“Man Seems to Have Two Embryonic Periods. One Is Prenatal, Like That of the Animals; the Other Is Postnatal and Only Man Has This. the Prolonged Infancy of Man Separates Him Entirely from the Animals, and This Is the
Spiritual Embryo is the phase of intellectual development or a period of mental construction of the child that starts developing right after birth and continues developing to three years by absorbing from the surrounding environment unconsciously. The embryo needs to be protected by an external environment that is warm in love, rich in nourishment. Every child is born with a warming potential in him.
‘We know how to find pearls in the shells of oysters, gold in the mountains and coal in the bowels of the earth but we are unaware of the creative nebulae that the child hides in himself when he enters this world to renew mankind’. (Educational Philosophy in Modern India, Kumar S, p128)
It is the non-physical growth of the child’s mind, intellect, personality, temperament, spirit and soul (from birth to three years), which Dr. Montessori thought of as being comparable to the physical growth of the embryo in the womb before birth. The potential power of the brain is there, and as the child grows that potential will either develop, or else gradually die away. Once this period of construction is over; what has been built wrong will remain and the child will have a defect for life which cannot be altered. Therefore, Montessori says that people who are able to rely on their natural instincts give a loving, caring and easy going environment for the firmest foundation for their child’s future life.
Each of these periods lasts for only as long as is necessary for the child to accomplish a particular stage of development. The child is like a sponge which soaks whatever is there in the environment whether it is good or bad, ugly or beautiful, violent or peaceful. These impressions are stored in his memory, mneme, which becomes a part of his personality.
“Such is our duty toward the child, to give a ray of light and to go on our way.” (The Montessori Method : scientific pedagogy as applied to child education in the “Children’s House”, Montessori, P.94)
‘We know how to find pearls in the shells of oysters, gold in the mountains and coal in the bowels of the earth but we are unaware of the creative nebulae that the child hides in himself when he enters this world to renew mankind’. (Educational Philosophy in Modern India, Kumar S, p128)
It is the non-physical growth of the child’s mind, intellect, personality, temperament, spirit and soul (from birth to three years), which Dr. Montessori thought of as being comparable to the physical growth of the embryo in the womb before birth. The potential power of the brain is there, and as the child grows that potential will either develop, or else gradually die away. Once this period of construction is over; what has been built wrong will remain and the child will have a defect for life which cannot be altered. Therefore, Montessori says that people who are able to rely on their natural instincts give a loving, caring and easy going environment for the firmest foundation for their child’s future life.
Each of these periods lasts for only as long as is necessary for the child to accomplish a particular stage of development. The child is like a sponge which soaks whatever is there in the environment whether it is good or bad, ugly or beautiful, violent or peaceful. These impressions are stored in his memory, mneme, which becomes a part of his personality.
“Such is our duty toward the child, to give a ray of light and to go on our way.” (The Montessori Method : scientific pedagogy as applied to child education in the “Children’s House”, Montessori, P.94)