Plentiful proofs of this are to be found in nature, and it becomes indisputable if we follow children’s development with care and attention. Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes about through his movements. In the development of speech, for example, we see a growing power of understanding go side by side with an extended use of those muscles by which he forms sounds and words. Observations made on children the world over confirm that the child uses his movements to extend his understanding. Movement helps the development of mind, and this finds renewed expression in further movement and activity. It follows that we are dealing with a cycle, because mind and movement are parts of the same entity. The senses also take part, and the child who has less opportunity for sensorial activity remains at a lower mental level.
Now, the muscles directed by the brain are called voluntary muscles, meaning that they are under the control of the will, and will power is one of the highest expressions of the mind. Without the energy of volition, mental life could hardly be said to exist. Hence if the voluntary muscles are directed by the will they must form a kind of organ of the mind.
The muscles, which are the flesh of the body, make up the greater part of it. Skeleton and bones merely act as supports for the muscles. Yet for this reason they, also, must form a part of the same system. The outer form that we contemplate in man and the animals is given by the bones and muscles. From the voluntary muscles comes the shape that most strikes the eye. The number of these is almost beyond computation, and great interest is to be found in the differences between them. Some are massive, others supremely delicate; some are quite short, others long and strip-like, and all have different purposes. If one pulls in a given direction, there will always be another, which pulls the opposite way, and the more vigorous and precise this play between opposed forces, the more delicate will be the movements performed. If we repeat at length, or “practice” a new movement, with the idea of making it as perfectly as possible, this will be an exercise directed toward bringing into being a wonderful harmony between opposing forces. The result is not so much an agreement as a harmonized opposition, an agreed disagreement.
We are not all aware of these opposing forces. Nevertheless we are indebted to them for all the control of our movements that we consciously exert. In animals this inner harmony is given them by nature: the grace of the tiger’s bound, or the squirrel’s leap, is due to a wealth of opposites so perfectly balanced as to bring about these exquisite effects. One is reminded of a complicated piece of machinery working to perfection, such as a clock, with wheels turning in opposite directions, which keeps perfect time because of the accuracy with which it has been adjusted.
All movement thus has a most intricate and delicate machinery. But in man none of it is established at birth. It has to be formed and perfected by the child’s activity in the world. Unlike the animals, man finds himself so richly endowed with muscles that there are hardly any movements he cannot learn to make, and while he is doing this we do not talk about strengthening his muscles, but of coordinating them, which is a very different thing. The point is that, in man’s case, he finds all his muscles uncoordinated, and the nervous arrangements for all the movements he learns have to be built up and perfected by actions initiated by his mind. In other words, the child has an internal power to bring about coordination, which he thus creates himself, and once these have begun to exist he goes on perfecting them by practice. He himself is clearly one of the principal creative factors in their production.
Montessori, Maria. The Absorbent Mind: From the original paper archives by M. Montessori, in partnership with AMI - ASSOCIATION MONTESSORI INTERNATIONALE (The Montessori Series Book 1) . Montessori-Pierson Publishing House. Kindle Edition.
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