Day 60 Desires

(See also Delight, Desire will do its Devoir)
 

“Little children are always eager to know; but the desire for knowledge seldom survives two or three years of school-life.”

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“The Scottish school of philosophers came to my aid here with what may be called their doctrine of the desires, which, I perceived, stimulate the action of mind and so cater for spiritual (not necessarily religious) sustenance as the appetites do for that of the body and for the continuance of the race. This was helpful; I inferred that one of these, the Desire of Knowledge (Curiosity) was the chief instrument of education; that this desire might be paralysed or made powerless like an unused limb by encouraging other desires to intervene between a child and the knowledge proper for him; the desire for place,––emulation; for prizes,––avarice; for power,––ambition; for praise,––vanity, might each be a stumbling block to him. It seemed to me that we teachers had unconsciously elaborated a system which should secure the discipline of the schools and the eagerness of the scholars,––by means of marks, prizes, and the like,––and yet eliminate that knowledge-hunger, itself the quite sufficient incentive to education.”

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“He (the school-child) really is capable of much more than he gets credit for, but we go the wrong way about getting his capable mind into action.  
 
We err when we allow our admirable teaching to intervene between children and the knowledge their minds demand. The desire for knowledge (curiosity) is the chief agent in education: but this desire may be made powerless like an unused limb by encouraging other desires to intervene, such as the desire for place (emulation), for prizes (avarice), for power (ambition), for praise (vanity).”

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“…it is not so essential to think much as to love much: therefore, you must practise whatever most excites you to this.”  
                                                   ~ Teresa of Avila
 
 
 
Examen: Am I working with desire?  Do I know which desires I may or may not encourage? Where I could go “the wrong way?” 

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Little children are: Charlotte M. Mason, School Education, 3:63.
The Scottish school: Charlotte M. Mason, Towards a Philosophy of Education, 6:11.
He (the school-child) really is: 6:247.
 ...it is not: “The Interior Castle or The Mansions,” n.d., 51.

Day 60 Desires meditation/100 days copyright Laurie Bestvater 2025

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