Cosmic Task 1

We must be clear what is meant by the concept "Comic." The idea is not new. It has been proposed and expanded since the time of Greek civilisation. With others, we believe that harmony exists in the cosmos; that everything contained within it has contributed to the creation of our world... and we think that among the innumerable agents that participated in this creation, Man has had and still has a very important task. We believe that creation has not finished; we also believe that the one agent who as yet has not yet been taken into consideration is the child. 

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One finds that everything that exists works to ensure cosmic harmony -- all, from the most minute living beings, contribute their individual task to creation... People say, "That is nature." Each living being obeys the instincts nature has implanted in it and acts according to its impulses. Each seeks the best conditions for the continuation of its life and of its species but none is conscious of the task it performs in the telluric economy, and each is limited to its sphere of activity, for it is the only environment that contains the special conditions it needs for survival.  

Another striking fact that is that to accomplish their task all cosmic gents work incessantly.

Think of the coral, the insects, the plants, the air, every aspect of nature.

Man, endowed with his all-embracing intelligence, is he included in the same category? Is he also an agent of creation? And of so, is he also unconscious of his cosmic task? If one investigate, one comes to realize that had be been conscious of it from his first appearance on earth, human history would not have been the long path of work and suffering it has become Work!

That has been the great lesson of nature: Work.  

SOURCE: Montessori Principles: Cosmic Education, Mario M. Montessori, AMI 1976
a 7-page booklet available through AMI, required reading for AMI Elementary Montessori training