Problem of the Soul

Maoriland Worker, Volume 11, Issue 476, 28 April 1920, Page 1

Problem of the Soul

By RDAIOXD HOLMES

This hook is described as a Time! for Teachers, and is an , attempt u> determine what limits, if any. there are to the transforming influence of education. It is thoughtful and suggestive, and presents some new aspects of. well-known problems. For insiance ihe'anlhor looks at the problem of the relative importance of heredity and environment in a new light. and

holds that (he opposition of one loihe

other commonly assumed Ts based on , a jninconuciJlion. - He-differentialeH-be-tween racial and lineal heredity, that is to say between the elements we inherit from the whole human race and those we derive from our immediate ancestors, lie aslcs: "Does lineal heredity (tin , iniliiencf? of stock 1 count ■ fur so much in human life as n> commit us to a fatalistic, and therefore pessimistic, theory of things'. , " ' Mr. Holmes contends that, ihe defects inlerent in Ihe blood can be remedied by allowing the potentialities of our racial inheritance to realise themselves •mil play their several parts. 'The more the racial element in one's inheritance outweighs the lineal, the more the potentialities of one's racial inheritance -outweigh ihe actualities, the greater will he the scope for the •.ransl'orining influence of environment, anil the less will heredity (in the conventional sense of the word) counl in one's life. The author argues that on the physical plane there are no great reserves of potentiality for environment lo draw upon. Hut when we leave the physical plane we pass inio another world"—a world of mysteries and infinities, a world of fathomless depths, of dark spaces, of « unknown possibilities, a world of "farfolded mislp. and gleaming halls of morn." ft is in this plane that the iiiuhor sees Ihe possibility of infinite progress, the individual soul being in itself a reservoir of unlimited potentialiiics, or else having such a reserVior tit its command. He goes into the

question of the effects of environ meat on the individual, and the theory of strain, and relates some very successful work, done by educators with very ordinary material. He admits ih,il he once held the superstition (his own expression) that the "lower orders" are by birili and breeding inferiors in mentality and character, but he abandoned this in face of facts which proved the contrary. As for instance, he was shown some thirty or forty poems weiHen by girls in a higher standard elementary school in a Nonh of England manufacturing town. The high level of feeling and expression readied in these poems asiotiished him. Here is a specimen, which fully justices the. aslonislitnent. LATE OCTOBER Patter of fitful rain, Shiver of falling leaves. The wail of wind which has left behind The glory of. fruit and sheaves. Mist in the vales below, .Mist on the crowning hills,And grief in Hie heart that lias seen , depart Its summer of lung ago. "The idea that the upper classes are by nature morally and spiritually superior to the lower is a dangerous delusion, of which, for their own sakes, those who belong to the.upper classes would do well to rid themselves. If the lower classes Jill - more than their share of our prison cells, (he reason is that many of them are born into and reared in criminal surroundings, that they are beset by temptations to dishonesty and other forms of lawlessness to which the upper classes are not exposed, and that inspite of the desire of our legislators to do justice to all classes, there is still one law for ihe rich and another for rlje poor." l-'roin iliis the aulhor goes on to deal with Ihe ancestry of Ihe soul, and decides in favour of ;j super-physical theory. In fact he accepts reincarnation as the key to the middle of man's existence. Here few will be able to follow him, but~thut th,e soul's powers are independent of the body and-(hat there is no limit to thei'"development is in line with the most scientific developments; in psychology. The result of Mr. Holmes' investigations is that there is no limit to Ihe transforming influence of education, and thai teachers can work changes in character and mentality which an outsider might regard as miraculous. The Problem of the Soul is a most stimulating hook, providing excellent food for thoughi. and breaking new ground in the science of teaching.