CHAPTER XXIV

WORLD-BUILDING

=An outline.=—­Education is the process of world-building.  Every man builds his own world and is confined, throughout life, to the world which he himself builds.  He cannot build for another, nor can another build for him.  Neither can there be an exchange of worlds.  Moreover, the process of building continues to the end of life.  In building their respective worlds all men have access to the same materials, and the character of each man’s world, then, is conditioned by his choice and use of these materials.  If one man elects to build a small world for himself, he will find, at hand, an abundant supply of petty materials that he is free to use in its construction.  But, if he elects to build a large world, the big things of life are his to use.  If he chooses to spend his life in an ugly world, he will find ample materials for his purpose.  If, however, he prefers a beautiful world, the materials will not be lacking, and he will have the joy and inspiration that come from spending a lifetime amid things that are fraught with beauty.

=Exemplifications.=—­This conception of education is not a figment of fancy but a reality whose verification can be attested by a thousand examples.  We have only to look about us to see people who are living among things that are unbeautiful and who might be living in beautiful worlds had they elected to do so.  Others are spending their lives among things that are trivial and inconsequential, apparently blind to the great and significant things that lie all about them.  Some build their worlds with the minor materials, while others select the majors.  Some select the husks, while others choose the grain.  Some build their worlds from the materials that others disdain and seem not to realize the inferiority of their worlds as compared with others.  Their supreme complacency in the midst of the ugliness or pettiness of their worlds seems to accentuate the conclusion that they have not been able to see, or else have not been able to use, the other materials that are available.

=Flowers.=—­To the man who would live in a beautiful world flowers will be a necessity.  To such a man life would be robbed of some of its charm if his world should lack flowers.  But unless he has subjective flowers he cannot have objective ones.  He must have a sensory foundation that will react to flowers or there can be no flowers in his world.  There may be flowers upon his breakfast table, but unless he has a sensory foundation that will react to them they will be nonexistent to him.  He can react to the bacon, eggs, and potatoes, but not to the flowers, unless he has cultivated flowers in his spirit before coming to the table.