Transcript Society and Nature A Quest for Perfect Balance “This inner drama in a baby’s life is a drama of love. Love in.

Society and Nature
A Quest for Perfect Balance
“This inner drama in a baby’s life is a drama of love.
Love in its widest sense is the sole great reality, which
evolves in the hidden recesses of the soul and from
time to time fills it wholly. These marvellous
activities do not pass away without leaving indelible
traces, by which the man will be the greater, and
which give him the higher characteristics that will
accompany him all his life; they take place in humble
silence.”
Maria Montessori, Secret of Childhood,
“…what were once dangers have since been conquered by
man, who, by developing himself and using his
intelligence, has placed himself above them and even
learned to use them. Water has become an important
roadway. Snow and ice are often means of amusement
and entertainment. Poisons are sometimes used as
medicine. The dangers of mountaineering are a much
sought object of sport.
If our aim is to help the development of life in all its
aspects and faculties, but above all that of the moral and
social faculties, if all our means are used to this aim, we
shall attain the bridging of the tremendous contrast
between the development of man’s material and spiritual
powers.”
Maria Montessori, Letter to AMI Members 1940
“To the adult, liveliness and joy are considered
typical of the child’s intensity of life; these have been
recognized as infant characteristics. There has been
no recognition of the love behind them, that is to say,
the spiritual energy, the moral beauty that
accompanies creation…The child’s love is still pure of
contrasts. He loves because he takes in, because
nature orders him to do so. And what he takes in, he
absorbs to make it a part of his own life, so as to
create his own being.”
Maria Montessori, Secret of Childhood,
Society and Nature
A Quest for Perfect Balance