This issue of the Newsletter continues with the exploration of the
theme on mental education.
Further discussion on mental
education cannot proceed without a recollection of the five areas that The
Mother placed as central to mental education, namely,
(1) Development of the power of concentration, the capacity of
attention.
(2) Development of the capacities of expansion, widening, complexity
and richness.
(3) Organisation of one’s ideas around a central idea, a higher ideal
or a supremely luminous idea that will
serve as a guide in life.
4) Thought-control, rejection of undesirable thoughts, to become able
to think only what one wants and when one wants.
(5) Development of mental silence, perfect calm and a more and more
total receptivity to inspirations coming from the higher regions of the
being.
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In order to realise this goal
of mental education, creative and bold considerations of alternative methods of assessing
students may be used, in a school system that holds assessments as means of
measuring students’ progress in the academics. Alternative ways of
assessments could facilitate the learning of subjects with a wider
perspective and for a wider utilization. This too depends on how
educationists perceive education and its purpose. If their aims were to be
high, focusing on the all-rounded growth of their students, and not merely on
churning out skilled personnel to propel the economy, then we can hope for
more enlightened and creative ways in which schooling is carried out.
While calling for wideness and openness in
approaching a subject, there is a need for a central idea to unify the
diverse points of view that is encouraged. The Mother says, “And if you want to
make the totality of your thoughts into a dynamic and constructive force, you
must also take great care as to the choice of the central idea of your mental
synthesis; for upon that will depend the value of this synthesis.” This point illustrates the 3rd
area that needs to be fulfilled in mental education. Points 4 and 5 are
elaborated further in The Mother’s work on education that follows on pages 3
and 4.
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