The Mind and Its Education | Page 4

introspection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
CHAPTER XVI
INTEREST
1. The nature of interest: Interest a selective agent--Interest supplies a
subjective scale of values--Interest dynamic--Habit antagonistic to
interest. 2. Direct and indirect interest: Interest in the end versus
interest in the activity--Indirect interest as a motive--Indirect interest
alone insufficient. 3. Transitoriness of certain interests: Interests must
be utilized when they appear--The value of a strong interest. 4.
Selection among our interests: The mistake of following too many

interests--Interests may be too narrow--Specialization should not come
too early--A proper balance to be sought. 5. Interest fundamental in
education: Interest not antagonistic to effort--Interest and character. 6.
Order of development of our interests: The interests of early
childhood--The interests of later childhood--The interests of
adolescence. 7. Problems in observation and introspection . . . . . . 254
CHAPTER XVII
THE WILL
1. The nature of the will: The content of the will--The function of the
will--How the will exerts its compulsion. 2. The extent of voluntary
control over our acts: Simple reflex acts--Instinctive acts--Automatic,
or spontaneous acts--The cycle from volitional to automatic--Volitional
action--Volition acts in the making of decisions--Types of
decision--The reasonable type--Accidental type: External
motives--Accidental type: Subjective motives--Decision under effort. 3.
Strong and weak wills: Not a will, but wills--Objective tests a false
measure of will power. 4. Volitional types: The impulsive type--The
obstructed will--The normal will. 5. Training the will: Will to be
trained in common round of duties--School work and will-training. 6.
Freedom of the will, or the extent of its control: Limitations of the
will--These limitations and conditions of freedom. 7. Problems in
observation and introspection. . 271
CHAPTER XVIII
SELF-EXPRESSION AND DEVELOPMENT
1. Interrelation of impression and expression: The many sources of
impressions--All impressions lead toward expression--Limitations of
expression. 2. The place of expression in development: Intellectual
value of expression--Moral value of expression--Religious value of
expression--Social value of expression. 3. Educational use of
expression: Easier to provide for the impression side of education--The
school to take up the handicrafts--Expression and character--Two lines

of development. 4. Problems in introspection and observation . . . . .
294
INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

THE MIND AND ITS EDUCATION
CHAPTER I
THE MIND, OR CONSCIOUSNESS
We are to study the mind and its education; but how? It is easy to
understand how we may investigate the great world of material things
about us; for we can see it, touch it, weigh it, or measure it. But how
are we to discover the nature of the mind, or come to know the
processes by which consciousness works? For mind is intangible; we
cannot see it, feel it, taste it, or handle it. Mind belongs not to the realm
of matter which is known to the senses, but to the realm of spirit, which
the senses can never grasp. And yet the mind can be known and studied
as truly and as scientifically as can the world of matter. Let us first of
all see how this can be done.
1. HOW MIND IS TO BE KNOWN
THE PERSONAL CHARACTER OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--Mind can
be observed and known. But each one can know directly only his own
mind, and not another's. You and I may look into each other's face and
there guess the meaning that lies back of the smile or frown or flash of
the eye, and so read something of the mind's activity. But neither
directly meets the other's mind. I may learn to recognize your features,
know your voice, respond to the clasp of your hand; but the mind, the
consciousness, which does your thinking and feels your joys and
sorrows, I can never know completely. Indeed I can never know your
mind at all except through your bodily acts and expressions. Nor is
there any way in which you can reveal your mind, your spiritual self, to
me except through these means.

It follows therefore that only you can ever know you and only I can
ever know I in any first-hand and immediate way. Between your
consciousness and mine there exists a wide gap that cannot be bridged.
Each of us lives apart. We are like ships that pass and hail each other in
passing but do not touch. We may work together, live together, come to
love or hate each other, and yet our inmost selves forever stand alone.
They must live their own lives, think their own thoughts, and arrive at
their own destiny.
INTROSPECTION THE ONLY MEANS OF DISCOVERING
NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS.--What, then, is mind? What is the
thing that we call consciousness? No mere definition