Of Will and Wings

Part Two on the discussion of the development of the individual will

Leo Tolstoy, John Holt, Maria Montessori, John Dewey, and Rudolf Steiner are among the world’s great liberators of the will of the child. Each purported that given an appropriate and stimulating environment, an interior guide connects the child with the activities that best support the development of his unique potentials.

Montessori designed charming “Lilliput” environments for children for just such a purpose. Providing miniature furniture and tools for practical life activities, the Children’s Houses offer charming environments with beautifully finished wooden sensorial materials arranged on shelves. The teacher’s primary role is as a connector, demonstrating the thoughtful use of the material that is of immediate interest to a child.

Montessori’s close observation of the children when their hands were engaged in such work revealed that this self-initiated labor engaged the will of the individual and developed powers of concentration.

One day Montessori observed a little girl of three years old, as she carefully removed and replaced one by one a set of graduated knobbed cylinders in the corresponding sockets. Amazed at the singular absorption of the small child, Montessori decided to test the intensity of this concentration. She instructed the teacher to invite the children to promenade around her singing aloud. But the little one, remained oblivious as she repeated her self-appointed challenge.

E.M. Standing  (Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work) writes eloquently of this event:

“Then Montessori picked up the arm chair on which the child was sitting with her in it and placed it on a table. The child who had clung on to the precious cylinders during this interruption at once continued her task as if nothing had happened. With her scientific habit of measuring phenomena Montessori counted the number of times the child repeated the exercise; it was forty-two. Then quite suddenly she stopped ‘as though coming out of a dream.’ She smiled as if she was very happy; her eyes shone and she looked round about her. And strangely enough after all that long concentration she appeared to be rested rather than fatigued.”

The child could be seen as following a physiological, biological and spiritual imperative derived from the heart and soul. Few are aware that the very DNA of that individual holds the keys to the unlocking of unique and soul-satisfying potential.

A society that for generations has itself been force fed the social imperatives of institutions finds it difficult, if not unacceptable, to trust imperatives that arise from an unseen Source. And truly, the vast majority submissively falls in step with the societal drum and their parents beam with pride in their socially sanctioned accomplishments.

Yet, who is there to count the cost of over-speaking the voice of the interior will? The other night over dinner, a friend shared about a companion in his youth who was an outstanding saxophone player—one whose talent and love of the instrument rivaled the stars of the day. But his father, who was a prominent lawyer, insisted his son go to law school. And indeed his son became a respected lawyer, who today at seventy years old, declares he has disliked every day of his profession.

When I speak of ducks and swans it is to contrast the hollow rewards of socially and academically imposed expertise, with the heights of discovery and passionate self-expression in one’s chosen vocation/avocation.

Jesus, a great teacher is quoted as saying, “Seek you first the kingdom of heaven and all these things shall be added unto you.”

This is another way of saying young swans can be taught and related to as swans, and still achieve all the competencies lauded by ducks—the difference being that adult swans swim with extraordinary elegance; and in flight far outdistance their short-winged cousins.

OF DUCKS AND UGLY DUCKLINGS

Q.  Why do you differentiate between the training and the education of human will?

This is part one of a two-part discussion of the training and education of the will.

In the tale of the Ugly Duckling, the mother is concerned about the largest egg in her nest. All the other ducklings have already hatched and are developing according to schedule. Anxiously, she broods, until finally, an ungainly brown-feathered creature hatches – one that, compared the rest of the brood, can only be thought of as ugly.

To her relief when she takes her ducklings for their first swim, her youngest hatchling, while clumsy on land, distinguishes himself as a competent and graceful swimmer, far surpassing the abilities of his older nest mates.

However, the ugly duckling’s subsequent enculturation into “duckness” demotes his status to that of ugly and clumsy once again. By his very nature, he is ill-equipped for bowing to superiors, waddling on land and conforming to barnyard etiquette.

Sadly, the ugly duckling absorbs the attitudes and labels of the surrounding duck society, believing in his inferiority among his peers.

The cygnet endures a series of humiliations until as a young adult he sees his stunning reflection in the water, and recognizes himself to be a swan. When, at last, he meets others of his kind, he sees that they too glide elegantly through the water. And when he takes flight with fellow swans he experiences the ecstasy of flight to greater heights than ducks are capable. Beyond the ken of the duck society, he soars over and beyond the far away mountains.

How does this story relate to humans? One way is to view every human as ultimately “an ugly duckling”. However, whatever the historical precedent and reason, the society at large has come to be governed by duckness.

A powerful tenet of the society of duckness is the training of the individual will, to be forcefully carried out if necessary. According to the tenets of duckness, the primary role of parents and institutional authority figures is the training and even subduing of the individual will to promote compliance with the societal will. Thus all wild tendencies atrophy, and the child learns obedience to authorities that impose habits for success in academic minutia first, and the societal status quo, secondly.

The priorities of duckness are so entrenched, so touted as the only route to success, that most parents fear the slightest deviation. And the system has detentions, fines and drugs to firmly entrain ugly ducklings that indulge in unscheduled swims and flights.

Yet, there are some who have glimpsed their elegant reflection and dream of systems for the development of the heart, will and mind that have little in common with the duck society’s institutional confinement.

In this future system, cygnets will know themselves to be swans. These awakened guides of the next generation of young swans know it is neither desirable nor necessary to control and subdue the wills of beings destined to soar beyond the limitations of duckness.

When we learn to guide swans as swans, self-discipline furthers the path to self-mastery. Rather than forcing the entrained submission of millions, we seek to encourage the activated individual will. Rather than requiring obedience, we facilitate an engaged sense of purpose. As the strictures of enculturation fade away, a society flourishes in a culture of activated and unlimited potential.