ul is
now breaking in a new physical instrument with which to express itself
and that while it will be able to use all the skill it has previously
evolved, its full expression must await the time when the new instrument
has been brought into responsive action.
The situation might be fairly illustrated by the case of a stenographer
who is still using the original typewriter, in some remote corner of the
earth, and who has not even seen or heard of any of the remarkable
improvements made in such machines in the last thirty years. If his old
machine were suddenly taken from him and a model of the present year
were put in its place, it is obvious that he could at first make little
use of it--not because he has no knowledge but because he must become
accustomed to the new machine before he can express himself through it.
It would have mechanism and appliances that he could not immediately
manage. Let us imagine also that all the characters are in a foreign
language which must be mastered before the machine can be used. But the
difficulties are not great enough yet for a fair illustration. We must
also suppose that it is a living thing, with moods and emotions, and
that it must pass through stages of growth comparable to infancy and
youth. Under these handicaps it would be certain that the stenographer
would appear to have very little knowledge and to possess little skill.
Yet as a matter of fact it is merely the conditions that temporarily
prevent him from expressing his wisdom and skill.
The gist of knowledge gained in the past represents skill that has no
dependence whatever upon brain memory. If a man should suffer a lapse of
memory, as sometimes happens, and wander about unable to give his name
or place of residence, such loss of memory does not prevent him using
any skill he may have evolved. If he is an athlete he may not know in
what gymnasium he evolved his great strength, but he can use it just as
effectively regardless of the absence of memory.
One who has been a skillful penman brings all his skill to the new
incarnation but of course the new body must be trained to hold the pen
and form the letters. Every public school teacher knows that one child
will quickly learn that and soon become a competent penman while another
can by no possibility exhibit skill in that particular art. The reason
is that one has previously evolved his skill and the other has not, and
may not, for several more incarnations.
It is
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