i have quoted from this london reconstruction discourse very fully. in the official life[pg 125] there are a number of such addresses in which the student will find the main doctrines of that particular address repeated, varied, amplified, but as my object in this book is to strip sanderson's views down to his essential ideas, i will make only one further quotation from this propaganda material here. this is from the notes he arranged for an address to the newcastle rotary club. his favourite contrast between the possessive instincts and the creative instincts comes out very clearly here. like all the great religious teachers, sanderson aims quite clearly at an ultimate communism, to be achieved not by revolution but by the steady development of a creative spirit in the world.
'schools should be miniature copies of the world we should love to have. hence our outlooks and methods must have these aims in mind. schoolmasters have great responsibilities. we should be able to say to a boy, we have endeavoured to do such things for you, and we ask you to go forth, it may be, into your father's business or factory and do the same to the workers. let me illustrate from the workshops. workshops in a school are by far the most [pg 126]difficult things to carry on along the lines i have in mind. here are three conditions which must be kept in the shops:—
'(a) the work boys are doing should not be for themselves, or exercises to learn by; it must always be work required by the community.
'(b) each boy must have the opportunity of doing all the main operations, and all the operations should be going on in the workshops.
'(c) whenever a boy goes into the shop he should find himself set to work which is up to the hilt of his capacity. there is no "slithering" down to work which is easy, no unnecessary and automatic repetition, no working for himself but for the community.
'and we can say, and are entitled to say, to the boy, when you go forth into life, perhaps into your father's work or business or profession, you must try to do for your apprentices and workers what we have tried to do for you. you, too, will try to see that every one has work which exacts[pg 127] their faculties—by which they will grow and develop; you will see to it that they are working directly on behalf of and for the welfare of the community, and not for yourself.
'this is your real duty towards your neighbour. it is a vastly hard thing to do. this duty of believing that others are of the same blood with yourself, and have the same feelings, and loves, and desires and needs, and natural elementary rights; this duty of setting them free to exercise their faculties spaciously that they, too, may get more of life—is the real duty towards your neighbour. it is a hard thing. if you think of the works, the factory, the office, it is a hard thing. it involves vast sacrifice—the hardest sacrifice—the sacrifice of belief and economic tradition. we need not be surprised that christianity has "slithered down" to an easier and softer level of culture and duty towards our neighbours. but whether the workers know it or not, this hard duty is essential in considering the relationships of our community system and our international system to-day.
'it is a hard duty, and boys must be immersed in it in school. the outlook, values, and [pg 128]organisation of a school should be based on the fundamental fact of the community service. by habit of mind, and by the activity of the schools, boys should be imbued with this high duty. it means a reorganisation of methods and aims.
'it is a hard duty, this duty towards your neighbour—the hardest part being to believe that he has like feelings with yourself and equal rights. the young man went away sorrowful, for he had great riches—riches intellectual or other. yet the young man went away sorrowful, and there is no doubt that he eventually sold all that he had. this is watts' version of it. the young man was at heart a follower of jesus; he did not say that the commandment was an old one and well known, that it had been said before in the hagadah and by moses; he did not say that the language was the language of plato or philo; he did not say that it was too difficult and could not be true for every one—he went away sorrowful. we have no doubt that he sold all that he had.
'the system of education in the past has been based on training for leadership, i.e. for a master class, and its method has been a training of the faculties. but the sharply defined line between[pg 129] the leaders and the led has been broken down. the whole mass of people has been aroused towards intellectual creative efforts. the struggle going on in all communities and amongst all races is a struggle to grow and have more of life. whether at home amongst our workers, or in india, or egypt, or ireland; or between china and europe—the struggle is the same. it is a struggle to make progress, and have more of life. this urge to grow is a biological fact. we cannot tell why it is or what creates it—but everything around us has this urge to grow, and to grow in its own particular way. one seed grows into a tulip, another into wheat. we know not how, but we recognise it. and it is precisely the same urge to grow that is causing all this apparent conflict. it is the fundamental creative instinct—the most powerful instinct of the human race, by which the race is preserved. deep down in human nature lies this instinct; it is never forgotten, it is always present in the mind. it is voluptuous, anarchic, joyful, violent, powerful.
'the other instinct is called the fighting, aggressive, acquisitive, possessive instinct. it is the instinct to acquire, to overcome. it is distinct[pg 130] from the creative instinct even in the biological growth, but the distinction manifests itself more clearly in the community or herd relationships. it has none of the beautiful and life-giving qualities of the creative urge. it is essentially, even in its romance (of which we have plenty), dull, selfish, destructive. it varies its forms from sheer animal force to the dialectical methods which have assumed the names of talent and culture. the same characteristics are seen in the force of the slave-driver, in the forces of the wage-nexus, and in the dialectical force of the council. these are hard sayings, but for the solution of the problems of the present times it is wise, and necessary, to look facts in the face. at any rate it is well to know of the possibilities, feelings, and loves of the uprising mass....
'but what has this to do with schools? my answer is that if we are to deal with the problems thrown up by science in our industrial system, and our close national and international contacts, the schools must be the seed grounds of the new thought and visions....'
