CONSTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN
(NEEDS & TENDENCIES)

Life is a series of magic acts and mysteries, yet somehow Humans Beings survived time. Why does Man thrive? Are there universal characteristics of Humans? How does Man find himself? What is inherent in each Child that can help her formulate herself and realize her potential?

From one single cell, human life begins. Within this cell is a nascent energy which guides every split of each subsequent cell. The embryo is directed by some internal pattern through mitosis and the eventual process of differentiation to form a human being. The individual can only be formed according to this force from within, and even after birth is this true. Activation of his own potential will only ever be achieved through each human’s individual work. This work and activity are driven by the same energy that initially guided the multiplication of that first cell toward the unique human being that was eventually created.

TENDENCIES IN ANCIENT MAN

Guiding the human in every stage of development, and beyond through adulthood, are certain Human Tendencies—inherent inclinations of action or thought shared by all Humanity. All humans from ancient times to the present have been endowed with an organic body, intellective soul and these certain universal, natural dispositions—the Human Tendencies. These Tendencies are common to every human, and are present throughout the duration of each individual life. They make the continuing construction of the human being possible.

Fundamentally, there are three basic needs that must be met for the survival of the human:

1. food for sustenance
2. clothing for warmth
3. and shelter for protection from the elements.

In meeting these needs, ancient humans developed certain modes of action that enabled their success, and eventually these perpetuated throughout the years to be inherited by their later progeny. The Human Tendencies are universal as means of satisfying the fundamental human needs.

In addressing his rudimentary needs, Ancient Man necessarily moved throughout his environment. He searched not only for food but for shelter, and this was the early root of the HUMAN TENDENCY TO EXPLORE.

As Man became better aware of his surroundings, or as he exhausted the resources in his local area, he was soon compelled to go further afield. Leaving his home place for these explorations, however, made it imperative to make deliberate observations that could serve as landmarks to eventually lead him back. This was the birth of a necessary TENDENCY TO ORIENT, from which Man was able to wander ever farther with less chance of losing his place and therefore better understand his place within the environment. Thus the tendencies for Exploration and Orientation not only followed closely upon one another, but reinforced each the same: as one became more confident, the other’s limits were pushed as well.

The Tendency to Orient also gave Man security in the knowledge of his place. Knowing his place, understanding how he perhaps related to the world around him and where his place was, the Early Human was able to better protect and defend himself—to provide for his own safety.

Subsequently, stemming from observations made from orientation the next Human Tendency arose. In following certain signs—of landmarks, of seasons, etc.—Early Man was able to sequence events, and the easy correlation between cause and effect noticed between these patterns and relationships was affected in human behavior. It is the TENDENCY TO ORDER, the tendency for logical sequence, at once daughter and sister—progressor and apprentice—of Orientation.

Beyond Survival

From these basic, innate Tendencies, humans developed as a species, and when the environment was suitable for confident success in the first three—when Man could explore his area intelligently for ease in satisfying his basic Needs—further traits became evident. It was only this, in a way, Prepared Environment that allowed Man’s metamorphosis from an under-protected, unlikely animal to an advanced, cognitive being. “Let us imagine,” said Dr. Maria Montessori, “what would have happened if the human being came at the beginning of Earth when there was only water and stone. He would not have been able to live.”

Not blessed with thick, defensive skin nor weapon-like appendages nor protective fur nor even the ability to run fast or burrow deep for protection, the human being was ill equipped for survival. Save one thing, his intellect. It is indeed Man’s intellect that allowed him to develop, at the very least, his ability to sequence, his Tendency to Order. For while many creatures have an inherent ability to orient and all explore their surroundings, man is only one of the few who can make use of the conscious relationship of cause viz effect.

It is within these observations that Man became aware of the exactness of a thing. In attempting to replicate something—the pattern of observations made in orientation, for example—Man found benefit in exactitude. A path followed not perfectly could lead to being lost or worse. And so Man developed a TENDENCY TO BE EXACT. This precision, however, was not always immediate, and the selfsame Tendency led to a new TENDENCY TO REPEAT. It is only—and forever only was—practice through repetition that achieves perfection.

Successive efforts of Man’s repetition were inspired by the noticeable difference between something that was perfect versus something that still needed work or practice. This observation of differences was the fuel for Man’s Tendency for Repetition (that would address his Tendency for Exactness.) This became the HUMAN TENDENCY TO CONTROL ERROR.

Thus from the leisure of security that was achieved through the Human Tendencies of Exploration, Orientation and Order, Ancient Man was able to develop these more refined Tendencies that would allow the human race to further ensure its continued safety and success. All of this, however, depended upon Man’s inherent TENDENCY TO WORK. Without work, Man would have never fulfilled his needs. He would not have Explored, for exploration takes work; he would have failed to Orientate himself, for orientation depends upon exploration; nor would he have created or strove for Order, for the recognition of Order only comes from exposure in Exploration and Orientation. Furthermore, Exactness, Repetition and Control of Error would never have developed, for each of those and everything else besides depended upon Man’s natural draw for doing Work.

Mankind’s Gifts: Intelligence & Love

Mankind was determined. Faced with an unknown environment, he was forced to find the power within that would allow his race to survive. Man had intelligence, and Man had love. He was born into evolution naked and without many tools, but these two he had. And with them he became great.

Intelligence

From a matured intelligence, Man had the ability to imagine, think laterally and invent. He was inspired by his environment, and had the means to act on and understand it. Through his senses, his instincts, his intelligence and his movements within the environment, the Early Human realized his potential to adapt to and modify his own surroundings.

There were animals who had protective fur coats for warmth and defense, there were animals with large tusks or teeth for fighting, and there were animals who had claws with which to burrow; Man built tools that could replicate, and sometimes better, the advantages he saw in the animals around him. He stripped animals of their fur for his own use, he built spears, he used rocks and sticks for digging, he built dwellings to protect himself from the elements. All of these innovations led to further Human Development and an ever-increasing sense of comfort in safety.

Love

In juxtaposition to the Physical is the Spiritual Territory of Man. It is perhaps a matured manifestation of the initial energy that first divided the stem cell and sent it through its patterns. This is the territory of customs and ideals that rule Man’s actions and interactions. Human beings have an intense spiritual hunger that drives them; it is the motivating force of progression. This is the territory of Man’s love.

Helping at all times to fuel this drive for deeper security was Human Love. Just as Early Man might easily have been dismissed as disadvantaged in his nakedness and frailty, so too the Child seems a pitifully weak creature. But it is this weakness that perhaps drove Mankind to form into the earliest societies.

It takes roughly twelve years for Human Beings to reach maturity, and until that time the Human Child is dependent upon her parents for protection and provision. This need inspires the kernel of the family. Man and Woman, acting on Human Love, stayed together for the benefit of the Child. Man and Woman also developed a love for each other, and this formed the first Human Society.

Human Society

From this new relationship and understanding came also new needs. Banding together had its distinct advantages—one party could explore the field to ensure safety and provide food, while another could stay behind to guard the domestic area and rear the young—but to make decisions between this now expanded body, communication between themselves was necessary. Thus came the HUMAN TENDENCY TO COMMUNICATE.

From this beginning the nuclear family modeled society at large. Soon individual families banded together to form clans for their own mutual protection. And thus, in her way, the Human Child was the creator of society.

And these are two sides of the same coin: while the Individual is himself unique, striving toward his own unique construction, still he must recognize society—what it is, what it is for, and what his place is and will be within it. The Individual’s spiritual hunger is fed upon interactions with Society, but he must contribute as well. Thus the Individual’s approach to life cannot be exclusive but necessarily inclusive of the Social Group.

Each and every human being who has lived from the dawn of time has risen to these challenges of meeting his needs. But the identical needs were met with often very different means. In understanding the root commonality among all of these differences, Humanity can indeed be seen as One.

TENDENCIES IN CHILDREN

The path of the Child greatly reflects the developmental path of Humanity on a whole. Just as Man came into a world unknown and had to find his way to survival and evolution, so too the Child is born unawares into a new and strange environment.

Tendency to Explore

The Child, as every human, holds the key to her own formation. To understand her environment, the Child, like Ancient Man, must explore. For the Child, the Tendency to Explore manifests itself through her Senses. Upon birth these senses are, if not fully developed, at least fully functional. The Child has use of these tools with which she can discover the intricacies of this foreign place and make her own interpretation of it. This is her primary contact with her environment, and will in fact remain so throughout her life—the refinement of these senses and the specification of her uses of them being the only changes in how she interacts with her environment.

Tendency for Orientation

The Child orients herself in her environment by testing her senses. Not only is her world new, but these senses are still for the most part untested as well. Her ability to try each of these senses in a wide range of situations engenders a trust for them, and only from this internal trust can a belief in the external world be based. Searching for that trust, that comfortable knowledge of where she is, is the Child’s Tendency for Orientation.

Tendency for Order

Very closely related to Orientation is the Tendency for Order, as it was as well for Ancient Man. The Child finds patterns everywhere around her: in sounds, in routines, in the effect her actions have upon the environment. Through this tendency the Child’s Mathematical Mind is exhibited and matured.

EDUCATION OF THE CHILD

History has a central place in education because history is our story (a handy break-up of the word even though, etymologically, ‘history’ derives from the proto-Indo-European root meaning “to know/to see”.) From as early as the 4^th century BC, with Aristotle, people have been exploring education from a scientific standpoint based on Human Nature. In the mid-1^st century AD, Marcus Fabius Quintilianus (“Quintilian”) continued this tradition of education based upon a detailed understanding of the person. He believed that “path to excellence…is extremely easy” for the Child, “we have only to watch nature and follow her.”¹

Modern Education

Deviating from this for roughly the past 130 years, the concept of “Universal Education” has prevailed instead. This is the educational system that incorporated to educate masses of children at the end of the 19^th Century. It is a system that worked best for “social efficiency,” developed at a time after the Industrial Revolution—a time ripe for mass production and large-scale solutions.

One teacher was placed in front of a single classroom of many children, and so it was imperative that the children were able to sit still and listen without providing interruption. At which age this was possible was a detail that varied from country to country. Children were placed in a assembly-line-like queue that progressed children from one year to the next along a well defined curriculum that pupils were expected to pass through in their allotted time.

The day was divided into blocks of time so that little, specific bits of information could be given. The children were expected to absorb this information and move on immediately afterward. Rewards and punishments were established as means of controlling deviation.

The “Montessori Method”

Education for whole Child, on the other hand, must be approached as a vision of life. Everything must be done under the guidance of intelligence and reason. The formation of the Child’s self, the “Formation of Man,” is the task of the Child alone; her goal being “the development of a complete human being, oriented to the environment, and adapted to [her] time, place and culture.”² She is working to become a complete person…fully realized in her great potential, and the Adult must learn to—and how to—respect this task.

With the Human Tendencies serving as the foundation for her developing self, the Child sets to work from even before birth to realize this potential. These Tendencies are in herself, and it is only the energy within that can guide the Child to her eventual completion. Therefore, “[e]ducation must concern itself with the development of individuality and allow the individual child to remain independent not only in the earliest years of childhood but through all the stages of his development.” And because, like all of Mankind itself, the child must necessarily be a social creature to satiate her spiritual hunger, “[t]wo things are necessary: the development of individuality and the participation of the individual in a truly social life. This development and this participation in social activities will take different forms in the various stages of childhood. But one principle will remain unchanged during all these stages: the child must be furnished at all times with the means necessary for him to act and gain experience. His life as a social being will then develop throughout his formative years, becoming more and more complex as he grows older.”³

At this stage of her life, when she is so apt, the Child must be given every opportunity possible to meet the great potential she has. “Knowledge can best be given where there is eagerness to learn, so this is the period when the seed of everything can be sown, the child’s mind being like a fertile field, ready to receive what will germinate into culture. But if neglected during this period, or frustrated in its vital needs, the mind of the child becomes artificially dulled, henceforth to resist imparted knowledge. Interest will no longer be there if the seed be sown too late, but at six years of age all items of culture are received enthusiastically, and later these seeds will expand and grow. If asked how many seeds may be sown, my answer is: ‘As many as possible!’ Looking around us at the cultural development of our epoch of evolution, we see no limit to what must be offered to the child, for his will be an immense field of chosen activity, and he should not be hampered by ignorance. But to give the whole of modern culture has become an impossibility and so a need arises for a special method, whereby all factors of culture may be introduced to the six-year-old; not in a syllabus to be imposed on him, or with exactitude of detail, but in the broadcasting of the maximum number of seeds of interest. These will be held lightly in the mind, but will be capable of later germination, as the will becomes more directive, and thus he may become an individual suited to these expansive times.”⁴

THE ROLE OF THE ADULT

When she is born, the Child is from the beginning taking part in a drama. To truly help the Child to develop in this life, the Adult must recognize the importance and glory of this pageantry. The Adult must specifically ensure that the Child is given the chance to act and play her special role in a social environment. She is the progenitor of Society, which arose to cater to humanity’s physical and spiritual needs. She has only this world around her, and it is a social one.

As it was for Early Man, so too are the Child’s tendencies closely linked. She must be given liberty to explore her environment, else the diversity and range of field available for the use of her senses will be hindered. Thus from any limiting obstacle the opportunities for finding sequence will be proportionally retarded, and valuable examples of order neglected. The Child will not satisfy her need for orientation, and thus from one obstacle all development will be severely handicapped.

If the task of the Child is the construction of the Human Being in a certain time and culture, the Adult must become aware of what this process entails. Bringing forth a person unique, entirely new to this world, the Child needs aid that is not merely mechanical or intellectual, but spiritual. “This relationship has to be one of service to the human being and the process that the human being is passing through.”⁵

What the Child needs is not someone to teach her how to do something, but for someone to “help her help herself.” Through this, the Child will get the aid she accordingly needs in life, but at the same time her own inner potentiality will be left free to express itself. The learning for which the Child is longing, the education that will do her the greatest deal of good, comes from within her, and that needs freedom to unfold naturally according to its own internal plan.

Observation

The Adult in the environment must get back to the designs of Quintilian and base his assistance to the Child upon direct observations of her. Observation of the Child and of Humanity must become a way of life. The process that is unfolding in this unique individual began within the Child from the very first division of the very first cell that went on to become her. Just as the Adult had no control over how that cell formed, so too is it not for him to impose his rules and ideas on her personal chrysalis.

Prepared Environment

The Individual is formed exclusively through work and activity by the Individual, herself—her potential becoming activated through these self-directed endeavors. The child has within herself the only key in existence to her formation. It is only for the Adult to prepare an environment that will encourage the Child’s positive growth, and remove any obstacles that may come in her path. Different opportunities will create different individuals, and it is the Adult’s express responsibility to provide for the Child, based on his observations, those opportunities she needs and is calling for. It is only freedom and safety the Child needs otherwise.

CODA

Keeping in mind that the Human Tendencies will guide the Child to the paths and understandings she needs, and adopting Observation as a way of life when regarding the Child, the Adult will play out the aid for which this Child longs: the possibility to find that delicate combination of freedom and opportunity that will allow her to fulfill her utmost Human Potential.

Upon the acquisition of this understanding, the Adult would, like Maria Montessori, hold in his hand “a key which would open hidden treasures.” A realization of the Child in the First Stage of Development would provide support for the Second, the Second for the Third, and the Third for the Fourth. And like the elephants supporting the Hindu world, these four strong pillars would provide for the Child a stable pedestal on which she could achieve the heights of Fully Formed Adulthood.

1Russell, D. A. Quintilian: The Orator’s Education, Book VIII. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 2001 (p. 381)

2Lillard, Paula Polk. Montessori Today. Schocken, New York. 1996. (p. 3)

3Montessori, Dr. Maria. Education and Peace. Clio Press, Oxford. 1997 (p. 56)

4Montessori, Dr. Maria. To Educate the Human Potential. Clio Press, Oxford. 1989 (pp. 3-4)

5Montessori, Dr. Maria. (source unknown)