upon his temporal welfare and standing with the world, wherever the ideal is concerned. Without these qualities in some degree developed, none can hope to go far upon the way, of art, for only from the state of harmony can harmony be born.

These, then, are the everpresent sacrifices, in which the artist may join his Master. Through the helpful exercises of art, he can become saint-like, and aid Him in His labors. There is something pathetic in the condition of the modern artist, trying to nourish his soul upon the spiritual food of bygone ages. Why should the gates of heaven be closed to-day? Why should we not be able to reach and know the deeper regions of life, the habitat of the Ideal, ere yet we lay aside these garments of flesh-as did the apostles and disciples, in all lands, in all religions, of old? Ah! that men might produce the outlines of these loftier worlds-none the less real and human, because they are hid from sense-for the enheartening of those who cannot yet pierce the veil, for the purifying of the labors of the world!

True art is ever on the crest of the evolutionary wave. The scientist experiments upon an object of knowledge; the artist lives it— embodies it in his very person. What poets have sung, scientists, ages after, have re-discovered. But that most modern of modern sciences, psychology, suggests a science of poetry, law in the realm of imagination. If this be so, the artist has been using a subtler science, and a definite, assured material, of which he was unaware, and his dreams will surely be justified at the bar of reason; for the chasm twixt science and the imagination is fast disappearing.

But, if the future is to witness a science of imagination, then we will indeed see all art and all science unitedly proclaiming Theosophy to the world. For Theosophy is inspired knowledge, in which are wed the concrete and abstract ideals of the hitherto supposedly antagonistic experimental and exstatic natures. Since arts and sciences are now approaching one another, it is for the artist first to assume his divine prerogative of seer, of prophet, and, unabashed by the materialism which for the moment is noisiest, because weakest, to lead humanity towards the realisation of that Wisdom-Religion, the religion of unity, which is the basis and the end of all effort.

Yours,

MAUD MACCARTHY.

A

THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN FROM THE

STANDPOINT OF THEOSOPHY.

(Concluded from p. 118)

ND here, concerning the deeper foundations of the understanding, let us quote from that excellent educational book, by Jean Paul already mentioned—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:

" on

Do not be afraid of unintelligibility, even if it be of whole sentences; your look and the manner of your expression, 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 deciphering of time and to association. A child of five years of age understands indeed the words yet", "truly ", the contrary", "of course"; but for a definition of them one must go not to the child, but to the father!-In the little word "verily" there is hidden a small philosophy. 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 the child of a year, speak as if it were two, with the child of two as if it were 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 child 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 children 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 one word 'bat ') and so on,

It is true that this passage refers to the understanding (before the intellectual 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 articulations of speech, without making use

of the laws of grammatical structure with intellectual comprehension, so too, for the cultivation of his memory, the young person ought to learn things of which he will not until later acquire an actual understanding. 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 prejudice. For instance, the young person needs only to acquire by a few examples the most necessary rules of multiplication, for which the fingers are far better suited 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, it ought not to receive an outward influence before this period. Until the time of puberty, the young person should assimilate into the memory, treasures, over which mankind has meditated; later on it is time to permeate with ideas that which has been impressed upon his memory. Hence the growing person ought not merely to take note of what he has understood, but he ought now to understand 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 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 with 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 young person already knows through the memory before he comes to abstract comprehension, 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 al

ready 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 result of a materialistic view of life. At this age every idea must be spiritualised. One ought not, for instance, to be satisfied with merely producing a sense-impression 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 perceives, 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 perceptions of pure sense; on the contrary, by a steadfast adherence to such perceptions 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 could only perceive, as the Occultist is able, 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 view-point, 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 to the feeling of spiritual mystery? Certainly 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 him that a really practical art of education can never proceed from the materialistic mind, so practical does such a mood imagine itself, and so unpractical is it in reality, when it is a matter of considering life vitally. Opposed to the true reality, materialistic opinion seems only fantastic, while to the materialist, the interpretations of Occultism must, of necessity, appear equally so. Doubtless, too, there will remain many obstacles which must be overcome before the fundamental teachings of Occultism, arising throughout from life itself, shall permeate the art of education. 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 themselves into all culture.

of the laws of grammatical structure with intellectual comprehension, so too, for the cultivation of his memory, the young person ought to learn things of which he will not until later acquire an actual understanding. 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 prejudice. For instance, the young person needs only to acquire by a few examples the most necessary rules of multiplication, for which the fingers are far better suited 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, it ought not to receive an outward influence before this period. Until the time of puberty, the young person should assimilate into the memory, treasures, over which mankind has meditated; later on it is time to permeate with ideas that which has been impressed upon his memory. Hence the growing person ought not merely to take note of what he has understood, but he ought now to understand 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 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 with 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 young person already knows through the memory before he comes to abstract comprehension, 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 al