Mental Magnitude

CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK

On reflection, his reason might direct him not to make the plunge, lest he and the child should perish, and his other children should become orphans into the bargain. And so on, and so forth. The five physical senses then are rational and objective, whilst the instincts are the seats of a man’s emotions. Some of these emotions can be regarded as positive and good, such as those of curiosity, sexual feeling towards one’s wife or intended wife, escape in the face of actual danger, construction, creativeness or productivity, laughter, and acquisition for the satisfaction of one’s needs. Others can be negative and dangerous such as anger, rage, fury, pugnacity, aggression, resentment, hate, fear, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and acquisition for the purpose of hoarding and self-display.

If all the organs in man, together with the five senses and all the instincts, are balanced and functioning normally and harmoniously as Nature intends them to, there will be no such things as negative emotions like those we have just mentioned. There will be no deaf and dumb; nor will there be those who are physically blind. Barrenness will be unknown among women; prostitution and debauchery, murder and all other forms of crime, will be non-existent. Man would then live a full, happy, glorious and triumphant life. But the organs are not always what they should be; the sense faculties are more often than not defective; and the instincts tend to overplay their parts. The reasons for all these entricities are not far to seek.

Basically, we are – all of us – what our ancestors and environment make us. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact remains that our present individual tendencies and habits, be they physical or mental, are ordained for us by the cumulative physical and mental tendencies, characteristics and habits of all our ancestors since the epoch when man first made his appearance on our planet. Also, whether we acknowledge it or not, the fact is incontestable that our own tendencies and habits, plus those we have inherited from our ancestors, are – just as our ancestors’ were – decisively influenced by our environment. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the style of our buildings, our temper, prejudices and affections, our mode of thinking, the language we speak, even the diseases with which we are afflicted, are mainly and decidedly the results of heredity and environment. . The Chinese and the African have many things in common as members of the human race; but they differ significantly from each other, because they were respectively born and bred in China and Africa by Chinese and African parents. Similarly, there are many things common to an African born and bred in Ghana and another born and bred in Nigeria, because they live on the continent of Africa and in those parts of it whose geographical features are very much alike. But the peculiar ancestry and environmental circumstances of a Ghanaian, as distinguished from those of a Nigerian, mark the difference between the former and the latter.

For the same reasons, a Nigerian of Yoruba stock, living in Western Nigeria, differs in his tendencies, idiosyncrasies and habits from a Nigerian of Ibo or Hausa stock living in Eastern or Northern Nigeria; just as individual Yorubas of distinct parental ancestries differ from one another, and so on and so forth. From the description which we have made of him, we see man as possessing a body with five physical senses.

The seat of these sense faculties is the brain and he can by an act of his will employ or refuse to employ any of these five senses. He also possesses, as we have seen, the INSTINCTS of SELF, SEX, and HERD, which operate independently of his will. We have also seen that the body and the instincts of man are decisively and permanently influenced by heredity and environment. In other words, man is the victim – happily not a helpless victim – of his ancestry and of geography. As we have previously noted, if all his physical organs and instincts functioned normally and harmoniously, man would be free, healthy, prosperous, and happy. But we know that, speaking generally, man is neither free, nor healthy, nor prosperous, nor happy. Everywhere on our globe ‘he is in chains’: in the chains of disease, ignorance, poverty, negative emotions, and the naked greed of himself and his fellowmen. The aim of education or of human culture in the broadest sense is, therefore, clear. It is to make it possible for man’s physical organs as well as his instincts to function normally, positively, and harmoniously. We already know that this aim cannot be achieved, however much we may try, unless, at the same time, we succeed in removing all the rough edges and ill effects of heredity and environment.

It follows then that the cardinal aim of education is not, as is popularly but narrowly conceived, to teach a man to read and write, to acquire a profession, to master a vocation, or to be versed in the liberal arts. All these are only means to the end of true education, which is to help a man to live a full, happy, and triumphant life. In other words, any system of education which does not help a man to have a healthy and sound body, an alert brain, and balanced and disciplined instinctive urges, is both misconceived and dangerous.

CONTINUES NEXT WEEK

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