Ep 14 | The Way of the Will and the Way of the Reason: A Primer (Principle #16)
It’s classic Mason to give such a tidy explanation for such a huge idea. What are the two guides in the moral and intellectual self-management of a child? Oh, just little things called ‘the way of the will’ and ‘the way of the reason’.
Consider today your primer on these two ways before we dive in deep in the next two episodes!
Video Resource | Let’s get practical.
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Principle #16: There are two guides to moral and intellectual self-management to offer to children, which we may call 'the way of the will' and 'the way of the reason.'
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Well, that sounds simple enough. Our children have two guides to help them in their moral and intellectual growth: the way of the will and the way of the reason.
Okay, I’ll see you guys in two weeks.
Just kidding.
It’s classic Mason to have such a simple-sounding explanation for such a big idea. In fact, this idea—the way of the will and the reason—is so big, we’re going to break it up into three episodes, covering principles 16-19. Today, I’m going to give you, admittedly, a pretty short episode to lay out some basic definitions and roles for these two guides. We really need to have that settled before we jump into the next two episodes about how to form, teach, and support a child’s will and reason.
So, the definitions and explanations.
What is the will? The will is the gatekeeper of your child and its function is to choose. In every choice we make, we’re forming ourselves towards God or away from him. We’re growing in virtue or we’re not. The will is what governs our passions and our appetites. If our will is strong, it governs well and it helps us choose to do what’s right regardless of how we feel about it. If our will is weak, then it runs the path of least resistance, which is often, whatever we want at the moment instead of whatever is right.
But it’s not just that the will is making choices, it’s that the will is making choices between ideas. You see, your child is introduced to ideas constantly—all day, every day. And if the will is constantly being exercised, then you can easily see how a child’s will can become tired and begin to choose poorly between ideas. You can easily see how important it is that you help your child strengthen the will, like a muscle, over the course of their time at home. But that’s something we’ll dive into next time.
Mason uses this phrase, Mansoul, in her book Ourselves and it comes up again in volume six when she talks about the way of the will. Mansoul is actually a reference to The Holy War by John Bunyan (Shout out to JB for writing what is still a favorite, that little book called Pilgrim’s Progress.). Mansoul, or literally man’s soul, is the location in the book for which two warring entities fight. Any guesses as to who fights over man’s soul? Good and evil. So another way to think about the will choosing between ideas is that a strong will will welcome the ideas that benefit Mansoul and reject ideas that hurt Mansoul.
The last big point on the way of the will for today is that the will really only operates when it has an object outside of itself. This is important for a few reasons but hear me now: you can have a strong will that is entirely terrible. Think about Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost and you will see someone with a very strong will fixed on a very bad object. So it’s not just that we strengthen the will of the child, but that we give the child a clear picture of that object outside of himself worth loving.
In education, we educate the conscience of a child, giving them a clear picture of what is true, good, and beautiful. We give them a fixed point outside of themselves that can claim their allegiance, their imagination, their thoughts, their loves, and their service.
And next time, we’re going to talk about exactly how that’s done.
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So, you already know that we’re going to dive into the way of the will more in our next episode, but, don’t forget, for every episode I give The Commonplace patrons a Bonus 5 minutes of practical application. Today, I’m telling them the number one tip in the early years for forming the way of the will. You can join them at patreon.com/thecommonplace
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So what then is the way of the reason?
Hang onto your hats, modern women, because whether you know it or not, you’re downstream from the Enlightenment and so you, dear listener, and also me, have grown up believing that reason is the foundational rock of all things. Logic is king in our day so this one might throw you for a loop.
Now, Mason didn’t oppose teaching children logic and reasoning, obviously, but she was very clear about the limits of logic.
So, reason has two main functions for the person. First, it gives logical demonstrations of mathematical truths. For this, reason is infallible and helpful, of course. 2+2=4 and the arguments on Twitter about that right now will not convince me otherwise.
The second function is that reason gives a logical demonstration for any idea accepted by the will. Remember, the will is the gatekeeper. As it decides what will be allowed to influence a person’s thinking and behavior, he’s given help by the conscience and reason.
If a child’s conscience has been well-educated, as I mentioned before, then it can instruct very well on what’s good and what’s not. But reason is always a bit of a yes-man. If the idea is let in, reason will rush to prove it’s a good idea.
Now, I know you’re thinking, “Certainly not! I’m a logical thinker! I could never prove a bad idea as a good one!” Is that so?
Because I do believe it’s part of human nature to be able to “prove” anything to ourselves once we’ve settled on the idea. If we really want something badly enough—to buy that new car, to eat that piece of chocolate, to have spoken rudely to someone, to so on and so on—If we really want something badly enough, we can make infallible proofs to ourselves in favor of it.
Which means it’s very important we teach our children that just because something is logical or sounds reasonable, it may not be good. It’s a good thing for children to recognize that their reason is always a yes-guy, that he’s not to be followed blindly.
I mean, think about it: do you think a robber is fighting his reason telling him thieving is wrong the entire time he’s robbing a house? No. His reason has confirmed that this is totally valid.
Our children have two guides in their moral and intellectual self-management: the way of the will and the way of the reason. Next time, we’re going to explore the way of the will, and after that, we’ll take on the way of the reason. I think Mason put these here, at the end of her principles, because they’re some final, major statements about self-governance, virtue, and the point of education. They’re big ideas, but they’re also things we know by this point. How do you teach a child’s conscience sounds like a huge question until you remember our curriculum is an offering of the loveliest and noblest ideas. We’re forming their consciences towards God while also teaching their wills to recognize good ideas. You’re already doing this; I bet you just never thought those read-alouds and habit practices and family dinners had such power in education, such a fixed finger pointed towards truth, goodness, and beauty. Or, actually, who am I kidding? You’re a homeschool mom. Of course, you did.
I’ll see you guys in two weeks.
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