Montessori chapter 12

Maria Montessori Her Life and Work by E. Mortimer Standing
Chapter 12 - Movement in Relation to Instinct and Reason

Human babies are more helpless than newborn animals. They can't walk at birth; they can hardly lift their heads. This isn't because they lack strenth, but because they lack coordination. Humans seem to have less instinct than animals because their instinct is mostly in the mind and will, where it's not as apparent. Animals are born with physical instincts; humans are born with mental instincts and must create their physical tools by developing the body. She didn't agree with psychologists of her day who taught that all human drives (love, knowledge, worship) were really just physical instincts manifested through the mind. She didn't agree that what separates humans from animals is which instincts are more important, and how we manifest them. She believed that human intelligence and ability to reason was what separated us from animals.

Man is mysteriously infinite and spiritual, so it's no surprise that the beginnings of a baby's conscious life are a mystery to us. Maria lived when Darwin was blurring the distinction between man and animals. But she based her perspective on her own observation rather than on the theories or religious traditions of others. She felt that science was too focused on the negative aspects of humanity (deviations, psychoses) and ignored higher values and morality. She felt that art, morals and religion weren't the expressions of our subconscious, but that art, morals and religion were what shaped our subconscious.

Man's reason allows us to do what no animal can: to have a consciousness of history and a future, and to have a conscious awareness of ourselves. Man's will allows freedom to choose one thing over another. Our ability to choose makes it possible for us to develop character and integrity if we deliberately make right choices. Grace and salvation can only exist for reasoning, intellectual creatures with free choice.

Babies collect experiences and knowledge, and from this, they develop the ability to reason. [CM felt that we were born with Reason and we just needed to learn how to use it and control it.] Maria explained the growth of a baby's head in its first year as a quadrupling of its intelligence and psyche. Between the ages of 0-3 years, 'the child creates his own mind.' Children start from nothing, and they build their intelligence from their tactile experiences (explained in her book The Absorbent Mind). A child's impressions from his environment are the building blocks of his conscious mind. [This is very different from CM; she felt that the child was born with a mind. Belief that a mind is created out of sensory impressions means that, if we control the environment and experiences, we determine what kind of mind gets created. CM was opposed to that notion.] As the mind is being created, coordination is developing and creating a physical residence for the child's self.

Montessori said that children adapt to their environment, as evidenced by the way they pick up the language and customs of the culture they live in. Dogs don't do that - a poodle in France behaves exactly like a poodle in Africa. Even their bark has no influence from their home country. But humans adapt to fit whatever place and time they live in. If babies had more instincts, they couldn't adapt. Instead, babies are born 'incomplete' in all aspects, so that there's raw material to adapt. Even their bones are soft enough to adapt to whatever kind of movements they'll need. In other words, humans are still unfinished embryos at birth. [The bun in the oven comes out only half baked?] Mind and body are undeveloped. But the mind dictates how to develop the body to whatever's needed to express the inner person. The mind doesn't adapt to fit the body, the body adapts and develops to fit the mind. The inner spirit builds the kind of instrument it needs by shaping the body and telling it how to develop. The body can develop to be as specialized as needed. A surgeon, for example, can develop the hands to do intricate surgery with practice and deliberate effort. Dancers, artists, musicians develop special muscles to do what their minds want. At birth, the baby's mind and body aren't working together, there's a dualism because the baby hasn't achieved 'progressive incarnation.' He can't make his body do what he wants.

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