Education in the New Age

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This page constitutes a collection of passages by the Master D.K. compiled by a student of the Ageless Wisdoms and published in "Ponder On This". In essence, it represents views held by the Hierarchy regarding education in relation to present humanity.

"In the educational world an apprehension of man's true nature will bring about a fundamental change in the methods of teaching. The emphasis with be laid upon teaching people the fact of the Ego [Soul] on its own plane, the nature of the lunar bodies, and the methods of aligning the lower bodies so that the Ego can communicate directly with the physical brain, and thus control the lower nature and work out its purposes. Men will be taught how, through concentration and meditation, they can ascertain knowledge for themselves, can develop the intuition, and thus draw upon the resources of the Ego. Then will men be taught to think, to assume control of the mental body, and thus develop their latent powers." (A Treatise On Cosmic Fire, p. 814).

"The true education is consequently the science of linking up the integral parts of man, and also of linking him up in turn with his immediate environment, and then with the greater whole in which he has to play his part. Each aspect, regarded as a lower aspect, can ever be simply the expression of the next higher. In this phrase I have expressed a fundamental truth which embodies not only the objective, but also indicates the problem before all interested in education. This problem is to gauge rightly the center of the focus of a man's attention, and to note where the consciousness is primarily centered. Then he must be trained in such a way that a shift of that focus into a higher vehicle becomes possible. We can also express this idea in an equally true manner by saying that the vehicle which seems of paramount importance, can become an should become of secondary importance, as it becomes simply the instrument of that which is higher than itself." (Education In The New Age, p. 12)

"Towards this consummation all education should tend: Response to the Thinker or the soul. With the registration of this response, the man enters into his kingdom. The above and the below become as one. The objective and the subjective worlds are unified. Soul and its mechanism function as a unit." (Education In The New Age, p. 12)

"The Atlanteans had no educational system as we understand the term. The kings and priests intuited; the masses obeyed." (Education In The New Age, p. 40)

"The first effort of education to civilize the child, will be to train and rightly direct his instincts.
     The second obligation upon the educators will be to bring about his true culture, by training him to use his intellect rightly.
     The third duty of education will be to evoke and to develop the intuition.
     When these three are developed and functioning, you will have a civilized, cultured and spiritually awakened human being. A man will then be instinctively correct, intellectually sound, and intuitively aware. His soul, his mind, and his brain will be functioning as they should and in right relation to each other, thus again producing co-ordination and correct alignment." (Education In The New Age, p. 50)

"One of our immediate educational objectives must be the elimination of the competitive spirit, and the substitution of the co-operative consciousness." (Education In The New Age, p. 74)

"What . . . should be the effort on the part of parents and educators?
First, and above everything else, the effort should be made to provide the atmosphere wherein certain qualities can flourish and emerge.
1. An atmosphere of love, wherein fear is cast out and the child realizes he has no cause for timidity, shyness or caution, and one in which he receives courteous treatment at the hands of others, and is expected also to render equally courteous treatment in return. . . . Love always draws forth what is best in child and man.

2. An atmosphere of patience, wherein the child can become, normally and naturally, a seeker after the light of knowledge; wherein he is sure of always meeting with a quick response to inquiry, and a careful reply to all questions, and wherein there is never the sense of speed or hurry. . . . This impatience on the part of those upon whom they are so pathetically dependent, sows in them the seeds of irritation, and more lives are ruined by irritation than can be counted.

3. An atmosphere of ordered activity, wherein the child can learn the first rudiments of responsibility. The children who are coming into incarnation at this time, and who can profit by the new type of education, are necessarily on the very verge of soul consciousness. One of the first indications of such soul contact is a rapidly developing sense of responsibility. This should be carefully borne in mind, for the shouldering of small duties and the sharing of responsibilities (which is always concerned with some form of group relation) is a potent factor in determining a child's character and future vocation.

4. An atmosphere of understanding, wherein the child is always sure that the reasons and motives for his actions will be recognized, and that those who are his older associates will always comprehend the nature of his motivating impulses, even though they may not always approve of what he has done, or of his activities . . .
     It is the older generation who foster in a child an early and most unnecessary sense of guilt, of sinfulness and of wrongdoing. So much emphasis is laid upon petty little things that are not really wrong, but are annoying to the parent or teacher, that a true sense of wrong (which is a recognition of failure to preserve right relations with the group) gets overlaid and is not recognized for what it is. The many small and petty sins, imposed upon the children by the constant reiteration of "No", by the use of the word "naughty", and based largely on parental failure to understand and occupy the child, are of no real moment. If these aspects of the child's life are rightly handled, then the truly wrong things, the infringements upon the rights of others, . . . the hurting or damaging of others in order to achieve personal gain, will emerge in right perspective and at the right time." (Education In The New Age, p. 75/8)

"In the future, education will make a far wider use of psychology than heretofore." (Education In The New Age, p. 84)

"A better educational system should, therefore, be worked out which will present the possibilities of human living in such a manner that barriers will be broken down, prejudices removed, and a training given to the developing child which will enable him, when grownup, to live with other men in harmony and goodwill. This can be done, if patience and understanding are developed and if educators realize that "where there is no vision, the people perish"." (Education In The New Age, p. 87)
 
"Modern education has been primarily competitive, nationalistic and, therefore, separative. It has trained the child to regard the material values as of major importance, to believe that his particular nation is also of major importance, and that every other nation is secondary; it has fed pride and fostered the belief that he, his group and his nation, are infinitely superior to other people and peoples. He is taught consequently to be a one-sided person, with his world values wrongly adjusted and his attitudes to life distinguished by bias and prejudice.
     . . . The general level of world information is high, but usually biassed, influenced either by national or religious prejudices, serving thus to make a man a citizen of his own country but not a human being with
world relations. World citizenship is not emphasized." (Education in the New Age, p. 38/9)
"In the field of education, united action is essential. Surely a basic unity of objectives should govern the educational systems of the nations, even though uniformity of method and of technique may not be possible. Differences of language, of background and of culture, will and should always exist; they constitute the beautiful tapestry of human living down the ages. But much that has hitherto militated against right human relations must and should be eliminated.
     In the teaching of history, are we to revert to the bad old ways wherein each nation glorifies itself at the expense frequently of other nations, in which facts are systematically garbled, in which the pivotal
points in history are the various wars down the ages -- a history, therefore, of aggression, of the rise of a material and selfish civilisation, and one which had the nationalistic and, therefore, separative spirit, which has fostered racial hatred and stimulated national prides? . . . Greed, ambition, cruelty and pride are the keynotes of our teaching of history and geography.
     These wars, aggression and thefts, which have distinguished every great nation without exception, are facts and cannot be denied. Surely, however, the lessons of the evils which they wrought (culminating in the war 1914-45) can be pointed out, and the ancient causes of present day prejudices and dislikes can be shown and their futility emphasised. Is it not possible to build our theory of history upon the great and good ideas which have conditioned the nations and made them what they are, and emphasise the creativity which has distinguished all of them? Can we not present more effectively the great cultural epochs which -- suddenly appearing in some one nation -- enriched the entire world, and gave to humanity its literature, its art and its vision?
     . . . The world itself is a great fusing pot, out of which the One Humanity is emerging. This necessitates a drastic change in our methods of presenting history and geography. Science has alway been universal. Great art and literature have always belonged to the world. It is upon these facts that the education to be given to the children of the world must be built -- upon our similarities, our creative achievements, our spiritual idealisms, and our points of contact. Unless this is done, the wounds of
the nations will never be healed, and the barriers which have existed for centuries, will never be removed.
     The educators who face the present world opportunity, should see to it that a sound foundation is laid for the coming civilisation; they must undertake that it is general and universal in scope, truthful in its
presentation, and constructive in its approach. . . . They must lay an emphatic importance upon those great moments in human history wherein man's divinity flamed forth, and indicated new ways of thinking, new modes of human planning, and thus changed for all time the trend of human affairs . . .
     Two major ideas should be taught to the children of every country. They are: The value of the individual and the fact of the one humanity . . . The value of the individual, and the existence of that whole we call Humanity, are most closely related. This needs emphasising. These two principles, when properly taught and understood, will lead to the intensive culture of the individual and then to his recognition of his responsibility as an integral part of the whole body of humanity." (Education in the New Age, p. 45/8)
"The college or the university should in reality be the correspondence in the field of education, to the world of Hierarchy; it should be the custodian of those methods, techniques and systems of thought and of life which will relate a human being to the world of souls, to the Kingdom of God, and not only to other human beings upon the physical plane; not only to the world of phenomena, but also to the inner world of values and quality.
     Again, I repeat, this fitting of a man for citizenship in the Kingdom of God is not essentially a religious activity, to be handled by the exponents of the great world religions. It should be the task of the higher education, giving purpose and significance to all that has to be done. If this seems idealistic and impossible to you, let me assure you that by the time the Aquarian Age is in full flower, this will be the assured and recognized objective of educators of that time." (Education in the New Age, p. 49)
"It should be remembered (and this is being more widely recognised) that the quality of the young children now coming into incarnation, is steadily getting better and higher. They are in many cases abnormally intelligent, and what you (in your technical parlance) call their I.Q., is frequently phenomenally high. This will be increasingly the case, until young people of fourteen will have the equipment and intelligence of the brilliant college men and women of today." (Education in the New Age, p. 50)

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