Education and the Philosophical Ideal by Horatio W. Dresser - Read the Complete Text for free at NewThoughtLibrary.com

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Horatio W. Dresser's

Education and the Philosophical Ideal

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Preface - Introduction - The New Point of View - Educational Ideals - Equanimity - The Subconscious Mind - The Spiritual Ideal in Childhood - An Experiment in Education - The Expression of the Spirit - An Ideal Summer Conference - The Ministry of the Spirit - The Mystery of Pain and Evil - The Philosophical Ideal - The Criteria of Truth - Organic Perfection - Immortality - Index - p. 247

One of the essentials in the great work of preparation for the future life is therefore the cultivation of that kind of thinking, that kind of repose, which gives a grasp of the inner life as a unit, as the meeting point of the various tendencies which make for organic perfection, for our highest education. This is true concentration, true meditation, as opposed to the vague, incautious receptivity which often characterises the experience known as "entering the silence." We must have centrality if we are to have concentration; and centrality means the taking up of the loose reins, the conflicting forces, and wilful thoughts, that they may know their master.

A certain amount of vague experimentation and psychic perplexity is doubtless a necessary introduction to this realm of deeper self-mastery. But it is advisable to have done with it as soon as possible. No soul can serve two masters; and, if one cares more for psychic visions, faces, forms, and uncanny sensations than for the Spirit, the Spirit will not come. One must summon all one's powers of discernment, surely all one's common sense,¹ if one is for where there is so much that is illusory. Equally necessary is it to avoid becoming too subjectively interested in self. For the spiritual life is the life of humility, not of egotism, the messenger of love, not the prisoner of self; it is beautiful only in organic relation.

(1) It is also essential to apply the sceptical criteria of truth which we have considered in Chapter XII.

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