LEARN TO LIVE

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12470, 11 June 1926, Page 6

LEARN TO LIVE

(To the Editor, “N.Z. Times.”) Sir.—“lf you would discover the spectres of the mind and annihilate them, write your thoughts.” (“The Art of Thinking,” by biharper Ivnowlson; the subject matter of this letter.) “To think is to live” quotes the author from Cicero. The truth of which I have heard debated by “practical” men. “Action is life,” say they, ignoring tho fact that a building has first of all to bo built in detail m the mind. And just here let me quote from the proface—“Education in the future, will resolve itself more and more into a policy laid down on the lines of this manual; in other words, the science of teaching will be concerned with the developing of the powers of the mind, rather than with the mere imparting of facts.” (That sentence should be read in combination witli the one opening this letter; for the “spectres” are there in the mind largely os the result of a policy of cram, involving mental indigestion.) The author prophecies, “and soon we may see people anxious not so much for education, or knowledge in bulk as for tutored senses and trained minds.” The prejudice of temperament leads him to say:—“By temperament we mean-that individual peculiarity of physical and mental organisation by which the manner of acting, feeling, and thinking of each person is permanently affected. There are four temperaments, and since every man must belong to one, or a compound of two or more, there is no escape from such influences in the formation of opinions ... If, according to Buckle, climate can do so much to mould the life of man, so will temperament—man’s mental climate—exert a like power in shaping his conclusions. Again, denominationalism in religion is largely a matter of temperament. The aesthetically minded seek a worship with ritual and ceremony. Between tho religion ancT the individual there is a conformity to type. In conclusion, two contingencies have to be guarded against. The first is that kind of thought which perverts action, such as entertaining a prejudice, and feeding a corrupt imagination; the second is that kind of thought which destroys action, such as the static moodiness of the sentimentalist,—and the inertia of him who is content to be a mere spectator. The excellence to be coveted is the thinking which is helpful to action. In one man it will be an interest in affairs, in another a love for the good of humanity, and in yet another the revealing of Nature’s secrets; let it be what it may, so long as it is there and faithfully nurtured, it will be well with the life of which it is a fundamental constituent. To learn the art of thinking is something; it is more to learn the art of living.—l am, etc. H.E.R.