Spiritual Embryo and its repression

Spiritual Embryo and its repression


THE SPIRITUAL EMBRYO AND ITS REPRESSION
Paper presented by Ms.ThiripuraSundari.P.N. (M.Sc.Psy, Montessori Trainee)
INTRODUCTION:
A child needs unconditional love and support from parents but it should not be given too much that, the child loses its own individuality.
The Narcissus, a youth who knelt daily beside a lake contemplate his own beauty. At the spot where he fell, a flower is born each day and one day Narcissus died, and the lake transformed from fresh water into salty tears. The goddesses thought it weeps for Narcissus but when asked it said, “I weep for Narcissus, but never noticed his beauty, but my own beauty reflected in the depth of his eyes”.
As the lake, child has its own individuality and it thrives for its recognition, but parents generally fail to appreciate and force their own ideas on them thinking that they are protecting them.
SPIRITUAL EMBRYO:
Dr.Maria Montessori developed the concept of the spiritual embryo that man develops through two successive embryonic stages –
The physical embryo in the prenatal period from conception to birth.
The spiritual embryo in the childhood period from birth to around six years.
Montessori uses the term ‘Spiritual’ because it is during this time that the child internalizes at a subconscious level to all the elements of his spiritual territory, which constitute the total environment of any social group.
Starting as a “Spiritual Embryo”, there is a pre-determined pattern of development in the psychological, similar to the biological development,
Conditions for the development are:
Understanding can develop through interaction with the environment, including people.
Freedom.
When the child is not given freedom, not provided with an environment to develop interaction and are over protected by the parents, the development is stunned and the child is repressed.
OVER PROTECTING/HELICOPTER PARENTING:
The term "helicopter parent" was first used in Dr. Haim Ginott's 1969 book Parents &...

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