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AUTHORIZED TRANSLATIONS
OF
Works by Rudolf Steiner, Ph*D 4. (Vienna)
THE WAY OF INITIATION
Or, How to attain Knowledg^e of the Higher Worlds
With a Foreword by Annie Besant and some Biographical Notes ot
the Author by Edouard Schur:^ second edition
237 Cro’wn %vo, 3/6 net. Post /ree^ 3/10
“ This little book gives a singularly interesting account of the personality
and thought of a modern mystic and occultist, . . , The chapters form the
most lucid exposition of the purposes and methods of occultism available to
the lay-reading public.”— TAe MMCbester QuardiBtt,
INITIATION AND ITS RESULTS
A Sequel to “THE WAY OF INITIATION”
Authorized Translation from the German by Clifford Bax
SECOND EDITION
Cloth gilt Crown Zvo, net. Post free ^
“The book*s true function is obviously to serve as a guide to well-
grounded students of occultism ambitious to become * adepts,’ To such we
cordially commend it, adding a word of praise to Clifford Bax, the trans-
lator.”—Tire Bookman.
THE SUBMERGED CONTINENTS OF
ATLANTIS AND LEMURIA
Their History and Civilization. Being Chapters from the
Ak^shic Records
Authorized Translation from the German
20^ pp. Cloth gilt. Crown Zvo net. Post free,
It will be sufficient to indicate the nature of Us contents by quoting a few
chapter-headings from this important work, which deals with the beginnings
^of humanity up to our present civilization ; Our Atlantean Forefathers ; The
Lemurian Era ; Woman in the Third Root-Race ; The First, or Polar,
Race ; The Second, or Hyperborean, Race, etc,
THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
From the Standpoint of Theosophy
Authorized Translation from the Second German Edition
82 pp. Cloth. Pep. Bz/o. 1/- net. Post free, 1/2,
The gradual unfolding of the sense of individuality, the growth of tastes,
inclinations, and distinguishing characteristics, often so perplexing to the
most loving and watchful parents, are all matteis touched on herewith the
illuminated wisdom and reverence that have already stamped the works of
this great teacher with the impress of profound truth.
MYSTICS OF THE RENAISSANCE
And their Relation to Modern Thought
Authorized Translation from the German by Bertram Keigiitley, M.A.
320 pp. Cloth Gilt, Crown Szfo. 4I6 net. Post free, ^fto
In this volume we find the Mystical and Theosopbical thought-world of
the Middle Ages probed to its very depths by the searchli^^ht of clear and
incisive modern criticism. It shows us what the often misinterpreted con-
ceptions of Boehme, Eckhart, Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, and others may
have to offer to men in our day, and the relationship in which these great
masters of the past stand to modern Science and Religion,
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THEOSOPHY
BY
RUDOLF STEIMER
Ph.D. (Vienna)
AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION
FROM THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION
LONDON
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY
INTRODUCTION
It would be presumptuous to write
a preface to this little book, which
has met with great success in Germany
and which has been translated into
many languages, but it may not be out
of place to quote Professor Huxley’s
beautiful and famous words found in his
Jtlssays on Science and Education :
“ Suppose it were perfectly certain*
that the life and fortune of every one of
us would, one day or other, depend upon
his winning or losing a game at chess.
Don’t you think that we should all
consider it to be a primary duty to
learn at least the names and the moves
of the pieces ; to have a notion of a
gambit, and a keen eye for all the means
of giving and getting out of check?
Do you not think that we should look
5
THE
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
FROM THE STANDPOINT OF
THEOSOPHY
(Translated by W. B.)
Present-day life calls into question
many things which man has inherited
from his ancestors ; hence the number-
less questions of the day, as, for ex-
ample, the Social Problem, the Woman’s
Movement, Education and School Ques*
tions. Law Reform, Hygiene, Sanitation,
and so forth. We try to grapple with
these problems in manifold ways. The
number of those who bring forward this
or that remedy in order to solve this or
that question, or at least to contribute
something towards its solution, is im-
measurably great, and every possible
shade of opinion is manifested in these
endeavours : Radicalism, carrying itself
9
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with a revolutionary air ; the moderate
view, full of respect for existing things
and desirous of fashioning out of them
something new ; or Conservatism, up in
arms whenever old institutions and tra-
ditions are tampered with ; and besides
these main attitudes there are all sorts
of intermediate points of view.
He who is able to probe deeply into
life cannot help feeling one thing with
regard to these phenomena — ^that the
claims which are placed before men in
our time are met repeatedly by in-
adequate means. Many would like to
reform life without really knowing it
from its foundations. He who would
put forth a proposition as to hfe in the
future, must not content himself with
merely learning to know life superfi-
cially. He must probe it to its depths.
Life is like a plant that contains not
only that which is visible to the eye,
but also a future condition concealed
within its secret depths. He who has
before him a plant that is just in leaf is
well aware that later on blossoms and
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fruit will be added to the leaf-bearing
stem. The germs of these blossoms and
fruit are already concealed within the
plant. But it is impossible for one who
merely regards it in its present condition
to say how these organs will ultimately
appear. Only he who is acquainted
with the nature of the plant can do so.
Human life also contains within itself
the germs for its future. But to be able
to say anything about this future, one
must penetrate into the hidden nature
of man, and this the present age has no
real inclination to do. It busies itself
with the surface, and thinks itself tread-
ing on unsafe ground should it advance
into that which is hidden from external
observation. With the plant, it is true,
the matter is considerably simpler. We
know that its like has often and often
brought forth flowers and fruit. Human
life exists but once, and the flowers which
it is to bring forth in the future were
not previously there. None the less
they exist in human life in embryo, just
as much as the flowers of the plant
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which at present is only just bearing
leaves.
And it is possible to say something
about this future when one penetrates
beneath the surface, into the heart of
human nature. The different reforma-
tory ideas of the present can only be-
come really fruitful and practical when
they are the result of this deep research
into human life.
Theosophy is suited by its very nature
to present a practical philosophy, com-
prehending the whole sphere of human
life. Whether or not Theosophy, or
that which in our time so often passes
for it, is justified in putting forth such a
claim, is not the point. The point con-
cerns rather the nature of Theosophy,
and what, by means of this nature, it is
able to accompUsh. It ought not to be
a colourless theory to satisfy the mere
desire for knowledge, nor yet a medium
for those men who, out of selfishness,
would hke to win for themselves a higher
degree of evolution. It can contribute
something to the most important pro-
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blems of present-day Humanity, in the
development of its well-being.
Of course, if it acknowledges a mission
of this kind, it must expect to meet
with all manner of opposition and doubt.
Radicals, Moderates, and Conservatives
of all departments in life will surely raise
such doubts against it. For at first it
will be unable to please any one party,
because its doctrines reach far beyond
all party motives.
And these doctrines have their roots
whoUy and solely in the true under-
standing of life. He who understands
life will only be able to take his lessons
from life itself. He will draw up no
capricious schemes, for he knows that
no other fundamental laws of life will
prevail in the future than such as prevail
in the present. Theosophy will there-
fore of necessity have respect for the
existing state of things. Even should
it still find in what is existent very
much that might be improved, yet it
will not fail to perceive in the present
the germs of the future. But it knows,
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EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
too, that for all things nascent there is
a growth and a development. There-
fore the germs for a transformation
and for a future growth will appear to
Theosophy in the existing state of things.
It invents no schemes, it only calls them
forth from what already exists. But
that which is so called forth becomes in
a certain sense itself a scheme, for it con-
tains within itself the nature of evolution.
For this very reason the Theosophical
way of delving into the nature of man
must yield the most fruitful and practical
means for the solution of the vitally
important questions of the present time.
It is my purpose to apply this to one
such question, namely, that of education.
We do not intend to advance any claims
nor pronounce a learned dissertation,
but to portray simply the child nature.
From a study of the nature of the grow-
ing man, the educational standpoint
here suggested will develop quite natur-
ally. But to proceed rightly with such
a study, it is necessary to contemplate
the hidden nature of man in general.
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That which is cognised by the physical
perception, that which the materialistic
view of life considers to he the only
important element in the nature of man,
namely, his physical body, forms, accord-
ing to spiritual research, only a part, a
principle of human nature. This physical
body is subject to the same laws of
physical life, is composed of the same
matter and forces, as all the rest of
the so-called lifeless world. Theosophy,
therefore, maintains that man possesses
this physical aspect in common with the
whole of the mineral kingdom. And
it considers as physical body that part
only in man which is able to mix, unite,
to build up and to dissolve the very same
materials, and after identical laws, as are
also at work in the mineral world.
Now, besides this physical body, Theo-
sopJiy recognises a second element in the
constitution of man, namely, a vital or
etheric body. And that there may be
no cause for the physicist to reject the
term etheric body, we would point out
that “ etheric ” is here used in a different
15
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
sense from the hypothetical ether of
physics, and that it must be taken here to
mean that which is about to be described.
It has been considered for some time
past a most unscientific proceeding to
speak of an “ etheric body ” of this kind.
At the end of the eighteenth and in the
first half of the nineteenth century, it
is true, it was not considered “ unscien-
tific.” It was then said that matter and
force operating in a mineral could not
of their own power form themselves into
a living being. For this there must be
an especial indwelling “force,” which
was termed “vital force.” It was re-
presented, indeed, that such a force
operates in plants, in animals, and in
human bodies, and produces the pheno-
mena of life just as magnetic force in
the magnet causes attraction. In the
succeeding period of materialism this
theory was abandoned. It was then
said that a living being builds itself
up in the same way as a so-called life-
less being ; no other forces prevail in an
organism than those which are in the
16
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
mineral — they only operate in a more
complicated manner ; they build up a
more complex structure. At the present
time only the most obstinate materialists
cling to this denial of the “ vital force.”
A number of natural philosophers have
taught that one must nevertheless admit
some such thing as a vital force or a life-
principle.
Thus the new science approaches in
a certain sense the teaching of Theo-
sophy in regard to the vital body.
Nevertheless there is a considerable
difference between the two. Science
to-day, by means of intellectual ob-
servations founded on the facts of
ordinary perception, has accepted the
idea of a kind of vital force. But this
is not the method of a truly spiritual
research, such as Theosophy aims at,
and from the results of which proceed
the Theosophical teachings. It cannot
be pointed out too often, how Theo-
sophy dijfFers on this point from the
current science of the day. The latter
considers the experiences of the senses
17 2
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
to be the basis of all knowledge, and
whatever is not built upon this basis
it treats as unknowable. From the
impressions of the senses it draws de-
ductions and conclusions. But anything
that goes further it puts aside as being
beyond the limits of human knowledge.
To Theosophy such a prospect resembles
the view of a blind man who only takes
into consideration those things that he
can touch, and what he may infer from
the object touched by reasoning, but who
sets aside the statements of those who
can see as being beyond the faculty of
humanperception. F or Theosophy shows
that man is capable of evolution, that
through the developing of new organs
he may conquer for himself new worlds.
Around the blind man there is colour
and light, but he cannot perceive th^em
because he does not possess the requisite
organs. Around man — so Theosophy
teaches — ^there are many worlds, and he
can observe them if only he develops the
organs necessary for the purpose.
Even as the blind man looks upon a
18
EDUCATION OF CHILDKEN
new world as soon as he has under-
gone a successful operation, so can man,
through the developing of higher organs,
perceive worlds quite different from
those which he observed at first with
his ordinary senses. Now whether or
not it is possible to operate on one who
is bodily blind depends on the conditions
of the organs ; but those higher organs
by which one may penetrate into the
upper worlds, exist in embryo in every
human being. Anyone can develop
them who has the patience, endurance,
and energy to make use of those methods
which are described in my two books
entitled The Way of Initiation^ and
Initiation and its Results}
^ The Way of Initiation, or How to Attain Know-
ledge of the Higher Worlds. By Rudolf Steiner,
PhrD. With a Foreword by Annie Besant, and
some Biographical Notes of the author by Edouard
Schure. Second edition. 237 pages, cloth, crown
8vo, 3s. lOd. post free.
2 Initiation and its Results. A sequel to The Way
of Initiation. Second edition. 3s. 9d. post free.
To be obtained from the Theosophical Publishing
Society, l6l New Bond Street, London, W.
19
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
Theosophy does not speak of limita-
tions to man’s knowledge through his
organism, but says, on the contrary, that
he is surrounded by worlds for which he
has the organs of perception. It indi-
cates the means by which to extend the
temporary limits. It also occupies itself
with the investigation of the vital or
etheric body, and to what in the fol-
lowing may be called the yet higher
principles of human nature. It admits
that only the physical body can be
accessible to the investigation of the
bodily senses, and that from this stand-
point one can at most but chance on
something higher by a train of reasoning.
But it gives information as to how one
can open up for oneself a world in which
these higher principles of human nature
appear before the observer, just as the
colours and light of objects appear, after
an operation, to one born blind. For
those who have developed the higher
organs of perception, the etheric or
vital body is an object of actual ob-
servation, and not a theory resulting
20
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
from intellectual activity or a train
of reasoning.
Man has this etheric or vital body in
common with the plants and animals.
It causes the matter and forces of the
physical body to form themselves into
the manifestations of growth, of repro-
duction, of the internal motions of
the fluids, etc. It is also the builder
and sculptor of the physical body,
its inhabitant and its architect. The
physical body can therefore also be
called an image or expression of this
vital body. Both are approximately
the same in man as regards form and
size, yet they are by no means quite,
alike. But the etheric body in animals,
and still more in plants, differs consider-
ably from the physical body with regard
to its shape and dimension.
The third principle of the human
being is the so-called body of feeling,
or astral body. It is the vehicle of
pain and pleasure, of impulse, desire,
passion, and so forth. An entity com-
posed merely of a physical and an
21
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
etheric body has nothing of all that to
which may be ascribed the term “ sen-
sation.” The plant has no sensation.
If many a learned man of our time
concludes that plants have a certain
power of sensation, from the fact that
many of them respond to a stimulus,
by movement, or in other ways, he
merely shows that he does not know
the essence of sensation. The point is,
not whether the being in question re-
sponds to an outward stimulus, but
rather, whether the stimulus reflects
itself through an inner experience, such
as pleasure or pain, impulse, desire, etc.
^If this be not the standard of sensation,
one would be justified in asserting that
blue litmus paper has a sense of feel-
ing for certain substances, because on
coming into contact with them, it turns
red.’^
Man has the astral body in common
1 This distinction is important, for the ideas
of the present time with regard to this subject
are rather inaccurate. The difference between
the vegetable and the creature gifted with the
22
EDUCATION OF CHILDHEN
with the animal world only. It is thus
the medium for the life of sensation and
feeling.
One must not fall into the error of
certain Theosophical circles and think
that the etheric body and astral body
consist merely of finer matter than
that which exists in the physical body.
For this would mean simply the ma-
terialisation of these higher prin-
power of sensation is completely lost sight of,
because the essential characteristic of sensibility
is not cleai’ly defined. When a being (or an
object) responds to an exterior impression by
showing any effect whatever, it is inaccurate to
conclude that this impression has been felt. To
bear out this conclusion the impression must be^
experienced inwardly, that is to say, the outside
stimulus must produce a kind of interior reflection.
The great progress of natural science, which a
true Theosophist must sincerely admire, has
thrown our abstract vocabulary into confusion.
Some of our biologists are ignorant of the charac-
teristics of sensibility, and thus accredit it to
beings who are devoid of it. Sensibility, such as
it is comprehended by those biologists, can, it is
true, be attributed to organisms deprived of it.
But what is imderstood by Theosophy as sensibility
is a totally different quality.
23
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
ciples of human nature. The etheric
body is a form of living forces ; it is
composed of active forces, but not of
matter — and the astral body or body of
feeling is a form consisting of coloured
luminous pictures revolving within
themselves.
The astral body differs in form and
size from the physical body. It appears
in man in the form of an oblong egg,
in which the physical and the etheric
bodies are embedded. It projects on
all sides beyond these two like a
luminous cloud.
Now in the nature of man there is
.a fourth principle which he does not
share with other earthly creatures.
This is the vehicle of the human “ 1.”
The little word “ I,” as we call it in
English, is a word that separates its^f
from all other words. He who duly
1 A distinction must be made between the con-
scious inner life of the astral body and the per-
ception of this life by outward clairvoyant observa-
tion. Here this latter perception by a trained
clairvoyant is inteirded.
24
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
reflects on the nature of this word
gains access at the same time to an
understanding of human nature. Every
other word may be used by all men in
the same way to suit some correspond-
ing object. Anyone can call a table,
“ table,” anyone can call a chair, “ chair,”
but with the word “ I ” it is not so.
No one can use it as an indication of
someone else, for each person can only
speak of himself as “ I.” Never can
the word “ I ” sound in my ears as a
reference to myself. For a man in
designating himself “ I ” must name
himself within himself. A being that
can say to himself “ I ” is a world in ^
himself. Those religions which are
built up on the basis of Theosophy have
always felt this. They have therefore
‘‘said that with the “ ego ” the God
begins to speak within — the God
who among lower beings is manifested
only from without in the surrounding
phenomena.
The vehicle of this latest developed
capacity is now “ the body of the ego,”
25
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
the fourth principle of the human being.^
This body of the ego is the vehicle of
the higher human soul, and through it
man is the crown of all earthly creation.
But the ego in present humanity is by
no means a simple entity. Its nature
can be recognised when a comparison
is made between men of dilFerent stages
of evolution. Take, for instance, the
uneducated savage and the average
European, and compare these again
with a lofty idealist. Each one of
them has the faculty of saying to him-
self “ I,” for the “ body of the ego ” is
existent in each of them. But the
uncivilised savage gives way with this
“ I ” to his passions, his impulses and
appetites, almost like an animal. The
more highly developed man allows him-
self to follow certain inclinations
1 The reader need not object to the technical
term "body of the ego,” because there is nothing
of gross physical matter meant by it ; but occult
science being forced to employ the vocabulary
of ordinary language, the words applied to Theo-
sophy ought from the outset to be taken in a
spiritual sense.
26
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desires ; others he checks or suppresses.
The idealist has formed, in addition to
the original inclinations and passions,
others that are higher. This is all due
to the fact that the “ ego ” has been at
work on the other principles of the
human being. And it is precisely the
mission of the ‘‘ego” to ennoble and
purify the other principles by its own
power.
So the lower principles, under the
influence of the “ ego,” have become
more or less changed within a man who
has surmounted the conditions in which
the outer world has placed him. Take
the case of the man who is just raising
himself above the level of the animal —
when his “ ego ” flashes out he still re-
sembles the animal with regard to his
•l^jyer principles. His etheric or vital
body is solely the medium of the living
constructive forces of growth and pro-
pagation. His astral body only gives
expression to such impulses, desires, and
passions as are stimulated by his outer
nature. All the time that the man is
27
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struggling on through successive lives
or incarnations, from this degree of
culture to an ever higher evolution, his
ego is remodelling the other principles.
In this way the astral body becomes
the medium of purified pleasurable and
unpleasurable sensations, refined desires
and longings. And the etheric or
vital body is also transformed. It
becomes the vehicle of habits, of per-
manent inclinations, of temperament,
and of memory. A man whose ego
has not yet influenced his vital body
has no remembrance of the experiences
he undergoes. He lives just as he has
been brought up by Nature.
The whole development of civilisation
expresses itself for man in this working
of the ego upon the subordinate prin-
ciples. This working penetrates eyp«r
to the physical body. Under the in-
fluence of the ego, the physiognonay,
the gestures and movements, the whole
appearance of the physical body, change.
One can also discern how differently
the various mediums of civilisation
28
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
affect the individual principles of the
human being. The common factors of
civilisation influence the astral body.
They bring to it other kinds of pleasure,
displeasure, impulse, etc., than it origin-
ally had. Absorption in a work of art
influences the etheric body, for a man
obtains through a work of art the
presentiment of something higher and
nobler than that which is offered by
the environment of the senses, and thus
transforms his vital body. A powerful
means for the purification and ennoble-
ment of the etheric body is religion.
Religious impulses have, in this way,
their sublime mission in the evolution *
of humanity.
That which is called conscience is no-
thing but the result of the work of the
^§o on the vital body through a succession
of incarnations. When a man perceives
thai: he must not do certain things, and
when, through this perception, an im-
pression is made on him deep enough to
communicate itself to his etheric body,
the conscience begins to be formed.
29
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
Now this work of the ego on the
subordinate principles can either be
one that belongs rather to the whole
human race, or it can be quite indi-
vidually a work of the single ego upon
itself. In the first change of man, to
a certain extent, the whole human race
takes part ; the latter must depend on
the inner activity of the ego. When
the ego grows strong enough entirely
to remodel the astral body through
its own strength, then that which the
ego makes of this astral body or body
of feeling is called the “ Spirit- Self ”
(Geistesselbst) ^ or as they say in the
East, Manas. This transformation
consists essentially in an imbuing, in
an enriching of the inner being with
higher ideas and perceptions. But the
ego can arrive at yet higher and
1 The terms "Spirit-Self,” "Life-Spirit,” and
“ Spirit-Man ” need not mystify the reader ; #hey
stand for those Transmutations of our grosser
bodies which are the results of conscious eflFort
and pure aspirations : they form, in other words,
the Higher Trinity, called in Eastern terminology
Manas, Buddhi, and AtmS respectively.
30
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
intimate work with regard to the special
entity of man. This occurs when not
merely the astral body is enriched, but
when the etheric or vital body becomes
transformed. Man learns a certain
amount in the course of life, and when
he looks back on his life from any point
he is able to say to himself: “I have
learnt much ” ; but how much less is he
able to speak of a change of tempera-
ment and character, of an improvement
or deterioration of the memory during
life. Learning affects the astral body,
whilst the latter transformations affect
the etheric or vital body. It would
therefore be no inapt simile to compare
the change of the astral body in life to
the movement of the minute-hand of
the clock, the change of the vital body
lE^that of the hour-hand.
When a man enters upon the higher
or so-called occult training, the chief
thing to bear in mind is that he at once
begins this latter transformation by the
innermost might of the ego. He must
work quite consciously and individually
31
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at the changing of habits, temperament,
character, memory, etc. As much of
this vital body as he works upon in this
way becomes transformed into the
“ Life-Spirit ” (Lebensgeist), or as the
Eastern expression has it, into Buddhi.
On a yet higher stage of evolution
man attains to powers by which he can
ejffect a transformation of his physical
body (as, for example, changing the
pulse and the circulation of the blood).
As much of the physical body as is
transformed in this way is called
“ Spirit-Man ” (Geistesmensch) — Atmi.
The changes which are effected in
the lower principles by man, not as
an individual, but rather as a whole
group of the human race or a part
of it — such as a nation, a tribe, or a
family — have in Theosophy the follow*
ing names : —
The astral body, or body of feeling,
when transformed by the ego is called
the sentient soul ; the transformed
etheric body becomes the rational soul ;
and the transformed physical body the
32
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self-conscious soul. But it is not to be
supposed that the transformation of
these three principles takes place success-
ively. It takes place in all three bodies
simultaneously, from the moment when
the ego flashes out. Indeed, the work
of the ego is not, generally speaking,
perceptible until a part of the self-
conscious soul is formed.
It is seen from the foregoing para-
graph that there are four principles in
the being of man : the physical body,
the etheric or vital body, the astral or
body of feeling, and the ego-body. The
sentient soul, the rational soul, the
self-conscious soul — (and indeed the
yet higher principles of human nature
also), — ^the Spirit-Self (Manas), the Life-
Spirit (Buddhi), the Spirit-Man (Atm^)
appear as the products of the trans-
formation of these four principles. In
speaking about the sources of our
human capacities, only these four prin-
ciples can be taken into account.
As a teacher works upon these four
principles of the human constitution,
33 3
EDUCATION OF CHIUDREN
he must, in order to work in the right
way, penetrate into the nature of these
divisions of man. Now it must by no
means be imagined that these parts de-
velop themselves in man in such a way
that at any one moment of his life — say at
his birth — they are all equally advanced.
On the contrary their development takes
place at the various life-periods in a
different way. And the right founda-
tions for education and instruction
depend on the knowledge of this law
of the evolution of human nature.
Before physical birth the nascent
human being is enclosed on all sides by
an alien physical body. It does not
come into contact independently with
the outward physical world. The physi-
cal body of the mother forms its envir-
onment. This body alone can influence
the maturing foetus. Physical birth
consists precisely in the fact that the
physical body of the mother releases the
child, thereby causing the surroundings
of the physical world to influence him
immediately. The senses open them-
34
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
selves to the outward world, and this
latter is thereby able to exercise those
influences over the child which were
previously exercised by the physical
body of the mother.
For a spiritual comprehension of the
world, such as is represented by Theo-
sophy, the physical body is then actually
born, but not yet the etheric or vital
body. As the child, until the moment
of his birth, is surrounded by the physi-
cal body of the mother, so too until the
time of his second teeth, about the age
of seven, is he surrounded by an etheric
and an astral covering. Not until the
time of the change of teeth does the
etheric covering release the etheric body.
Then until the time of puberty there
still remains an astral covering.^ At
’ Were these affirmations to be wrongly inter-
preted, the objection might be raised that a
child before cutting his second teeth is not de-
prived of memory, and that before reaching the
age of puberty he possesses the inherent faculties
of the astral body. It must not be forgotten that
the etheric and r stral bodies are in existence from
the moment of p .ysical birth, although surrounded
35
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
this period the astral or desire body also
becomes free on all sides, as did the
by tbe protecting shell described. It is precisely
this envelope protecting the etheric body which
permits of a remarkably good memory before the
cutting of the second teeth. The existence of
physical eyes in the embryonic being concealed
in the womb of the mother is analogous. And
in the same way that the physical eyes sheltered
from all external influence do not owe their develop-
ment to the physical sunlight, so also education from
without should not intervene in the training of the
memory before the cutting of the second teeth.
Very much to the contrary, the spontaneous growth
of the memory will be noticeable, provided there
is food for it within reach, and no attempt be made
to train it by means of exterior methods.
This observation applies equally to the qualities
belonging to the astral body before puberty.
Provision should be made for their training, but
bearing in mind that this body is still encompassed
by a protecting shell. It is something wholly
different to take care of the germs which are in
process of development within the astral body
before puberty and to expose the freed astral
body after puberty to what it can assimilate in the
outer world, tvithout the protecting shell. This
distinction is certainly very subtle, but without
its careful consideration the whole significance
of education cannot be understood.
36
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
physical body at the time of the physical
birth and the etheric body at the time
of the second teeth.
Thus, then. Theosophy must speak of
three births of man. Certain impres-
sions, which are intended to reach the
etheric body, can reach it as little, up to
the time of the second teeth, as the light
and air of the physical world can reach
the physical body while it remains in
the womb of the mother.
Before the coming of the second teeth
the free vital body is not at work. As
the physical body, whilst in the womb
of the mother, receives powers which
are not its own, and within that pro-
tective covering gradually develops its
own, so is this also the case with these
later powers of growth until the time
of the second teeth. Only at this period
does the etheric body perfect its own
powers in conjunction with the inherited
and alien ones. During this time, while
the etheric body is freeing itself, the
physical body is already independent.
The etheric body, which is gradually
37
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
freeing itself, perfects that which it has
to give to the physical body. And the
final point of this work is the child’s
own teeth, which come in the place of
those he has inherited. They are the
densest things embedded in the physical
body, and therefore at this period appear
last.
After this period the child’s own
etheric body takes care of its growth
alone. Only the latter still remains
under the influence of an enveloped
astral body. As soon as the astral
body becomes free as well, a period is
terminated for the etheric body. This
termination takes place at the time of
puberty. The reproductive organs be-
come independent, because from hence
forth the free astral body does not work
inwardly, but openly encounters the
external world.
As one is not able to let the influences
of the outward world affect the child
physically before it is born, so those
powers (which are the same to him as
the impressions of the physical surround-
38
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
ings to the physical body) should not be
allowed to affect the etheric body before
the time of the second teeth. And the
corresponding influences upon the astral
body ought only to be brought into play
at the time of puberty.
Common phrases, such as “the har-
monious training of all the powers and
talents,” and the like, cannot form the
foundation for a true system of educa-
tion, for this can only be built upon a
genuine knowledge of the human being.
We do not mean to aflirm that the
above-mentioned phrases are incorrect,
but only that they are as valueless as
if one were to say with regard to a
machine that all its parts must be
brought into harmonious working order.
Only he who approaches it, not with
mere phrases, but with a real knowledge
of the particular kind of machine, can
handle it. This applies also to the art
of education, to the knowledge of the
principles in a human being and of their
individual developments ; one must
know which part of the human being
39
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
should be influenced at a certain time
of life, and how to bring such influences
to bear upon him in a suitable manner.
There is indeed no doubt that a really
intelligent system of education, such as
is outlined in these pages, can make its
way but slowly. This is due to the
manner of viewing things in our day,
wherein the facts of the spiritual world
will still be considered for a long time
as merely the overflow of a mad fantasy,
while common-place and entirely super-
ficial phrases will be regarded as the
result of a really practical way of think-
ing. We shall here proceed to give a
► free outline of what will be considered
by many at the present time a mere
mirage of the fancy, but which will in
time to come be an accepted fact.
At physical birth the physical human
body is exposed to the physical envir-
onment of the external world, whilst
previously it was encircled by the pro-
tective body of the mother. That which
the forces and fluids of the mother’s body
did to it previously must now be done
40
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
by the forces and elements of the outer
physical world. Up to the time of the
second teething, at the age of seven, the
human body has a mission to perform
for itself, which is essentially diiferent
from the missions of all the other life-
epochs. The physical organs must form
themselves into certain shapes during
this time ; then structural proportions
must take definite directions and tend-
encies. Later on growth takes place, but
this growth in all future time proceeds
on the bases of the shapes which were
in process of formation until the time
mentioned. If normal shapes have been
forming themselves, normal shapes wiU
afterwards grow, and conversely from
abnormal bases will proceed abnormal
results. One cannot make amends in
all the succeeding years for that which
has been neglected by a guardian during
the first seven years. As the right
environment for the physical human
body is provided by Nature before birth,
so after birth it is the duty of the
guardian to provide it. Only this
41
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
correct physical environment influences
the child in such a way that his physical
organs mould themselves into the normal
forms.
There are two magic words which
epitomise the relation which is formed
between the child and its environment.
These are Imitation and Example.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, called
man the most imitative of animals, and
for no other period of life is this more
applicable than for the age of childhood
up to the time of the second teething.
The child imitates whatever takes place
in its physical environment, and in the
imitation his physical organs mould
themselves into the forms which then
become lasting. The term physical
environment is to be taken in the widest
sense imaginable. To it belongs not
only that which takes place materially
round the child, but everything that is
enacted in his surroundings, everything
that may be observed by his senses,
everything that from all points of
physical space can influence his spiritual
42
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
forces. To it also belong aU. actions,
moral or immoral, sensible or foolish,
that the child may see.
It is not by moral texts nor by
rational precepts, but by what is done
visibly before the child by the grown-up
people around him, that he is influenced
in the manner indicated. Instruction
produces effects only upon the etheric
body, not upon the physical, and up to
the age of seven the etheric body is
surrounded by a protective etheric shell,
just as the physical body until physical
birth is surrounded by the body of the
mother. That which ought to be de-
veloped in this etheric body in the way
of ideas, habits, memory, etc., before
the age of seven, must develop itself
“ spontaneously,” in the same way as
the eyes and ears develop themselves
in the womb of the mother without
the influence of the external light. It
is written in an excellent educational
book, Jean Paul’s Levana, or Pedagogics,
that a world-traveller learns more from
his nurse in his early years than in all
43
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
of his travels put together. This is
undoubtedly true ; but the child does
not learn by instruction but by imita-
tion. And his physical organs form
themselves through the influence of his
physical surroundings. A healthy vision
is formed when the right colours and
conditions of light are brought into the
child’s environment, and the physical
foundations for a healthy moral nature
are formed in the brain and in the cir-
culation of the blood when the child
sees moral things in his environment.
When the child, up to the age of seven,
sees only foolish actions taking place
around him, his brain assumes such
forms as to make him also, in later life,
capable only of foolishness.
As the muscles of the hand grow
strong and powerful when they do work
suitable for them, so the brain and the
other organs of the physical human
body will be directed towards the right
path if they receive the right impres-
sions jfrom their environment." An
example will best illustrate the point in
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
question. A doU can be made out of
an old piece of Hnen, by making two
corners serve for arms, two for legs, and
a knot for the head, with the eyes, nose,
and mouth painted in ink ; or a so-called
“ beautiful ” doll can be bought, with
real hair and painted cheeks, and given
to the child. The latter, it is hardly
necessary to say, is really horrible, and
is calculated to ruin the child’s sound
aesthetic taste for life. Here the question
of education is quite a different one. If
the child has the rag-doll to look at, it
has to complete, out of its own imagina-
tion, the impression of a human being
which the doll is intended to convey.
This work of the imagination helps to
build up the forms of the brain, so that
it opens up as the muscles of the hand
expand by doing their natural work.
When the child possesses the so-called
“ beautiful doll,” there is nothing further
for the brain to do. It becomes, as it
were, stunted and dried up, instead of
expanding itself. If people could look
into the brain after the manner of the
45
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
occultist and see it building itself up
into forms, they would certainly only
give their children that kind of play-
thing which is really able to stimulate
the creative powers of the brain. All
toys that are only composed of dead
mathematical forms have a desolating
and deadening effect on the child’s
formative powers, whilst on the other
hand everything that stimulates the
perception of something living tends to
influence in the right direction. Our
materialistic age produces but few good
toys — such for instance as that in which
two movable pieces of wood are made
to represent two smiths facing one
another and hammering at some object.
Such things may still be bought in the
country. Very good, also, are those
picture-books in which the figures are
made to be pulled by strings, thus en-
abling the child to transform the dead
picture into a representation of action.
All this produces an inner activity of
the organs, and out of this activity the
right form of the organs builds itself up.
46
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
Of course these things can only just
be indicated here, but in the future
occult science will be called upon to
point out that which in each particular
case is necessary, and this it is able to
do. For it is not an empty abstraction,
but a body of vital facts quite able to
furnish the guiding-lines for practical
matters.
One or two further examples will
serve as illustrations. According to
occult science, a so-called nervous, ex-
citable child should be treated differently
from a lethargic and inactive one with
regard to its surroundings. Everything
must be taken into consideration, from
the colour of the room and the various
objects by which the child is generally
surrounded, to the colour of the clothes
in which it is dressed. One may often
do the wrong thing unless willing to
be guided by occult science, for a
materialistic tendency will in many
cases hit on just the opposite of what
is right: An excitable child should be
clothed and surrounded with red or
47
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
reddish-yellow colours, whilst for the
opposite type of child blue or bluish-
green should be selected. For in
accordance with the colour used out-
wardly is the complementary colour
produced inwardly. Thus, for instance,
green is produced by red, orange-yellow
by blue ; and of this one may easily be
convinced by looking for a time on a
spot of a particular colour and then
quickly directing the eyes to a white
surface. This complementary colour is
produced by the physical organs of the
child, and in turn reacts upon the corre-
sponding organic structures necessary to
the child. Red in the environment of
an excitable child produces inwardly
the green complementary picture. The
activity thus produced by the sensation
of green has a calming effect, and the
organs take upon themselves the ten-
dency to composure.
One rule must invariably be taken
into consideration at this period of
life — that the physical body has to
create for itself the standard of what
48
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
is suitable to it. It does this through
the corresponding development of de-
sire. Generally speaking, it may be
said that the healthy physical body
desires only what is good for it. And
as long as it is a question only of the
physical body of the growing child,
one ought to notice carefully what it
is that is sought by the healthy de-
sires, cravings, and pleasures. Joy and
pleasure are the powers which draw
out the physical forms of the organs
in the best way.
A very great error may be committed
in this direction by not placing the
child in the suitable physical conditions
with regard to its environment. This
can especially be the case with regard
to the instinct of nourishment. The
child can be overfed with things that
make him completely lose healthy
instincts of nourishment, whilst through
correct feeding they can be preserved
for him so fully, that he will ask (even
to a glass of water) for that which
under given circumstances is good for
49 4
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
him, and will refuse anything that may
be harmful. When occult science is
called upon to construct a system of
education, it will be able to specify,
even to the particular articles of
nourishment and table luxuries, all
that has here to be considered. For
it is a practical teaching, applicable to
life, and no mere colourless theory — as
indeed might be supposed, from the
mistakes of many Theosophists of
to-day.
Among the forces, therefore, which
affect the physical organs by moulding
them, must be included an element of
joy with and amid the surroundings. Let
the guardian be cheerful of countenance,
and above all things let there be true
and not artificial love — a love that,
flowing warmly through the physical
environment, as it were, incubates, in
the true sense of the word, the forms
of the physical organs.
When within such an atmosphere
of love the imitation of healthy models
is possible, the child is in his right
50
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
element. Special attention should
therefore be given that nothing may
happen in the child’s environment that
he should not imitate. Nothing should
be done that would necessitate saying
to the child, ‘‘ You must not do that.”
Of the way in which the child tries
to imitate, one may be convinced by
observing how it can copy written
letters long before it can understand
them. It is indeed an advisable thing
for the child to copy the written
characters jfirst, and then later to learn
their meaning. For imitation belongs
Jto the developing stage of the physical
body, whilst the mind responds to the
etheric body, and this latter ought
only to be influenced after the time
of the second teeth, when its outer
etheric covering is gone. Especially
should the learning of speech by means
of imitation take place in these years.
For hy hearing the child best learns to
speak. No rules nor artificial teaching
can do 'any good at all.
In the early years of childhood it is
51
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
especially important that such means
of education as, for instance, songs for
children, should make as beautiful a
rhythmic impression on the senses as
possible. The importance lies in the
beautiful sound rather than in the sense.
The more invigorating the effect which
anything can have upon the eye and
ear, the better it is. The power of
building up the organs which lies in
dancing movements when set to a
musical rhythm, for example, must not
be underestimated.
With the change of teeth the etheric
body throws off its outer etheric cover-
ing, and then the time begins in which
the training of the etheric body may be
carried on from without. One must be
clear as to what it is that can influence
the etheric body in this way. The
transformation and growth of the etheric
body signify, respectively, the trans-
formation and development of the affec-
tions, the habits, conscience, character,
memory, and temperament. One is
able to influence the etheric body by
52
EDUCATION OF CHIEDREN
pictures, by example, by regulated
guidance of the imagination. Just as
the child, until it has reached the age
of seven, ought to be given a physical
model which it can imitate, so too, in
the environment of the developing child,
between the period of the second teeth
and that of puberty, everything should
be brought into play that possesses an
inner sense and value upon which the
child may direct his attention. All that
conduces to thought, all that works
through image and parable, has now its
rightful place.
The etheric body develops its power
when a well-regulated imagination is
directed upon that which it can unravel
or extract for its guidance from living
images and parables, or from such as
are addressed to the spirit. It is concrete
and not abstract ideas that can rightly
influence the growing body — ideas that
are spiritually rather than materially
concrete. A spiritual standpoint is the
right llieans of. education during these
years. It is therefore of paramount
53
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
importance that the youth at this period
have around him in his guardians them-
selves personalities through whose points
of view the desirable intellectual and
moral powers may be awakened in him.
As imitation ” and “ example ” are
the magic words for the training of
children in their early years, so for the
years now in question the corresponding
words are “ hero-worship ” and “ author-
ity.” Natural and not forced authority
must supply the immediate spiritual
standpoint, with the help of which the
youth forms for himself conscience,
habits and inclinations, brings his tem-
perament into regulated paths, and wins
his own outlook on this world. The
beautiful words of the poet, Everyone
must choose his own hero, in whose
steps he may find the way to Olympus,”
are of special value with regard to this
epoch of life.
Veneration and reverence are powers
that assist the etheric body to grow in
the right way. And he to whoin it is
impossible, during this period, to look
54
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
up to anyone with unlimited reverence,
will have to suffer on that account for
the rest of his life. When this venera-
tion is missing, the vital forces of the
etheric body are checked. Picture to
yourself the following in its effect on the
youthful disposition : a boy of eight years
of age is told of a person highly esteemed.
All that he hears about him fills him
with holy awe. The day draws near on
which he is to see this honoured person
for the first time. A profound reverence
overcomes him when he hears the bell-
ring at the door, behind which the
object of his veneration is to become
visible. The beautiful feelings which
are produced by such an experience
belong to the lasting acquisitions of life.
And that man is fortunate, who, not only
during the happy moments of life, but
continuously, is able to look up to his
teachers and instructors as to his natural
authorities.
To these living authorities, to these
embodiments of moral and intellectual
power, must be added the authorities
55
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
perceived of the spirit. The grand
examples of history, the tales of model
men and women, must fix the conscience
and the intellectual tendency — and not
abstract moral truths, which can only
do their right work when at the age of
puberty the astral body is freed from its
astral covering.
One ought especially to guide the
teaching of history into courses deter-
mined by such points of view. Before
the time of the second teeth the stories,
fairy tales, etc., which are told to the
child can only have for their aim joy,
recreation, and pleasure.
After this time it will be necessary to
use forethought concerning the matter
that is to be related, so that pictures of
life, such as he can profitably emulate,
may be set before the soul of the young
person. It must not be overlooked that
bad habits can be ousted by pictures
correspondingly repulsive. W arnings
against such bad habits and tendencies
are at best of little avail, but if on^ were
to let the living picture of a bad man
56
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
affect the youthful imagination, explain-
ing the result to which the tendency in
question leads, one would do much to-
wards its extermination.
One thing to bear always in mind is
that it is not abstract representations
that influence the developing etheric
body, but living pictures in their spiritual
clearness, and, of course, these latter
must be applied with the utmost tact,
for otherwise the opposite to what is
desired will be the result. In the matter
of stories it is always a question of the
way in which they are told. The verbal
narration of a tale can therefore not be
successfully replaced by a reading of it.
During the time between the second
teeth and puberty the spiritually pic-
torial, or, as one might also call it, the
symbolical representation, ought to be
considered in yet another way. It is
necessary that the young person should
learn to know the secrets of Nature, the
laws of life, as far as possible through
symbols and not by the means of dry
and intellectual ideas. Allegories about
57
EDUCATION OF CHIUDREN
the spiritual relation of things ought so
to reach the soul that the law and order
of existence underlying the allegories
is rather perceived and divined than
grasped by the means of intellectual
The saying that ‘‘ all things
transient are only symbols ” ought to
form an all-important motto for educa-
tion during this period. It is very
important for a person to receive the
secrets of Nature in allegories before
they appear to his soul in the form of
natural laws, etc. An example will
make this clear. Supposing one wished
to speak to a young person of the im-
mortality of the soul, of its going forth
from the body, one might as an instance
make the comparison of the butterfly
emerging from the chrysalis. As the
butterfly comes forth from the chrysalis,
so the soul comes forth from the shell
of the body after death. No one who
has not previously received them by
means of some such image will ade-
quately grasp the right facts •in the
abstract ideas. For by such a simile
58
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
not only the intellect is appealed to,
but also the sensations and feelings,
the whole soul. The youth having
gone through all this, approaches the
matter in quite a different attitude of
mind when it is given to him later in
intellectual conceptions. Indeed, the
man who cannot first approach the
riddle of existence with this feeling is
much to be pitied. It is necessary that
the teacher should have similes at his
disposal for all natural laws and secrets
of the world.
In this matter it is quite clear what
an enriching effect occult science must
have upon practical life. Anyone con-
structing from a materialistic and intel-
lectual mode of representation similes
for himself, and then propounding them
to young people, will usually make but
little impression upon them. For such
a person ought first to puzzle out the
similes himself with all his mental
capacities. Those similes which he
has not first applied for himseK will not
have a convincing effect on those to
59
EDUCATION OF CHII.DREN
whom they are imparted. When one
talks to somebody in parables, he is not
only influenced by what is said or shown,
but there passes a fine spiritual stream
from the speaker to the hearer. Unless
the speaker himself has an ardent feeling
of belief in his similes, he will make
no impression on the one to whom he
gives them. In order to create a right
influence he must believe in his similes
himself as if in realities ; and that can
only be done by one who possesses
the mystical tendency, and when the
similes themselves are born of occult
science.
The real occultist does not need to
worry about the above-mentioned simile
of the soul going forth from the body, be-
cause for him it is a truth. To him the
butterfly evolving from the chrysalis re-
presents the same experience on a lower
stage of Nature’s existence as the going
forth of the soul from the body at a
higher stage of development. He be-
lieves in it with all his might, sCnd this
belief flows forth as if in invisible streams
60
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
from the speaker to the listener, and in-
spires conviction. Direct life-streams
then flow forth from teacher to pupil.
But for this end it is necessary for the
teacher to draw from the full source of
occult science ; it is necessary that his
word and all that goes forth from him
should be clothed with feeling, warmth,
and glowing emotion from the true occult
view of life. For this reveals a magni-
ficent perspective of the whole subject
of education. Once the latter allows
itself to be enriched from the life source
of occult science, it will itself become
permeated with a profound vitality.
It will give up groping in the dark, so
common in this particular domain of
thought. All educational methods, all
educational sciences, that do not con-
tinuously receive a supply of fresh
sap from such roots, are dried up and
dead. For all world-secrets occult
science has fitting similes, similes not
rising from the mind of man but drawn
from the essence of things, having been
laid down as a basis by the forces of the
61
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
world at their creation. Occult science
must therefore be the basis for any
system of education.
A power of the soul to which par-
ticular attention ought to be given at
this period of development is that of
memory. For the cultivation of the
memory is connected with the trans-
formation of the etheric body. This
has its elFect in the fact that precisely
during the time between the coming of
the second teeth and that of puberty it
becomes free, so that this is also the
period in which the further development
of the memory should be looked after
from outside. The memory will be
permanently of less value to the person
in question than it might have been, if
at this period what is necessary to it is
neglected. That which has thus been
neglected cannot afterwards be re-
trieved.
An intellectual and materialistic way
of thinking is liable to bring about many
mistakes in this direction. A 'system
of education arising from this way of
62
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
thinking is easily prejudiced against
that which is acquired merely by the
memory. It will not tire at times of
directing itself with the greatest ardour
against the mere training of the memory,
and rather makes use of the most in-
genious methods that the young person
may not mechanically absorb what he
does not really understand. An opinion
merely intellectual and materialistic is
so easily persuaded that there is no
means of penetrating into things except
by abstract ideas ; it is only with diffi-
culty that thinkers of this kind come to
the conclusion that the other subjective
powers are at least just as necessary to
the comprehension of things as the in-
tellect itself. It is not merely a figure
of speech to say that one can under-
stand just as well with the feelings, the
emotions, the mind, as with the intel-
lect. Ideas are only one of the means
by which to understand the things of
this world, and only to materialists do
they appear the only means. There
are, of course, many people who do not
— 63
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
imagine that they are materialists, but
who nevertheless consider an intellectual
conception to be the only means of
comprehension. Such men profess per-
haps to hold an idealistic, perhaps even
a spiritual conception of the world and
life. But the attitude of their souls
toward both is materialistic. For the
intellect is, as a matter of fact, the
soul’s instrument for the comprehension
of material things.
And here, concerning the deeper
foundations of the understanding, let
us quote from that excellent educa-
tional book by Jean Paul already men-
tioned— a work containing generally
golden ideas concerning education and
deserving of much more consideration
than at present it receives. It is of
much more value to the guardian than
many of the writings on these lines that
enjoy the highest repute. The passage
under consideration runs thus :
“ Do not be afraid of unintelligibility,
even if it be of whole sentences ; your
look and the manner of your expression,
64
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
added to the eager desire to understand^
elucidates the one half, and with this,
and in due time, the other half also»
For with children, as with the Chinese
and with men of the world, the manner
of pronunciation is half the language..
Bear in mind that they understand
their language as well as we understand
Greek or any other foreign tongue before
learning to speak it. Trust to the de-
ciphering of time and to association.
A child of five years of age understands
indeed the words ‘ yet,’ ‘ truly,’ ‘ on the
contrary,’ ‘ of course ’ ; but for a defini-
tion of them one must go not to the
child, but to the father ! The little
word ‘ but ’ reveals a small philosopher.
If the eight-year-old child with his
growing power of speech is understood
by a child of three, why should you
then confine your language to his
babbling ? Always speak several years
in advance (for in books genius speaks
to us centuries in advance) ; with a.
child of*a year, speak as if it were two,
with the child of two as if it were
— 65 5
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
six, for the difference of growth may
diminish in inverse proportion to the
years. Generally speaking, all learning
is apt to be too much ascribed to the
•credit of the teacher — therefore the
teacher ought to bear in mind that the
ehild possesses half his world, namely,
the spiritual (such as his moral and
metaphysical ideas), already complete
and taught within himself, and that
therefore a language composed only
of concrete images can never impart
spiritual ideas, but can only light them
up. . . . The joy and assurance used
in speaking to children ought to be
given as if the assurance and joy came
from themselves. We can learn speech
from them, just as we teach them by
means of speech ; by means of bold and
yet correct word-painting, such as for
instance I have heard spoken by chil-
dren of three and four years of age :
^leg-fish’ for otter; ‘pig-iron’ for the
fork used in eating bacon ; ‘ the air-
mouse ’ (unquestionably superior to our
word ‘ bat ’), and so on.”
66 —
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
It is true that this passage refers to
the understanding (before the intel-
lectual comprehension) as exercised in
another sphere than that of which we
are now speaking, but for this also the
words of Jean Paul have an important
meaning. Just as the child receives
into his soul’s organism the construction
of speech without making use of the
laws of grammatical structure with in-
tellectual comprehension, so too, for the
cultivation of his memory, the youth
ought to learn things of which he will
not until later acquire an actual under-
standing. That which has been acquired
in this period of life, at first in a purely
mechanical way, is best put into ideas
afterwards, just as one learns more easily
the rules of a language when one can
already speak it. All the talk of work
learned by rote and not understood is
nothing more than a materialistic pre-
judice. For instance, the youth needs
only to acquire by a few examples the
most necessary rules of multiplication,
for which the fingers are far better suited
67
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
than an abacus, and then to learn fully,
by rote, the multiplication table. If one
so proceeds, one takes into account the
nature of the growing child. But a
mistake may be made with regard to
this, if, during the time that the memory
is forming itself, too much is demanded
of the intellect. The intellect being a
power of the soul, and only born at the
time of puberty, ought not to receive
an outward influence before this period.
Until the time of puberty the youth
should assimilate into the memory
treasures over which mankind has medi-
tated ; later on it is time to permeate
with ideas that which has been impressed
upon his memory. A man ought there-
fore not to retain merely what he has
understood, but he ought now to under-
stand the things that he knows ; that
is to say, the things of which he has
already taken possession by means of
the memory, just as the child does
when learning to speak. This applies
to a wider sphere. At first assimilation
of historical events by mere rote, then
68
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
comprehension of the same by means of
ideas. At first a good impression upon
the memory of geographical data, then
an understanding of the relationship of
each thing to the rest, etc. In certain
respects all comprehension through ideas
should be done by means of the stored
treasures of the memory. The more
the youth already knows through the
memory before he comes to compre-
hension, the better it is. It is hardly
necessary to explain that all this applies
only to the period of which we are
speaking, and not to any later period.
If one learns a subject in later life,
either by going over it again, or in any
other way, the opposite process to that
here described might be correct and
desirable, although even then a great
deal depends upon the particular spiritual
nature of the student. But at the time
of life of which we have already spoken,
the spirit must not be parched by being
overcrowded with intellectual ideas.
It is also true that teaching by mere
sense-objects, if carried too far, is the
69
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
result of a materialistic view of life. At
this age every idea must be spiritualised.
One ought not, for instance, to be satis-
fied with merely producing a sense-im-
pression of a plant, a grain of seed, or a
blossom. Everything should seem as an
allegory of the spiritual. A grain of
seed is, in truth, not merely what it
appears to the eye. Invisibly the whole
new plant inhabits it, and that such a
thing is more than what the sense per-
ceives, must be absolutely realised with
the perception, the imagination, and the
feelings. The mysterious presence of
latent existence must really be felt.
Nor can it be objected that such a
proceeding would weaken the percep-
tions of pure sense ; on the contrary, by
a persistent adherence to sense-percep-
tions alone. Truth itself would be the
loser. For the complete reality of a
thing exists in Spirit and in Matter, and
accurate observations can be no less
carefully carried out if one brings to the
study not only the physical senses, but
also the spiritual faculties. If people
70 *
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
could only perceive, as the occultist is
able to, how both body and soul are
spoiled by mere object-teaching, they
would not then lay so much stress upon
it. Of what value is it, from the highest
point of view, if young people are shown
all kinds of physical experiments in the
mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds, if
with such a study one does not suggest
the application of the sense allegory ta
the feeling of spiritual mystery ? Cer-
tainly a materialistic mind will not be
able to make anything of what has here
been said, and of that the occultist is
only too conscious. Yet it is also clear
to liim that a really practical method of
education can never proceed from the
materialistic mind. So practical does
such a mind imagine itself, and yet so-
unpractical is it in reality, when it is a
matter of considering life vitally. Op-
posed to the true reality materialistic
opinions seem only fantastic, while to
the materialist the interpretations of
occult Science must, of necessity, appear
equally fantastic. Doubtless, too, there
- 71
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
■will remain many obstacles which must
be overcome before the fundamental
teachings of occult science, arising from
life itself, will permeate the art of edu-
cation. But that is to be expected, for
at present these truths are strange to
many ; nevertheless, if they be really
the truth, they will incorporate them-
selves into all culture.
Only through the clear conviction that
they are the only educational means by
which to work upon young people, can
the teacher always find the right way to
•deal correctly with each individual case.
Thus, he must know how the individual
powers of the soul — such as thinking,
feeling, and willing — ought to be treated,
and how their development may react
upon the etheric body : while this itself,
between the period when the second
teeth appear and that of puberty, can
be perfectly moulded by outside in-
fluences.
The foundations for the development
of a healthy and powerful will can be
laid by the right management, during
72
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
the first seven years, of those funda-
mental principles of education which
have already been considered. For
such a will must have for its support
the fully developed form of the physical
body. From the period of the second
teething it begins to be a matter of
making the etherie body, which is now
developing, supply those powers to the
physical body by which it can solidify
its form and make itself firm. That
which makes the most vivid impression
upon the etherie body also reacts most
forcibly upon the strengthening of the
physical. And the strongest impulses
are evoked in the etherie body througn
those perceptions and ideas by which a
person feels and experiences his own
relation to the everlasting Universe,
that is to say, through religious experi-
ences. The will, and along with it the
character, of a person will never develop
healthily if he cannot experience at this
epoch of life profound rehgious impulses.
The result of the uniform organisation
of the will is that the person feels him-
' 78
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
self to be an organic fragment of the
whole world. If a man does not feel
himself to be indissolubly connected
with a Divine Spirit, then must the
will and character remain unstable, dis-
cordant, and unhealthy.
The emotional nature is developed in
the right direction by means of the
allegories and sense-pictures already
described, and especially by all which,
whether from history or from other
sources, presents to us the figures of
persons with character. An absorption
in the mysteries and beauties of Nature
is also of importance in the upbuilding
of the emotional world. And here it is
particularly well to consider the culture
of the sense of beauty and the awaken-
ing of the feeling for what is artistic.
Music should supply that rhythm to the
etheric body which enables it to per-
ceive in everything the rhythm other-
wise concealed. A young person will
be deprived of much in all his after-life,
who does not receive at this period the
benefit of cultivating the musical sense.
74
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
To him in whom this sense is altogether
lacking, a certain aspect of the Universe
must remain hidden. Nor should, how-
ever, the other arts be by any means
neglected. The awakening of the sense
for architectural form, as also for plastic
shape, for line, design, and harmony of
colour — ^not one of these ought to be
omitted in the plan of education.
So simply, perhaps, might all this be
done under special circumstances, that
the objection that circumstances allow
of no development at all in this direction
can never be valid. One can do mucli
with the simplest means, if the right
sense in this direction prevails in the
teacher himself. The joy of life, the
love for existence, the strength to work
— all these arise for the whole being out
of the cultivation of the sense of beauty
and art. And the relations of man to-
man— how ennobled and how beautified
will they become through this sense t
The moral sense, which will, at this
period, be developed by pictures of life
and by standard authorities, will also
75
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
gain a certain stability if, through the
sense of beauty, the good is recognised
as beautiful and the bad as ugly.
Thought in its own shape, as an
inner life of distilled ideas, must, at
the period in question, be kept in the
background. It must develop spon-
taneously, as it were, uninfluenced from
without, while the soul is nourished by
means of similes and pictures repre-
senting life and the mysteries of nature.
Thus, in the midst of the other ex-
periences of the soul between the
seventh year and the time of puberty,
thought must grow and the faculty for
judgment be matured, so that when
puberty has ensued the person becomes
capable of forming his own opinions
concerning the matters of life and
knowledge with complete independence.
Indeed, the less one works directly upon
the critical faculty, and the more one
works indirectly through the develop-
ment of the other spiritual powers, the
better will it be for the whole* after-
life of the person concerned.
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
Occult science lays down the prin-
ciples, not only for the spiritual side
of education but also for the purely
physical. Thus, to give a characteristic
example, let us consider gymnastics
and children’s games. Just as love
and joy must permeate the environment
during the first years of childhood, so
too the growing etheric body must be
taught really to experience from bodily
exercises a feeling of its own expansion,
of its ever-increasing strength. For
instance, gymnastic exercises ought to
be so carried out that with every move-
ment, with every step, the feeling rises
in the inner self of the boy or girlT
“I feel increasing power within me.”
And this feeling should manifest itself
within as a healthy delight, as a sen-
sation of pleasure. For the devising
of gymnastic exercises in this sense,
it is of course necessary to possess
more than a merely intellectual know-
ledge of the human body anatomically
and physiologically. It is necessary
to possess a close, intuitive, and sympa-
• 77
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
thetic knowledge of the relation of
joy and comfort to the postures and
movements of the human body. The
formulator of such exercises ought
himself to experience how one move-
ment or posture of the limbs will
produce a pleasant and comfortable
sensation, but another a loss of strength,
and so forth. A belief that gymnastics
and bodily exercises can be cultivated
in this direction is one that can only
be supplied to the educator by occult
science, and, above all, by a mind sympa-
thetic to such thought. One does not
even require the power of vision in
“The spiritual worlds, but only the in-
clination to apply to life what has been
given out by occultism. If, especially
in such practical departments as this
of education, occult knowledge were
applied, then all the useless talk of
how this knowledge has yet to be
proved, would straightway cease. For
to him who should rightly apply it,
this knowledge would itself be*a proof
through the whole of life by making
78 ' -
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
him healthy and strong. By such
means he would perceive through and
through that it is true in actual practice,
and this he would find a better proof
than any manner of “logical” and
so-called “ scientific ” reasons. One
can best know spiritual truths by their
fruits, and not through a pretended
proof, however scientific, for such
could hardly be anything more than a
logical skirmishing.
At puberty the astral body is first
born. With the free outward develop-
ment which follows, all that which is
unfolded by the world of externalised
perceptions, by one’s judgment and th^
unfettered understanding, will first rush
inward upon the soul. It has already
been mentioned that these faculties of
the soul have up to this point been
unconsciously developed inwardly by
the right management of educational
means, just as the eyes and ears evolve
themselves in the womb. But with
puberty* the time has arrived when
the person is ready to form his own
. 79
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
judgment concerning the things which
he has hitherto learned. No greater
injury can be inflicted on any one
than by too soon awakening within
him his own judgment. We should
only judge when we have ah*eady stored
up the necessary qualifications for judg-
ing and comparing. If before this we
create our own independent opinions,
then these will have no sure foundations.
All one-sidedness in life, all dreary
** confessions of faith ” which are based
upon a few mere scraps of knowledge,
and the desire to judge from these
iman conceptions that have been ap-
proved through long ages of time, rest
upon just such mistakes in education.
Before being qualified to think, one must
place before oneself, as a warning, what
others have thought. There is no sound
thinking which has not been preceded
by a sound perception of the truth
supported by obvious authority. If we
wish to follow out these principles of
education, we must not allow people
at too early an age to fancy themselves
80
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
able to judge ; for in avoiding this, we
shall leave them the possibility of allow-
ing life to work upon them from every
side and without prejudice. For by one
such judgment which is not founded on
the precious basis of spiritual treasures,
he who makes it will have placed a
stumbling-block in the path of his life.
For if he has pronounced a judgment on
any subject he will always be influenced
by having done so : he will no longer
regard an experience as he might have
regarded it if he had not erected an
opinion which is henceforth intertwined
with the subject in question. In young
people the disposition to learn first and
then to judge should be present. That
which the intellect has to say of a
certain subject ought only to be said
when all the other powers of the soul
have spoken : before that the intellect
ought only to play the part of mediator.
It should, only serve to lay hold of what
is seen and felt, to apprehend it as it
there exists, without allowing the un-
ripe judgment to take possession of the
81 6
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
matter. Therefore the youth ought to
be shielded from all the theories concern-
ing a thing before the above-mentioned
age, and it should be especially empha-
sised that he should face the experiences
of life in order to admit them into his
soul. A growing individual can certain-
ly be made acquainted with what people
have thought concerning this or that,
but one should avoid letting him form
opinions which arise from a premature
judgment. He should receive opinions
with the feelings, without deciding at
3e for one view or the other ; not
attaching himself to a party, but think-
ing, as he listens : “ one has said this,
and the other that.” Before all things
a large measure of tact is necessary in
the cultivation of this sense by teachers
and guardians, but occult knowledge is
exactly calculated to supply such tact.
It has only been possible to develop
here a few aspects of educaticyn in the
light of Occultism, but it has only been
intended to give a hint as to what
problems of civilisation this philoso^y
82
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
will have to solve. Whether it can do
so depends on whether the inclination
for such a way of thinking henceforth
broadens out in ever -widening circles.
In order that this may take place, two
things are necessary: first, that people
should abandon their prejudice against
Occultism. He who will truly associate
himself with it will soon see that it is
not the fantastic trash which so many
to-day imagine it to be. This is not
intended as a reproach to such people,
for everything which our time offers as
a means of education must at
engender the view that occultists are
fantastics and dreamers. On the sur-
face any other view is hardly possible,
fo¥ there appears to be the most com-
plete diversity between what is known
as Occult Science or Theosophy and
all that the culture of the present day
suggests as the principles for a healthy
view of y.fe. Only a deeper considera-
tion reveals to us how entirely contra-
dictory the views of the jpresent must
remain without these principles of occult
83
EDUCATION OF CHILDREN
science — how, indeed, they themselves
call out these very principles, and in the
long run cannot remain without them.
The second thing that is necessary is
connected with the sound development
of Theosophy itself. Life will only
welcome Theosophy if in Theosophical
circles the knowledge is made to per-
meate everywhere that it is important
to make these teachings bear fruit in
the widest manner for all conditions of
life, and not merely to theorise about
them. Otherwise people will continue
look upon Theosophy - as a kind of
religious sectarianism only fit for some
fanatical enthusiasts. But if it performs
positive, useful spiritual work, then the
Theosophical teachings cannot, in the
long run, be denied an intelligent
hearing.
PEINTBD BY NEILL AND CO., LTD,, EDINBUBGH,