156 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



This view of man, of unit man, offers a new avenue of approach 

 to the spirit. Every good thought strengthens and vitalizes the 

 body. Every wholesome exercise of the body invigorates the spirit. 

 The action of each is carried out in terms of the other. See how 

 wonderfully true this is. Each conscious act of the outer bodily life 

 is first rehearsed in the inner thought life. If you stir, you do it 

 first in thought. If you go on a journey, you go first in thought. 

 If you build a house, you build it first in thought. If you work in 

 your garden, you do it first in thought. An idea precedes each con- 

 scious act, is indeed the father of the act, the essential part of it. 

 But the converse is just as true. The drama of the inner life would 

 be quite impossible without the imagery and symbolism of the bodily 

 life. Imagine, if you can, a formless, immaterial world, and then 

 try to think. There would be no terms in which to think, and 

 nothing to think about. It would be complete cessation of being. 

 Thought is not carried out in terms of thought, but in terms of 

 things. It is as dependent upon these as bodily action is dependent 

 upon thought. 



Regard for a moment the interaction between this inner and 

 outer world. Every bodily experience affects one or more of the 

 sense organs, and sends one or many impulses along the nerves to 

 that central receiving station, the brain. And here something very 

 wonderful takes place, something so wonderful that we have no 

 explanation for it in the whole realm of empirical science. The 

 nerve current setting in from the outer world to the inner world of 

 the brain manifests itself there as a fact of consciousness, a sensation. 

 All we know about it is that these impulses taken together produce 

 that stream of thought which is the drama of existence. The richer 

 and more varied these impulses or sensations, the richer and more 

 varied the stream of thought. With meager sensation comes meager 

 thought. We must cut the coat according to the cloth. This per- 

 ceptual knowledge, this report of the senses is the only thing that 

 comes to us, and out of it we build our entire world. Reflection and 

 reason make use of this material, but they can add nothing to its 

 original content. It is impossible to overestimate the importance 

 of having the senses alert and keen that they may report the outer 

 world accurately. It is impossible to overestimate the importance 

 of gi^dng the senses much to operate upon, the largest possible field 

 that they may report the outer world fully. We want for the com- 

 plete life, the fullest and most accurate perceptual knowledge, and 

 we can only get this through the activity and training of the senses. 

 The application in education is obvious. This is what constitutes 

 the great difference in environment, and makes one favorable to 

 growth and another unfavorable. A keen tool with nothing to 



