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Untitled Article
examination of each individual , and it is only by means of the gui lance of others tfiat we are enabled to explore the wonders of the world within , and therefore we are right to seek the instruction which may be derived from conversation and from books . But how little do we know of the portion
which is within our reach ! How copious a harvest of facts might we reap , if we chose to put in the sickle ! How multitudinous are the operations continually going on around us , while our careless or ill-governed minds are occupied with familiar ideas or worthless speculations !
" Sweet music breathes <( Above , about , or underneath , " for all whose ears are open to it ; and the mild light of truth is reflected from every object in nature , to the few whose gaze is not fixed too high or too low to receive it . We remember a good old fairy tale ( the delight of our childhood ) which carries a more admirable moral than a child can
appreciate , while he envies the powers of Fine-ear , who could hear the corn springing in the ground , and of Long-sight , who could point out the position of every star on a cloudy night . The power of observation can accomplish greater wonders than these , as children and dreamers should be made to understand .
It can never be too early or too late to encourage the habit of observation , nor can we ever become too wise to be taught by the influences which all created things are designed to exert upon the mind . The infant is well employed when gaining new ideas by noticing new objects ; and Franklin was never more wise than when he applied himself to learn in the same school , and thus enriched his mind with knowledge which could never have been obtained at second-hand . The dreamers who go through the world in
a state of apparent somnambulism , disdaining to stoop or turn aside are , far less happy , far less wise or dignified , than the philosopher while flying his kite ; and while they stumble in darkness 3 he brought down the harmless lightning to play around his head . Nature is the wisest , the only infallible teacher , and her lore is inexhaustible . Books are but her interpreters , and , though valuable aids when she is silent , are never to be preferred to her lessons of wisdom . To those teachings our minds should be ever open ; and , whether in the fields or in the streets , by the sea- §| ng ||§ or in the crowded city , in solitude or in society , our observation should lliSr Se awake to fa miliarize our minds with new objects , or to notice somfr novel appearance in those which are well known . Every cloud of the sky , every blossom of the garden , every action of childhood , every change of each succeeding day , affords materials for thought and elements of knowledge ; and were all these
exhausted , another world would yet remain to be explored . The spirit of observation requires no remission of its activity . In solitude and darkness it can still find occupation , and can gather experience from the workings of the mind . There it can watch operations as grand and important , changes as real , and results as interesting , as in the e ' xternal world .
It is sometimes apprehended that an active habit of observation will incline the mind to be occupied with frivolous objects , and indispose it for the reception of great truths . But this can only be the case when its scope is limited . Its capacity should be Unbounded , that the materials which it' presents to the reflective power may be ample . We dislike a habit of quick observation in
a narrow-minded person , because its effects are not apparently beneficial to the individual himself , and are often disagreeable to all around him . But the evil lies , not in the habit of observation , but in the pettiness of his mind in other respects ; and if he were less alive to surrounding influences , he
Untitled Article
746 Essays on the Art of Thinking .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Nov. 2, 1829, page 746, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2578/page/2/
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