Froebel as a pioneer in modern psychology by E. R. Murray

Author:E. R. Murray [Murray, E. R. (Elsie Riach)]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anboco
Published: 2017-03-02T23:00:00+00:00

“Why, now, is my child so happy over the hiding game? It is the feeling of Personality which already so delights the child, it is the feeling of recognition of his own self.” [35]

The game which follows this repeats the hiding experience, but this time with the cry of “cuckoo,” from some one unseen, and this is likened to the conscience call, which is described as “consciousness of union in separation and of separateness, that is personality, in union.”— M., p. 98.

“In ‘Where’s Baby Been?’ parting and union seem more separate, as though in order that each may become more and more clearly conscious of itself; in ‘Cuckoo,’ parting and union are, as it were, joined. It is parting in union and union in parting that makes ‘Cuckoo’ such a peculiar game and so delightful to a child. But consciousness of union in separation, and of separateness—that is personality—in union, is also the essence, the deep foundation of conscience.”— M., p. 197.

Mr. Kirkpatrick’s second Regulative instinct or tendency is that of Religion, but Froebel again, like Mr. McDougall, finds that Religion has its roots in an instinct “not specifically religious,” [36] viz. in the Social Instinct. He says this in “The Education of Man” in the plainest of terms.

“This feeling of Community first uniting the child with father, mother, brothers and sisters, and resting on a higher spiritual unity, to which later on is added the discovery that father, mother, brothers and sisters, human beings in general, feel and know themselves to be in community and unity with a higher principle—with humanity, with God—this is the very first germ, the very first beginning of all true religious spirit, of all genuine yearning for unhindered unification with the Eternal, with God.”— E., p. 25.

It seems quite in accordance with this that Froebel should write that he likes better the German word Gott-einigkeit —union with God—than the foreign word religion; and also that he should speak of “developing the sense of kinship with man in every child, and the sense of kinship with God in every man.” So, in his “Mother Songs,” he tells the mother to give her child duties to perform, that so he may “feel his kinship” with her:

“Every age, even the age of childhood, has something to cherish that is plain, and from doing so no exemption can be procured; it has therefore its duties. Happy is it for a child if he be led to deal with them adequately, and for the present unconsciously. Duties are not burdens.… Fulfilment of duty strengthens body and mind, and the consciousness of duty done gives independence; even a child feels this. See, Mother, how happy your child is in feeling he has done his small duties. He already feels his kinship with you thereby.”— M., p. 174.

There is never a separation between Morality and Religion:

“Religion without industry, without work, is liable to be lost in empty dreams, worthless visions, idle fancies. Similarly, work or industry without religion degrades man into a beast of burden, a machine.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.