Love
"If we study the child better than we have done hitherto, we discover love in all its aspects. Love has not been analysed by the poets and by the prophets, but it is analysed by the realities which every child discloses in himself"
The Absorbent Mind p 267, Chap 28
Montessori saw the child as a 'well-spring of love' and she recognised that this quality that was innate within each child, and a particular characteristic of early childhood, was an enormously powerful source of human unity.
She discovered that children, when left free from interference, explored the world with delight and curiosity and settled into a level of social harmony that was completely unexpected.
The social characteristics that the children increasingly demonstrated within her nurseries increasingly convinced her that children held within them the key to the transformation of society. The key to all of this was the children's love - for work, for the environment and for each other.
It has to be remembered that the first Montessori nurseries were provided for slum children who were typically seen as difficult, noisy and aggressive. The transformation that occurred was therefore radical and caused an enormous amount of public interest.
It seemed that the less the children were controlled, the more that they wanted to do and the better behaved and happier they became. She began to see that the whole perception of childhood at that time was flawed and from that time on she devoted herself to studying what it was that the children really needed in order to develop in true fullness.
Quotations
"You must see these new children in this new light. Inside man is a hidden nature and a hidden energy. The kingdom of childhood is the kingdom of heaven"
The Child, Society and the World p 28, Chap III
"Children are sent to us as a rain of souls, as a wealth and a promise that can always be fulfilled; but that needs our efforts to help in bringing about that fulfillment"
Ibid, p 29, Chap III
"Be careful, a child's soul is like a bright mirror on which any breath can cast a shadow"
Ibid p 40, Chap III
"Little children between 3 and 6 years of age have a special psychology. They are full of love. They are only without love if they are ill-treated. If they are badly treated their real nature is altered. They are full of love themselves and need to be loved in order to grow"
Ibid p 41, Chap lll
"I have already said that prophets and poets speak often of love as if it were an ideal; but it is not just an ideal, it is, has always been, and ever will be, a reality"
The Absorbent Mind p 264, Chap 28
"The Absorbent Mind forms the basis of the society created by man, and we see in it the guise of the gentle and tiny child who solves by the virtue of his love the mysterious difficulties of human destiny"
Ibid p 267, Chap 28
"Love is permanent in mankind, and its consequences are felt outside the individual's life. For what is the social organization which goes on extending till the whole of humanity is embraced by it. if not the consequence of a love which others have felt in the centuries of the past?... lf nature bestows this energy for exact purposes, if she measures it out so accurately to other forms of life, the generosity she shows to man cannot be purposeless"
Ibid p 269, Chap 28
"Love is conceded to man as a direct gift directed to a certain purpose, and for a special reason, and in this it resembles everything lent to living beings by the cosmic consciousness. It must be treasured, developed and enlarged to the fullest possible extent" Ibid p 269, Chap 28
"By its means man, also, will be able to hold together all that he creates by his hands and with his intelligence. Without it, all he creates will turn (as so often it has) to the bringing of disorder and destruction. Without it, with the growth of his own powers, nothing of his can last, all will collapse"
Ibid p 269, Chap 28
"...all is nothing unless there be love. Love is more than the electricity which lightens our darkness more than the etheric waves that transmit our voices across space, more than any of the energies that man has discovered and learned to use. Of all these things love is the most potent"
Ibid p 269, Chap 28
The Absorbent Mind - Chapter 28
The Child, Society and the World - Chapter III
Journal articles
Cavaletti, S (1999) Discovering the Real Spiritual Child (Part 1) NAMTA Journal v24 n2 p7-16 Spring 1999
Lillag, T (1999) The History of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, NAMTA Journal v24 n2 p29-37 Spring 1999
Montanaro, S (1999) Discovering the Real Spiritual Child (Part 2) NAMTA Journal v24 n2 p21-26 Spring 1999
Wolf, A (1999) Are we succeeding in Nurturing the Spirit? NAMTA Journal v24 n2 p155-173 Spring 1999
Conference papers
Montessori, Renilde, (1988) The Timeless Human Spirit, AMI International Conference 'Education for the 21 5t Centurv . Washington DC. July.
Montanaro Silvano Q. MD. (1996) The Support of Montessori Education to Human Potential, AMI/USA National Conference'TheRelevance of Montessori Today - Meeting Human Needs; Principles to Practice', Bellevue, Washington, July.
Archive resources
Boyd, W (1917) From Locke to Montessori, George Harrap & Co London.
Culverwell, E (1913) The Montessori Principles and Practice, C.Bell & Sons, London.
Kilpatrick, W (1915) Montessori Examined, Constable, London.
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