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The object of education is to give man the unity of truth. Formerly, when life was simple, all the different elements of man were in complete harmony. But when there came the separation of the intellect from the spiritual and the physical, the school education put entire emphasis on intellect and the physical side of man. We devote our sole attention to giving children information, not knowing that by this emphasis we are accentuating a break between the intellectual, physical, and the spiritual life... I believe in a spiritual world- not as anything separate from this world- but as its innermost truth. With the breath we draw we must always feel this truth, that we are living in God. Born in this great world, full of the mystery of the infinite, we cannot accept our existence as a momentary outburst of chance drifting on the current of matter toward an eternal nowhere. We cannot look upon our lives as dreams of a dreamer who has no awakening in all time. We have a personality to which matter and force are unmeaning unless related to something infinitely personal, whose nature we have discovered, in some measure, in human love, in the greatness of the good, in the martyrdom of heroic souls, in the ineffable beauty of nature which can never be a mere physical fact nor anything but an expression of personality.

Rabindranath Tagore#138

SpiritualityTruthUnityConsciousnessEducationHuman nature

About this quote

What does it mean?
Education should unite the intellectual, physical, and spiritual aspects of a person rather than focusing solely on information.
In plain terms
True education connects the mind, body, and spirit instead of just filling the mind with facts.
What can you take from it?
Holistic education prevents the fracture between intellect, body, and spirit.

Where it applies

  • designing curriculum
  • parenting
  • self-education

Putting it to work

  • integrate arts and sciences
  • focus on character
  • connect learning to life

Questions to consider

  • How does your current learning focus on one part of yourself?
  • What does spiritual truth mean to you?

Another view

This view may underemphasize the practical value of specialized technical knowledge.

More from Rabindranath Tagore

  1. The newer people, of this modern age, are more eager to amass than to realize.

    Permalink to quote #137
  2. The picture of a flower in a botanical book is information; its mission ends with our knowledge. But in pure art it is a personal communication. And therefore …

    Permalink to quote #139
  3. The mountain remains unmoved at seeming defeat by the mist.

    Permalink to quote #136

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