be active and creative, it must, in every case, be the natural
\nand logical synthesis of all the points of view adopted. And if you want to
\nmake the totality of your thoughts into a dynamic and constructive force, you
\nmust also take great care as to the choice of the central idea of your mental
\nsynthesis; for upon that will depend the value of this synthesis. The higher
\nand larger the central idea and the more universal it is, rising above time and
\nspace, the more numerous and the more complex will be the ideas, notions and
\nthoughts which it will be able to organise and harmonise. <\/span><\/p>\n

It goes without saying that this work of organisation cannot be
\ndone once and for all. The mind, if it is to keep its vigour and youth, must
\nprogress constantly, revise its notions in the light of new knowledge, enlarge
\nits frame-work to include fresh notions and constantly reclassify and
\nreorganise its thoughts, so that each of them may find its true place in
\nrelation to the others and the whole remain harmonious and orderly. <\/span><\/p>\n

All that has just been said concerns the speculative mind, the
\nmind that learns. But learning is only one aspect of mental activity; the
\nother, which is at least equally important, is the constructive faculty, the
\ncapacity to form and thus prepare action. This very important part of mental
\nactivity has rarely been the subject of any special study or discipline. Only
\nthose who  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 27<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

want, for some reason, to exercise a strict control over their
\nmental activities think of observing and disciplining this faculty of
\nformation; and as soon as they try it, they have to face difficulties so great
\nthat they appear almost insurmountable. <\/span><\/p>\n

And yet control over this formative activity of the mind is one of
\nthe most important aspects of self-education; one can say that without it no
\nmental mastery is possible. As far as study is concerned, all ideas are
\nacceptable and should be included in the synthesis, whose very function is to
\nbecome more and more rich and complex; but where action is concerned, it is
\njust the opposite. The ideas that are accepted for translation into action
\nshould be strictly controlled and only those that agree with the general trend
\nof the central idea forming the basis of the mental synthesis should be
\npermitted to express themselves in action. This means that every thought
\nentering the mental consciousness should be set before the central idea; if it
\nfinds a logical place among the thoughts already grouped, it will be admitted
\ninto the synthesis; if not, it will be rejected so that it can have no
\ninfluence on the action. This work of mental purification should be done very
\nregularly in order to secure a complete control over one’s actions. <\/span><\/p>\n

For this purpose, it is good to set apart some time every day when
\none can quietly go over one’s thoughts and put one’s synthesis in order. Once
\nthe habit is acquired, you can maintain control over your thoughts even during
\nwork and action, allowing only those which are useful for what you are doing to
\ncome to the surface. Particularly, if you have continued to cultivate the power
\nof concentration and attention, only the thoughts that are needed will be
\nallowed to enter the active external consciousness and they then become all the
\nmore dynamic and effective. And if, in the intensity of concentration, it
\nbecomes necessary not to think at all, all mental vibration can be stilled and
\nan almost total silence secured. In this silence one can gradually open to the
\nhigher regions of the mind and learn to record the inspirations that come from
\nthere.  <\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 28<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

But even before reaching this point, silence in itself is
\nsupremely useful, because in most people who have a somewhat developed and
\nactive mind, the mind is never at rest. During the day, its activity is kept
\nunder a certain control, but at night, during the sleep of the body, the control
\nof the waking state is almost completely removed and the mind indulges in
\nactivities which are sometimes excessive and often incoherent. This creates a
\ngreat stress which leads to fatigue and the diminution of the intellectual
\nfaculties. <\/span><\/p>\n

The fact is that like all the other parts of the human being, the
\nmind too needs rest and it will not have this rest unless we know how to
\nprovide it. The art of resting one’s mind is something to be acquired. Changing
\none’s mental activity is certainly one way of resting; but the greatest
\npossible rest is silence. And as far as the mental faculties are concerned a
\nfew minutes passed in the calm of silence are a more effective rest than hours
\nof sleep. <\/span><\/p>\n

When one has learned to silence the mind at will and to concentrate
\nit in receptive silence, then there will be no problem that cannot be solved,
\nno mental difficulty whose solution cannot be found. When it is agitated,
\nthought becomes confused and impotent; in an attentive tranquillity, the light
\ncan manifest itself and open up new horizons to man’s capacity. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/span>Bulletin<\/i>, November
\n1951<\/font><\/span> <\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 29<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

<span<\/p>\n


\n <\/font><\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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