Aspire Magazine: Inspiration for a Woman's Soul.(TM) Feb/Mar 2020 Aspire Magazine FULL Issue | Page 24
A human being has
a physical body, of
course, but he or she
also has a mental,
emotional and a
spiritual dimension
to their being
be left in a state of weakness. They will be
spoilt, wilful and inwardly anxious.
Another tradition says that children need love
and discipline, both in a balanced measure,
neither too much nor too little of either. If too
much love is given then the child becomes
wilful and spoilt; and if too much discipline is
applied they become hard and resentful.
Young children are full of faith.
So
said
Shantananda
Saraswatī,
the
Shankaracharya of Jyotirmath in the latter
decades of the twentieth century. This means
they will accept whatever the loving adults in
their life—parents, teachers—present. So,
he said, make sure the children receive rich,
beautiful, useful, truthful information. But he
also said that up to the age of ten, the basic
principles of life should also be instilled.
This is actually the more important part of a
child’s education and upbringing.
What are these basic principles? Every
culture expresses them in its own unique
24
way, but they are common to all cultures:
don’t lie; don’t steal; love your neighbour
as yourself; reverence a power higher than
yourself; live a life that is careful of your
own needs but also those of others around
you; hard work and diligence reap their own
rewards; respect those who came before
you; leave something beautiful for those who
come after you.
These principles can be expressed in other
ways, but all appeal to a fundamental reason,
goodness and common sense.
These basic guides for life need to be
communicated with love and discipline to
young children. This is enormously effective
in building confidence, strength, courage,
resilience, compassion and the other
cardinal virtues in the young.
After ten-years-old young boys and girls
are ready to start applying these principles
to the problems and issues that life throws
at them. They are still under the care and
guidance of loving adults, but they must now
begin to fall down and pick themselves up.
These are the simple ways to give the next
generation the tools and the platform on
which they can build a life that is unique to
themselves, is a credit to their parents and
teachers, and is a source of strength and
even wisdom to others.
Let’s take this even further.
While the basic principles of life must be
imparted, and the child cured of self-will
and fear, there are also a few basic life-
lessons that are extremely useful. One is
that things don’t always go your way, you
don’t always win, things don’t always come
www.AspireMAG.net | February / March 2020