The Age of Six to Nine – The Beginning

Should a child begin school at the age of six?

Six years old is a special age. But education should begin at three, when a child is already taught the letters. From the age of three onward, we already begin to separate the education of boys and girls. And they themselves choose the games that suit them: girls play with dolls, boys with toy cars. And when a child reaches the age of six, he is already a little person. At this time you can already talk with him about serious things. It only seems to us that he is still a small child. Six years old is the age at which a human being already begins to grow within the child.

I don't quite understand what you mean by the word "human being." According to the classical approach, according to Freud's theory, by the age of five or six all the inner structures already exist within a person. Is there already something relatively formed?

From the age of six you can treat the child as a little person. He is growing, and we can already "mold" something out of him. That is, the material is already there.

So if from the age of three to six he has already learned to read and write, then in principle he has already finished the basics of learning?

It is not only the basics. In our system of integral learning, he already knows how to read and to write a little. He knows how to behave, he is able to judge himself and others. He knows what he is doing – even if he makes mistakes, even if he forgets something. After all, something new is constantly developing within him, and so he becomes confused again. But he acknowledges that things are not so simple. His view is not something permanent – tomorrow everything may change. Others may turn out to be right, though this is hard for him to accept. In short, he already has the makings of perceiving the world not only as it appears to him in a particular moment he is living through.

That is what, in the language of psychology, is called "emergence from egocentrism."

Yes, that, in principle, is the beginnings of the human being.

He is already able to consider things from different angles, from various sides…

Yes. The human being is that which is above Nature, above the degree of the animal. An animal is entirely governed by the forces of Nature. Its head is engaged in satisfying the needs of its body, its desires. The head is called thought, and the body is called desire. That is, my head is occupied exclusively with how to fulfill my desires. And such an attitude toward life is called "animal."

But I am called a human being when, alongside the desires I want to fulfill, I have, as it were, another head. That is, I clothe myself in a higher degree "above myself," and from there I look upon my bodily state, from there I judge myself and understand that I can be different, that I can think otherwise, that tomorrow I may perhaps change. And in general, tomorrow everything may become different: my environment too, from my point of view, which is also relative, and the world. This is already the degree of the human being – he already recognizes that he is developing, and is not glued to the moment he is living through now. Herein lies the essential difference between us and animals. We can think within the framework of historical time.

But what you define as the human being's ability to recognize that he is changing, I have observed many times in the form of various kinds of fears. Children are very frightened by the understanding that they are changing! They always insist that something permanent exists; they look for a way to foresee what will be…

That is precisely what closes us off. For if I am accustomed to certain knowledge, norms, rules that have already become customs for me, that have already built my world, my reality, then now, through this prism, I already look at everything that is revealed to me. And whatever does not correspond to these criteria I simply will not see. I will discard it subconsciously. We are in an infinite world, but we sense only a small part of it, because we do not wish to see more. We do not want to see!

Perhaps we cannot?

No! We do not want to! A multitude of things surrounds us, and we do not wish to see them. I want to see only what corresponds to my "childish" notions.

That is, we build, as it were, schemas, and whatever goes beyond their bounds we do not perceive.

I want to remain with the stereotypes I absorbed in childhood. There is nothing worse!

And from this the fear of change is born?

Because we do not teach them to be free.

What does that mean?

From here the further path to knowing Nature lies. For we are within it, and by equalizing ourselves with it in our qualities, we will feel ourselves free and unlimited by anything.

And how can this be explained to a child?

It will come to him gradually, and much more easily than to an adult. Because an adult has, as it were, already grown together with his stereotypes, whereas a child still possesses flexible thinking.

And what if you see that a child is afraid, that he does not want to give up what is familiar to him?

But this is precisely what psychologically softens the changes for him. After all, I tell him that we all change together, that this is exactly what is happening to me and to everyone else. I support him, I encourage him to open himself, I tell him that then he will feel comfortable in the world, will sense the good with which the world is permeated. Nature will treat him kindly; he will feel a warm, benevolent world.

Perhaps it is worth discussing with him, at the end of each day, the changes that have taken place in him?

And especially if we film this on video and show it to him.

Children love it when adults photograph them, film them on video. They like to feel that they have been seen. There is even such a concept: "you saw him." And if two days ago you saw that something was beyond the child's ability, and now he already manages it, then he understands that you noticed this – after all, you filmed how it was before. But at the age of six a fear of death arises in the child. Children begin to ask questions about death, and we usually try to slip away from them.

Because we ourselves are afraid of it.

First of all, we are afraid of it ourselves, and secondly, we are frightened by the fact that we cannot answer anything.

Of course, we have no answers.

Besides, children do not ask about it openly. They simply suddenly begin to fear leaving the house, or they do not let their parents go on vacation. A child to whom this used to be a matter of indifference suddenly does not want to part with his parents. And if at this time a little brother is born, then the child literally "glues himself" to his parents to make sure that everyone is alive. How does your method of upbringing propose to explain this to children?

We have nothing to tell them but the truth, and that in everything. We must reveal absolutely everything to the child, but gradually. We need to treat him as an adult, hide nothing from him, not play games with him, not confuse him. Take an example from primitive societies. We must give him all the tools, and he, with our help of course, will manage to cope with everything. He is very strong. Nothing will happen to him – do not be afraid. He will turn out to be a good, full-fledged person. Provided that the right environment is organized.

But he is very afraid that his parents will not be with him forever, and that he himself will not live forever!

And he too will not remain like this forever. He will grow up, will attain perfection. We must explain to him how, over the course of his earthly life, he, in union with others, will be able to sense the eternity of Nature. We need to show him this whole perspective.

But a child cannot agree that someday he will not exist?

Of course. That is why children perceive this on the earthly, animal level: "Just tell me that I will not die." And if you say this with confidence, he calms down.

So, in essence, what should children be taught at this age?

We must teach them their attitude toward the world – toward their environment, their loved ones, Nature. We must reveal to them life, the correct vision of family, marriage, the life of society; tell them about the world, about the stars, about buying, selling, movement, history, geography. And at the same time explain this as a single mechanism in which we exist, in one sphere in which everything is in harmony – and we too must participate correctly in this harmony. And if we disrupt it, then it causes suffering and crises: illnesses, ecological catastrophes, the stock market falls, wars break out, terrorist acts. In this way, we teach them that there exists a great and single world. From here we gradually begin to develop in them an attitude toward society. But what concerns society comes last. First of all, they need to be taught to see life in its lofty meaning, to recognize its global nature; they must understand that everything is one.

That is, we must constantly emphasize the harmony of Nature…

And us within it, being opposite to this harmony – and how we struggle for the possibility of being just like it. First of all, I tell him about all natural and social phenomena as parts of a single whole.

That is, right now we study a certain part of the whole that is called biology. So the biology teacher comes into the classroom and says that he is teaching something that is a part of the whole?

In the Ministry of Education, there is consideration of the idea of teaching everything together, but this is very difficult to carry out. For the demands placed on such a teacher-educator, of whom you speak, are too high.

I do not think that is so. For it is enough to prepare a kind of encyclopedia for children, small, thin little books. And then to discuss it with them all the time, so that each one lives through these topics within himself and tells the others how he senses them, how he understands them. Herein lies the process of learning. After all, we are speaking of the early school age.

And how will such a lesson look?

Only as a conversation. A conversation between them and the educator. I would not even call him a teacher, because this pertains to upbringing, not to instruction. So then, he must sit in a circle together with the children, explain to them, look at slides and films with them, take them to museums, to the zoo, to the planetarium. In other words, the whole process of learning at this age should take place outside the walls of the school, in the living world.

At what age?

From six to nine years old.

And how many people should take part in such a conversation?

Ten, boys and girls separately.

And where should one begin?

Let us say, in the first grade – only discussions. We watched a film – we talk about it; we read a story – we discuss it. Each one must tell about something. We need to encourage children to speak.

That is, this is not the teacher's frontal explanations, but a kind of interaction?

No, of course not. I did say that this is a conversation. These are conversations among them. They must learn to conduct a conversation – this is a subject they need to master completely. They must be able to speak. After all, we belong to the speaking degree of Nature. This is the difference between us and animals.

And this is indeed a very neglected area…

Yes, we see that people cannot express themselves. But if ten people sit in a circle, including one or two educators, then the children gradually open up, taking part in the conversation, the debate, the argument – with an understanding of others.

So it is important that a male educator work with the group of boys, and a female educator with the girls?

Of course, only so.

Can it be said that during this period from six to nine years old, the child's attitude toward the environment is formed? After all, the process of learning proceeds in a spiral, and each time something more is added, and something still deeper…

Yes, of course. For starting from the age of six, you talk with the child about the surrounding reality and only keep expanding his conception of it all the time. Only the means you use change. In the period from six to nine years old, you go out more with the children into Nature, to museums, to the planetarium, to the sea, into the forest. You need to show them life, walk with them around the city, show them the stadium, the theater, and so on – and discuss what you have seen. They must come to know life. And afterward it is necessary to discuss it with them many times over: why we went there, where we were, what we did there, what "this or that" exists for, and so on. You need to conduct many such conversations.

That is, the goal of this stage of learning is knowing the world?

Not simply knowing the world, but knowing the wholeness, the perfection of the world.

But on the basis of all this the child also learns?

Of course. When we visit the zoo, we come to know zoology, the animal world of the globe, simultaneously with geography, and so on. Children will retain many impressions, and not just theoretical knowledge.

They must see, receive an explanation, discuss among themselves, describe.

From the standpoint of psychology, this age is distinguished by a very concrete form of thinking. That is, children need to see in order to believe. It is hard for them to understand what they have not seen.

And everything must begin with the fact that we exist in a perfect, whole world, and end with the same. Arrange a discussion, conduct a conversation.

That is, explain that there exists a single Nature, which leads the human being to likeness, to equilibrium with It.

Precisely so.

So, we have spoken about the age of six. At this age the child can already be called a little person. He is already capable of judging others; he develops within himself the ability to see the world, if he is brought up correctly. We also spoke about the fear of death and about how to overcome it. We said that children need to be told that the world is perfect, that at this age from six to nine years old one needs to spend a lot of time with them outside the walls of the school and constantly talk with them and discuss what they have seen. We must take them to museums, go out with them into Nature, walk around the city, and thereby evoke in them certain reactions, in order to gradually lead them to the understanding that all of this consists of parts of a single whole. And this reality itself leads the human being toward Good.