e accomplishment of
very great purposes, is a study in itself. One must learn first to be a
grown baby, and, as we have already seen, gain the exquisite
passiveness of a baby; then one must learn to walk and to move by a
natural process of selection, which, thanks to the contractions of his
various ancestors, was not the process used for his original movements.
This learning to live all over again is neither so frightful nor so
difficult as it sounds. Having gained the passive state described in
the last chapter, one is vastly more sensitive to unnecessary tension;
and it seems often as though the child in us asserted itself, rising
with alacrity to claim its right of natural movement, and with a new
sense of freedom in the power gained to shun inherited and personal
contractions. Certainly it is a fact that freedom of movement is gained
through shunning the contractions. And this should always be kept in
mind to avoid the self-consciousness and harm which come from a studied
movement, not to mention the very disagreeable impression such
movements give to all who appreciate their artificiality.

Motion in the human body, as well as music, is an art. An artist has
very aptly said that we should so move that if every muscle struck a
note, only harmony would result. Were it so the harmony would be most
exquisite, for the instrument is Nature's own. We see how far we are
from a realization of natural movement when we watch carefully and note
the muscular discords evident to our eyes at all times. Even the
average ballet dancing, which is supposed to be the perfection of
artistic movement, is merely a series of pirouettes and gymnastic
contortions, with the theatrical smile of a pretty woman to throw the
glare of a calcium light over the imperfections and dazzle us. The
average ballet girl is not adequately trained, from the natural and
artistic standpoint. If this is the case in what should be the
quintessence of natural, and so of artistic movement, it is to a great
degree owing to the absolute carelessness in the selection of the
muscles to be used in every movement of daily life.

Many exercises which lead to the freedom of the body are well known in
the letter--not in the spirit--through the so-called "Delsarte system."
if they had been followed with a broad appreciation of what they were
meant for and what they could lead to, before now students would have
realized to a far greater extent what power is possible to the