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SEVEN
The
Training of the Mental Faculties
THE first
qualities of the mind that have to be developed are those which can be grouped
under observation. We notice some things, ignore others. Even of what we notice,
we observe very little. A general perception of an object is what we
all usually carry
away
from a cursory half-attentive
glance. A closer attention fixes its place, form, nature as distinct from its
surroundings. Full concentration of the faculty of observation gives us all the
knowledge that the three chief senses can gather about the object, or if we
touch or taste, we may gather all that the five senses can tell of its nature
and properties. Those who make use of the sixth sense, the poet, the painter,
the Yogin, can
also gather much that is hidden from the ordinary observer. The scientist by
investigation ascertains other facts open to a minuter observation. These are
the components of the faculty of observation, and it is obvious that its basis
is attention, which may be only close or close and minute. We may gather much
even from a passing glance at an object, if we have the habit of concentrating
the attention and the habit of sattwic receptivity. The first thing the teacher
has to do is to accustom the pupil to concentrate attention.
We may take the instance of a flower. Instead of looking casually at it and
getting a casual impression of scent, form and colour, he should be encouraged
to know the flower
-
to fix in his mind
the exact shade, the peculiar glow, the precise intensity of the scent, the
beauty of curve and design in the form. His touch should assure itself of the
texture and its peculiarities. Next, the flower should be taken to pieces and
its structure examined with the same carefulness of observation. All this
should be done not as a task, but as an object of interest by skilfully arranged
questions suited to the learner which will draw him on to observe and
investigate one thing after the other until he has
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almost unconsciously mastered the whole.
Memory and judgment are the next qualities that will be
called upon, and they should be encouraged in the same unconscious way. The
student should not be made to repeat the same lesson over again in order to
remember it. That is a mechanical, burdensome and unintelligent way of training the memory. A similar but
different flower should be put in the hands and he should be encouraged to note
it with the same care, but with the avowed object of noting the similarities and
differences. By this practice daily repeated the memory will naturally be
trained. Not only so, but the mental centres of comparison and contrast will be
developed. The learner will begin to observe as a habit the similarities of
things and their differences. The teacher should take every care to encourage
the perfect growth of this faculty and habit. At the same time, the laws of
species and genus will begin to dawn on the mind and, by a skilful following and
leading of the young developing mind, the scientific habit, the scientific
attitude and the fundamental facts of scientific knowledge may in a very short
time be made part of its permanent equipment. The observation and comparison
of flowers, leaves, plants, trees will lay the foundations of botanical know-
ledge without loading the mind with names and that dry set acquisition of
informations which is the beginning of cramming and detested by the healthy
human mind when it is fresh from nature and unspoiled by unnatural habits. In
the same way by the observation of the stars, astronomy, by the observation of
earth, stones, etc., geology, by the observation of insects and animals,
entomology and zoology may be founded. A little later chemistry may be started
by interesting observation of experiments without any formal teaching or heaping
on the mind of formulas and book knowledge. There is no scientific subject the
perfect and natural mastery of which cannot be prepared in early childhood by
this training of the faculties to observe, compare, remember and judge various
classes of objects. It can be done easily and attended with a supreme and
absorbing interest in the mind of the student. Once the taste is created, the
boy can be trusted to follow it up with all the enthusiasm of youth in his
leisure hours. This will prevent the necessity at a later age of teaching him
everything in class.
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The
judgment
will naturally be trained along with the other faculties.
At every step the boy will have to decide what is the right idea, measurement,
appreciation of colour, sound, scent, etc., and what is the wrong. Often the
judgments and distinctions made will have to be exceedingly subtle and
delicate. At first many errors will be made, but the learner should be taught to
trust his judgment without being attached to its results. It will be found that
the judgment will soon begin to respond to the calls made on it, clear itself of
all errors and begin to judge correctly and minutely. The best way is to
accustom the boy to compare his judgments with those of others. When he is
wrong, it should at first be pointed out to him how far he was right and why he
went wrong; afterwards he should be encouraged to note these things for himself.
Every time he is right, his attention should be prominently and encouragingly
called to it so that he may get confidence.
While
engaged in comparing and contrasting, another centre is
certain to develop, the centre of analogy. The learner will inevitably draw
analogies and argue from like to like. He should be encouraged to use this
faculty while noticing its limitations and errors. In this way he will be
trained to form the habit of correct analogy which is an indispensable aid in
the acquisition of knowledge.
The one faculty we have omitted, apart from the faculty of direct reasoning, is
Imagination. This is a most important and indispensable instrument. It may be
divided into three functions, the forming of mental images, the power of
creating thoughts, images and imitations or new combinations of existing
thoughts and images, the appreciation of the soul in things, beauty, charm,
greatness, hidden suggestiveness, the emotion and spiritual life that pervades
the world. This is in every way as important as the training of the faculties
which observe and compare outward things. But that demands a separate and fuller
treatment.
The mental faculties should first be exercised on things, afterwards on words
and ideas. Our dealings with language are much too perfunctory and the absence
of a fine sense for words impoverishes the intellect and limits the fineness and
truth of its operation. The mind should be accustomed first to notice the
word
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thoroughly, its form, sound and sense; then to compare the form with other
similar forms in the points of similarity and difference, thus forming the
foundation of the grammatical sense; then to distinguish between the fine shades
of sense of similar words and the formation and rhythm of different sentences,
thus forming the formation of the literary and the syntactical faculties. All
this should be done informally, drawing on the curiosity and interest, avoiding
set teaching and memorising of rules. The true knowledge takes its base on
things, arthas, and only when it has mastered the thing, proceeds to
formalise its information.
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