Of
the few specialised subjects included in these books by Alice
Bailey and the Tibetan, education is of primary importance. Today
we are losing the tendency to associate "education" only with
the instruction of the young and with academic matters. Education
is, or should be, a continuous process from birth to death concerned
not so much with the acquisition or knowledge as with the expansion
of consciousness. Knowledge of itself is a dead end, unless it
is brought into functioning relationship with environment, social
responsibilities, historical trends, human and world conditions
and, above all, with the evolution of consciousness which brings
the infinite vastness of an unknown universe within the range
of the finite human mind.
To oversimplify, can we say that education is a continuous
process of learning how to reconcile the human and the divine
elements in the constitution of man, creating right relationship
between God and man, spirit and matter, the whole and the part?
If this is education in the broader sense, it is more specific
and more concentrated when considered in the light of child
training. This book is so concentrated and specific. While presenting
the need for wholeness--development of the whole person, spirit,
soul and body as an integrated unity, and acceptance of the
planetary whole as the area of personal experience and responsibility--the
educational needs of the child today are set out in specific
terms. Faults and inadequacies in the present educational systems
existing in many parts of the world are enumerated, and methods
for the future suggested.
Emphasis is placed on the need for education in world citizenship.
Even before this book was first published this need had become
startlingly apparent. It is also clear, however, that since
children naturally tend to accept without question those of
other nations, other races, colour, belief and social background,
a world consciousness and inclusiveness must first be generated
in those adults responsible for the education and the training
of the young.
Therefore, this book includes a brief final chapter on "the
science of the Antahkarana", that is, with the creative effort
to bridge in consciousness between the lower analytical, knowledge-gathering
mind, the soul, and the higher mind which is an aspect of the
divine Self, the spiritual man. This is a scientific process
which can be studied and practiced as a meditation technique,
combined with the effort to apply spiritual principles to the
daily life under any and all circumstances.
The building of the Antahkarana, literally a bridge between
the subjective and objective worlds, creates a channel for the
transmission of spiritual energies--light and love and power.
These energies transform the daily life, irradiate the personality
and infuse the mind with creative thought consistent with the
needs of the emerging Plan at the dawning of a new age. So the
enlightened adult can stimulate the soul of the child, enrich
and enliven the mind, and provide right opportunities for full
development of the spiritual potential.
