EDUCATION FOR THE INNER LIFE.
After all, the body is only the tabernacle of the spirit. The spirit
within, the essential part of man, must be developed as much as
possible during the earth career.
**The Senses.** Knowledge is the material on which the mind works. In
every progressive life fresh knowledge must be gathered as the days go
by. The senses of man are the gateways through which that knowledge
enters. The senses of man must be developed, therefore, as completely
as is possible. Seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and feeling must
all be developed fully and joyously for the pleasure and benefit of
man. Without sharp senses, man may not have the highest earthly joy.
**The Reasoning Power.** It is not sufficient for the contentment of
man that he gather knowledge, and add fact to fact. All new
information must be compared with other information, so that
conclusions may be drawn, and new knowledge brought into view. By this
process of reasoning, on the basis of acquired knowledge, man may rise
by sure steps to a high degree of understanding. Man must train
himself, with all his might, to use this wonderful faculty of reason,
so that he may intelligently read new knowledge from all he learns. A
fact, of itself, is lifeless; only when it is compared with other
facts, does it leap into life, and show forth its hidden meaning.
**The Feelings.** The sense of feeling is but a poor expression for
the one great sense by which man may directly communicate with the
region of the unseen. Through this sense, man stands on the border
line between earth and the external universe. Those who have communion
with the forces about them, because of their greater refinement of
feeling, have comfort which is attainable in no other manner.
Moreover, our feelings with respect to our fellow men should be
cultivated. We must learn to sympathize with them in their distresses,
rejoice with them in their joys, and pity them in their sins. The
education of the feelings is a great duty of man.
**The Spiritual Sense.** This sense is closely akin to the feelings.
The virtues of man, such as hope, charity, and mercy, can reach high
development only on the basis of the conviction that the unseen world
may be known. When this conviction grows upon a man, and he reaches
out for a fuller understanding of it, his spiritual sense develops,
new worlds are opened to him and he conforms to the intelligent love
which made the Great Plan possible.
**Symbolism.** Moreover, as man develops, he learns to be content to
know eternal truths only in great symbols. That is, he learns to be
satisfied to know that he does not fully know. This has already been
dwelt upon and need not be further emphasized. The Sacrament, as an
ordinance of the Church is one of the great symbols of the suffering
and death of Jesus for the sake of mankind, that the Great Plan might
be fulfilled. Bread is eaten and water is drunk as symbols of the body
and blood of the Savior, given in the atoning sacrifice. Every other
ordinance is similarly symbolic. Back of the symbols lies the whole
Great Plan in all of its gradations. God demands that the sacrament be
partaken of frequently, so that the atoning sacrifice of Jesus may be
held before the people continually; so with the other great symbols of
the Church. By them the realities of eternal life are held before us.
**Education.** The whole of life is education, or training for
further work. No wonder, therefore, that, in the correct philosophy of
life, schools and other devices for the training of man's powers are
foremost. Education is and must be carried onward fully and
abundantly, in the Church of Christ. The support of education is,
indeed, a test of the truthfulness of the Church.