_NURTURE AND CULTURE_
In the ascent of the soul two forces are ever at work: one is internal
and the other external. The internal is that which promotes growth; it
is resident within the soul, and, while it may be modified by
conditions, it is in no sense dependent on them. But environment is a
potent factor in all progress. Life necessitates growth, but environment
determines the end toward which it will move. Environment in large part
is composed of the circumstances into which we are born, of the
spiritual companionship from which none can escape, and of the training
which is provided by parents and friends. So much of the environment as
is furnished by others we will call nurture, and those influences and
instruments of advancement which the soul chooses for itself we will
call culture. This discrimination is not entirely accurate, but it is
sufficiently so for our present purpose. It at least indicates the lines
along which our thought will move. According to this definition nurture
has to do with that period of our existence when we are not able wisely
to make choices for ourselves. It is for those persons who are in
infancy and early youth, and also for those whose normal development has
been thwarted or hindered. The influences of the home, and of the church
so far as they are related to its younger members, are in the line of
nurture rather than of culture.
Culture, on the other hand, is something which a responsible being seeks
for himself, to the end that his power may be increased and his
faculties have harmonious development.
The soul grows according to its innate tendencies; it is also subject
to attractions from without. All souls are bound together; and all,
whether they wish or not, vitally and permanently affect those by whom
they are surrounded. Hence nurture and culture alike are both conscious
and unconscious.
The growth of the soul is largely affected by the nurture which it
receives. This is usually provided for it by parents, or by those who
take the places of the parents; and, where possible, their unwearying
efforts should be to remove all obstacles from the pathway of their
children, to surround them with a pure and helpful environment, and to
provide them with such training as will make their progress inevitable
and easy. The importance of wholesome domestic influences cannot be
exaggerated. Their part in the formation of character is greater than
that of all others, because they touch the powers and faculties of the
child during those years in which it is most plastic. Neither the
school nor the university can ever entirely counteract the effect of the
home. The whole period of childhood is one in which the soul is under
tutelage, and in which more is done for it by others than by itself. It
can no more select its own environment than it could have chosen its
parents, or the time and place of its birth. For a few years it is
utterly dependent. The question as to how its growth may most wisely be
promoted is, therefore, one of surpassing importance.
The object of nurture is to provide an unhindered path along which the
soul may move, to bring into full and free exercise all the powers which
it possesses, and to secure for them development and harmony. To insure
for each individual soul in the struggle of life a fair opportunity to
be itself is the end of nurture. Emerson has said that at birth every
child is loaded with bias, and that the purpose of culture is to remove
all impediment and bias, and to secure a balance among the faculties so
as to leave nothing but pure power. The same may be said as to the
object of nurture. Since impediment and bias are never a part of the
essence of the soul, the statement that the aim of nurture is to furnish
a full and free opportunity for each individual to secure a normal
development is, practically, identical with what Emerson has said of
culture.
What are the agencies which have most to do with promoting the ascent of
the soul? The first is atmosphere. In a bright, clear, sunshiny
atmosphere the body attains its most healthful growth. So with the soul.
Atmosphere is one of those intangible things that every one understands
and no one can easily define. It is composed of a thousand different
elements. The atmosphere of a household is the spirit by which it is
pervaded. Are all reverent, earnest, cheerful, optimistic? Do love and
mutual helpfulness prevail? Do the members of the family live as if God
were a near and blessed reality, and right and duty were more sacred
than life? Then there will be an atmosphere of hopefulness, devotion,
service, reverence, pure religion, which will affect all as sunlight and
air, unconsciously but evidently, grow into the beauty and fruitfulness
of meadows and gardens. The rare spirituality, the urbane manner, the
exquisite regard for others, the dignity and deference which are found
in some persons have no explanation except that they have been absorbed
from the households in which their early lives were passed. Nurture is
chiefly a matter of mental and spiritual atmosphere. Attraction is
always stronger than compulsion. A child born into conditions in which
love prevails, where truth, duty, honor, are reverenced, and where all
dwelling together seek the highest things, will need neither instruction
in morals nor motives in religion. It will naturally turn toward truth
and righteousness. It will revere virtue and worship God as inevitably
and spontaneously as it breathes. We are all influenced more by the
words which we hear and the examples which we see than by the lessons
given us to learn, by the spirit of a man, or an institution, rather
than by rules. Persons show the conditions in which they have been
reared by their choice of words, their bearing, the subjects of their
conversation, by their mental and spiritual attitude. Reverence is
seldom found except in an atmosphere of reverence, and sincerity grows
among those who are sincere. It is a moral necessity that some men
should be earnest and enthusiastic, and impossible for their neighbors
to be other than cringing and mean. The largest element in environment
is atmosphere, and in the development of character environment is quite
as potent as heredity. Indeed, in the sphere of the spirit, as in that
of the body, heredity is always modified by environment. The chief
factor in nurture, therefore, is atmosphere. If that is healthful,
growth will be toward beauty and strength; if that is malarial, no
antiseptic force but the grace of God will be able to counteract its
influence.
Next to atmosphere as an element in nurture I place ideals. For these
children are usually dependent on their elders. They reverence what they
are taught to revere. Ideals are placed before them by example and by
precept. Children grow like those whose deeds attract them, and they
seek those ideals toward which they are most wisely directed. Laws are
never as potent in the formation of character as examples. Men are made
brave by the sight of bravery, and honorable by contact with those who
will swear to their own hurt and change not. There is deep philosophy in
the saying that the songs of a people influence their institutions and
history more than legal enactments, for songs are usually of bravery, of
love, of victory. They create ideals; they excite enthusiasm. The
Marseillaise and The Watch on the Rhine send thrills through the blood
of those who hear them because in the most vivid way they suggest
patriotism and heroism. A good man inspires goodness. Philanthropy makes
others philanthropic. One courageous act sometimes makes heroes of a
hundred common men. If a father would have his son physically brave, and
he is a wise parent, he will not waste time in urging him to undertake
some forlorn hope, but he will read to him the story of the Greeks at
Thermopylæ, of Marshal Ney at Waterloo, of Nathan Hale and his holy
martyrdom, of Nelson at Trafalgar. If he would have that son a helper
and servant of his fellow-men he will tell him the story of Pastor
Fliedner and his work at Kaiserwerth, of Florence Nightingale at the
Crimea, of Wilberforce and Buxton, Whittier and Garrison in their
efforts to awaken their fellow-men to the enormity of human slavery. The
strongest force for making a young man brave and generous, honorable and
Christian, is the example of a father possessing such qualities. Men are
usually like their ideals, and their ideals in large part are created by
the examples of those who are most admired and loved.
But example is not all. Training also does much. Conduct is but the
expression of thought. If one can determine what shall be the subject of
another's thinking, he will have gone a long way toward fixing his
character. This is a fact which deserves more attention than it has yet
received in plans for the education of the people. Parents have no
holier privilege than that of directing the thought of their children.
By their own conversation, by the friends whom they invite to their
homes, by the books which are given a place on their tables, by the
amusements to which they take their families, they determine for them
the channels in which their minds shall run. As a man thinketh in his
heart so is he. Boys usually dwell upon the same subjects as their
fathers, unless the fathers by skilful conversation are able to hide the
subjects to which they give most time. Children usually admire what
their parents admire, and shun what they shun. The organic unity of the
household is a large factor in individual and social progress. Both by
direct effort, and by the indirect operation of example, it furnishes
subjects for the youthful mind. The personality, whose seat is in the
will, is never determined, but it is very largely influenced both by the
example of those who are admired and by the thoughts which they
suggest.
Environment in large part is composed of atmosphere, example, and
ideals. All these are provided for the growing child by others. He has
little or no voice in saying what they shall be. And environment has
more to do with the progress of the soul toward full and free
self-expression even than what is called education. Education is more by
atmosphere, example, and mental suggestion than by teachers and
text-books. When we speak of nurture we usually think of the period of
discipline in school and church; but we often make the mistake of not
taking into account the fact that the most effective training is seldom
that which comes directly from teachers. It is rather that which is
derived indirectly from the atmosphere, example, and ideals by which the
child is surrounded in his home. If I could determine those for a child
I should dread very little any malign force in the shape of an
incompetent teacher. Schools, in reality, are only for the unfinished
work of the homes. They may make the child better than his home, and
they may undo the good work which it has done; but, usually, what the
home is the child will be some time.
The agencies of nurture, by which a soul is helped on its upward
pathway, are atmosphere, example, ideals, and direct training. Of these
the least important is the last, although the value of that is
self-evident. By the intellectual and spiritual air that we breathe, by
the sight of heroic and consecrated service, by the possibilities of
noble achievement the best that is in a man or a boy is usually drawn
out. Afterward the teacher may take him in hand and, by training, remove
the impediment and bias and thus make a balance in the faculties, or
take out of his way the obstacles which oppose his progress; but he
seldom does very much toward determining the direction in which the
child will move. That is decided by others in the years which are most
plastic. The soul naturally, and inevitably, grows toward truth and God.
How could it be otherwise, since its being is derived from Him? But a
part of the mystery of growth is the influence of environment, and early
environment is almost altogether composed of the circumstances and
influences into which one is born.
The question of nurture, therefore, is of vital importance. What shall
one generation do for those which are to come after it? Each soul may
hinder or help the growth of countless other souls. The influence of
those nearest is always most potent for good or ill. Impediment is
increased, and bias exaggerated, by evil example. The effort to rise
becomes easy when the way is seen to be full of those whom we love and
honor going before us toward the heights, and it is difficult when no
familiar face is seen. Nurture is not so much a matter of teacher and
text-book, of church and catechism, as of atmosphere, example, and
inspiration. It is the effect of the contact of one pure and noble soul
upon another; it is something which father, mother, and friends give to
the child; it is the result of the spirit in which they impart
instruction and of the reverence and consecration which shine from their
lives.
The best and only enduring nurture is that of a sweet, serene,
optimistic, and thoroughly Christian environment. With that, inherited
tendencies toward weakness and evil will go of themselves,--indeed will
seem never to have had existence.
But all too soon the time comes in which the soul faces its own
responsibility, and realizes that it must choose for itself what its
course shall be. It has learned, if it has observed, that there is ever
with it an unseen leadership, and it has heard, faint and far, the call
of a noble destiny. What shall it now do for itself? Shall it choose
simply to exist? Shall it yield to the limitations and solicitations of
the body? or, shall it seek to prepare itself by discipline, and the
cultivation of right choices, for the goal whose intimations it has
heard? Nurture, if it has been wise, has been the forerunner of culture.
Atmosphere and example have inspired lofty ideals, but those ideals, if
they are to be realized, will require training. Matthew Arnold, quoting
Bishop Wilson, has said that culture "is a study of perfection." In
other words, it is the means which are used for the perfection of the
soul. Shall we choose to leave ourselves to grow like trees in a forest,
however they may, or shall we seek those conditions which will make
progress sure and swift? Culture is always a matter of choice; and it is
vastly more than anything which can be taught in the college or
university. The cultured man is he who has learned so to use the forces
and conditions of life as to make them minister to his perfection. The
one most cultured may come out of a factory, and the man of least
culture may be found in a university. Indeed colleges and universities,
not infrequently, are haunts of provincialism and of dread of
enthusiasm. The object of culture is the perfection of the spirit to the
end that all that hinders, or limits, may disappear and only pure power,
clear vision, and full self-realization remain. Those whose growth is
most evident are ever eager to use all experiences as means of progress.
They study books in order that they may better understand what others
have thought concerning the mystery of existence; they discipline their
minds in order that they may the better serve their fellow-men; they
seek fineness of manner and beauty of expression to the end that their
utterance of truth may be more persuasive and convincing. Culture and
the discipline of life are identical. Consequently, the wise man chooses
to put himself where he will best be taught by the events through which
he passes, by what he sees, and by what he may learn from others. It
matters little who have been the teachers, or what have been the
schools,--the real teacher is always life, and the real university is
the human experience.
I do not make light of the benefit which may be derived from books and
institutions of learning, but I do insist on the recognition of the
deeper fact that the lessons which no one can afford to neglect are
those which can be taught only by overcoming obstacles. We can learn how
to live only in the school of life. The most vital books are always
those which tell us what others have done, and of the paths by which
they have been led to power. What shall the soul do for itself in order
that it may promote its own growth? It must first recognize where the
sources of knowledge and strength are to be found, and then put itself
where it will feel the touch of the vitality which can come only from
other souls. Quickly enough every man reaches the time in which he may
determine his own environment. When we are young others choose our
circumstances for us, but when we become older we select them for
ourselves. That means much. No monarch is mighty enough to compel me to
associate with those who will hinder my progress. He only is a slave
whose mind and will are in bondage. My body may be with boors but, at
the same time, my spirit may be holding companionship with seers and
sages. I may be compelled to work in a mine like John the Apostle, but
I, too, like him may hear One speaking whose voice is as the sound of
many waters, and whose eyes are like a flame of fire. Our real
associates are ever our spiritual companions; and no one can force
another to hold fellowship with those who are either intellectually or
spiritually uncongenial.
And we also select our own subjects of thought. Who can govern the
thinking of another? At the very moment when one, who is stronger, is
rejoicing in what seems his supremacy, our thoughts may be ranging
through the spaces, and finding companionships among the stars. And we
choose our own examples. In youth they were put before us according to
the will of others, but later our heroes come to us at our bidding, and
no one can shut the gates against them. Whom shall we admire? Let them
be men of the spirit, who have sought truth and hated lies, "who have
fought their doubts and gathered strength," who would rather suffer
wrong than do wrong. The perfection of being is the end of effort,
therefore we will read what will best help our growth in vision, in
moral earnestness, in spiritual sensibility; therefore our books shall
treat of subjects which will ennoble; our amusements shall be pure and
clean; and our chief companionships shall be with the prophets and
masters, the noble and the good, because by associating with them we
shall become like them.
Intellectual acuteness, mastery of faculty, elegance of expression, are
something very different from insight into the meaning of life. The
cultured man is he who has learned his relations to his fellow-men, who
recognizes his obligations toward them; and his relations to the unseen
and his duty toward it.
Discipline which will produce such results will ever be sought by the
awakened soul. It will be satisfied with nothing less.
The relation of nurture and culture to the ascent of the soul is now
evident. Both are the agencies by which all impediment and bias are to
be removed, and by which the soul is to come to the realization of pure
power. They are the means by which complete self-realization is to be
attained; they are the study of perfection. Nurture is what is done for
the soul by parents and friends in its plastic years; culture is the
means which the soul chooses in order that its growth may be hastened.
Nurture is chiefly promoted by lofty examples, noble ideals,--in short,
by beneficent environment; but culture is attained by the conscious
effort of the individual, by his own choice of healthful environment,
worthy example, inspiring companionships, and, perhaps still more, by
long and patient study of the facts of our mortal life, of the
revelations which have come from the unseen, and of the prophecies of
the future which are within the soul. There is a deep and almost
terrible significance in the text, "No man liveth to himself." Every
person is independent and free and yet is bound to every other. Most
delicate and vital of all human relations is that of parent and child.
How far one may be responsible for the other may be difficult to decide,
but that the one influences the other, inevitably and forever, is beyond
question. In many ways the child is what he is made by the parent.
Therefore the welfare of the child as a spirit, and not merely as a
body, should be a continual study. He who has dared to become a parent
can never honorably shirk the duty of nurture. The connection between
souls is a great mystery, but the mystery does not lessen the
obligation. We are responsible not only for the existence of our
children, but equally for their growth. It is the parent's privilege to
make sure that they start on the journey of life properly equipped, and
with no undue obstacles in their pathway--to make them realize that they
are not only his children but also children of God; and that they are to
live not only in time but in eternity.
The training of the body is needful, and that of the mind still more so,
but that of the spirit is absolutely essential to its welfare. Therefore
plans and provisions for nurture first, last, and always should be to
the end that the soul may realize that it is from God, and that its goal
and glory are union with Him.
And those who realize that they are free, that they are in a moral
order, that a noble destiny awaits them, should make everything in
thought, in study, in association, in companionship, bend toward the
perfection of being, the development of power, and the realization of
the life of the spirit. Nurture does much for every man, his parents
and friends also do much but, at last, when all mysteries are disclosed
and self-revelation is complete, it may be found that each one does
quite as much for himself as any one else, or every one else, does for
him.