Note 2 — THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN

This distinction is important, for the ideas of the present time with regard to this subject are rather inaccurate. The difference between the vegetable and the creature gifted with the power of sensation is completely lost sight of, because the essential characteristic of sensibility is not clearly defined. When a being (or an object) responds to an exterior impression by showing any effect whatever, it is inaccurate to conclude that this impression has been felt. To bear out this conclusion the impression must be experienced inwardly, that is to say, the outside stimulus must produce a kind of interior reflection. The great progress of natural science, which a true Theosophist must sincerely admire, has thrown our abstract vocabulary into confusion. Some of our biologists are ignorant of the characteristics of sensibility, and thus accredit it to beings who are devoid of it. Sensibility such as is comprehended by those biologists, can, it is true, be attributed to organisms deprived of it. But what is understood by Theosophy as sensibility is a totally different quality.