CM Conference: CM's Great Recognition

This was the first plenary session I attended; we got in too late for the very first one.

CM's Great Recognition by Deani Van Pelt and Sandy Rusby Bell

Trinitarians drew us to the idea that the Spirit – in fact, all of the Trinity – was present at Creation, and potential that continues to unfold was imbedded right into Creation and the created world. The creational, unfolding aspect of the Spirit is exciting for educators (because of its implications in the unfolding revealing of knowledge, I think). Bacote wrote a book based on a dissertation in 2005 that goes into this. Gunton said, “God's action begins with the Father and goes through the Son...”

This lecture dealt with the fresco that CM got so excited about: The Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Allegory of the Sciences. The original site is no longer online; it looks like maybe it moved here. You can see the church here and a small image of the fresco here, detail here.
(Read The Common Room's blog post about this fresco here, and Tammy's post from Aut2BeHome here.)

The lecture began with a timeline of CM's life:
1885-86 CM gave the lectures that became Volume 1 of her series
1888-89 PNEU was born
1891-92 Parents Review School and PR magazine started; CM moved to Ambleside
1891 CM's school for mothers
1892 House of Education born to instruct teachers
Then CM, needing a rest, accompanied Mrs. Firth on a trip to Italy and saw the fresco.
1893 CM experienced a light bulb moment: the Great Recognition that the Spirit is in all.

During the lecture, the fresco was described, displayed, and explained. At the top is Thomas Aquinas holding the Book of Wisdom open to the page that says, “I willed...” Or maybe "Wisdom conquers all"? I think I must have misheard this part of the lecture... This is the heart of the fresco. He is surrounded by angels named Faith, Charity, Hope, Temperance, Prudence, Justice and Fortitude. They represent the seven cardinal virtues. At his left and right are the apostles.

[Edit: I found, in this Parents' Review article, what CM saw on the page. At the bottom of the article is this note from the editor, who was Charlotte Mason: "The text referred to
is:--'I prayed and the spirit of wisdom came upon me; and I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones.' The fresco referred to (painted by Taddeo Gaddi and Simone Memmi) forms the "educational creed" of the House of Education. It represents the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the Day of Pentecost, not only upon prophets, apostles and holy men and women, but upon the Captain Figures of the Seven Liberal Arts:--Grammar, Rhetoric, Logic, Music, Astronomy, Geometry, Arithmetic, Photographs (Nos 6722 and 4077, half-line each) may be obtained from Mr. G. Cole, 17, Via Torna Buoni, Florence.--Ed."
This PR article was a religious address delivered at one of CM's own conferences - I wonder if her conferences were like the Childlight conferences? They seem to be, judging from the speakers and topics, and then the write-ups afterwards.]

Beneath Thomas are three rows. The first is barely visible and includes a person in distress, someone counting money, a young man drinking, and others. Under them are seven mythological figures depicting divine sciences (like theology and Christian law) with seven men under them who represent those subjects (St. John, Pope Clement, etc.) On the other side are seven mythological figures, all women, like Greek goddesses, depicting the seven earthly sciences: arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, logic, rhetoric anf grammar. They have seven men under them who represent the 'fathers' of those sciences: Pythagoras, Euclid, Zoroaster, Tubal Cain, Aristotle, icero and Priscian.

The heart of CM's Great Recognition is in Volume 2, ch 25 “...the great recognition, that God the Holy Spirit is Himself, personally, the Imparter of knowledge, the Instructor of youth, the Inspirer of genius, is a conception so far lost to us that we should think it distinctly irreverent to conceive of the divine teaching as co-operating with ours in a child's arithmetic lesson, for example.” Suppose we are willing to make this great recognition. How would that impact our education? "What stands between us and the realisation of this more blessed life?" Vol 2 ch 25 pg 276

1. We would only offer children living thought. If what they're given is living thought, then they'll be able to hang later facts on those ideas as if they were pegs. This is opposite current educational thought and Classical Education that has it backwards: give children dry facts to use as pegs upon which to hang ideas they'll receive later. Even math and grammar can be taught from living ideas. Living ideas and books get kids excited about a topic before they're bored by dry facts.

2. If all subjects are given and under the Divine Teacher, then we won't dare pick and choose subjects and neglect some in favor of others. "But once the intimate relation, the relation of Teacher and taught in all things of the mind and spirit, be fully recognised, our feet are set in a large room; there is space for free development in all directions, and this free and joyous development, whether of intellect or heart, is recognised as a Godward movement." Vol 2, ch 25, pg 275

"That, it is not for a man to choose, "I will learn this or that, the rest is not my concern"; still less is it for parent or schoolmaster to limit a child to less than he can get at of the whole field of knowledge; for, in the domain of mind at least as much as in that of morals or religion, man is under a Divine Master; he has to know as he has to eat." Volume 6, page 324

3. We can trust the Holy Spirit to mediate and help so that the child gets what he needs to know from a narration. We can allow 'wait time' while a child mulls over a thought before we jump in to give him the answer. And we don't need to fret if our child isn't where we think he should be in math or whatever.

4. We're safeguarded from the intellectual sin of using pure Reason to arrive at conclusions – this is where CM's Principle 16 comes from. Reason is only a tool, not a foolproof infallible way to form conclusions. Unlike some early scholars, CM believed that Reason and Intellect were corrupted along with our moral nature and everything else at the Fall. The early church believed that Reason was infallible and pure. Galileo challenged that concept when he challenged Aristotle's ideas. A liberal education and living books can help us from the fallacy of infallible Reason – IF we invite the Holy Spirit to participate in our education.

5. The teacher herself should also be intellectually alive and growing and evolving. Teachers should be continuing to learn and excited about new ideas, books, nature, culture. Her enthusiasm will be caught even if she doesn't convey all the information/data.

Here we have the breadth of mind so wide in the sweep of their intelligence. "The elements of a Charlotte Mason education – picture study, composer study, poetry, living books, etc. – are necessary not because we think it is nice to do things the way Charlotte Mason did. They are necessary because all believers need these to grow into the fullness of Christ." from Le Jardin Feenrique, Art in Kenosha's blog

(complete list of conference posts here.)