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Specialisation You must
extend, enlarge, enrich your mind. It must be full of thoughts and ideas. It
must be stored with the results of your observation and study. It must not be a
"poor mind", a mind, that is to say, that has not many ideas nor the
capacity of reasoning and argument. Your mind must be capable of thinking of
many different things, gathering knowledge of different kinds, considering a
problem from many different sides, not following only a single line or track:
it must be somewhat like a Japanese fan opening out full circle in all
directions. You
have, for example, several subjects to learn at school. Well, learn as many as
possible. If you study at home, read as many varieties as possible. I know you
are usually asked and advised to follow a different way. You are to take as few
subjects as possible and specialise.
Yes, that is the general ideal: specialisation, to be an expert in one thing. If you wish to
be a good philosopher, read philosophy only; if you wish to be a good chemist,
do only chemistry; and even you should concentrate upon only one problem or
thesis in philosophy or chemistry. In sports you are asked to do the same.
Choose one item and fix your attention upon that alone. If you want to be a
good tennis player, think of tennis alone. However, I am not of that opinion.
My experience is different. I believe, there are general faculties in man which
he should acquire and cultivate more than specialise himself. Of course, if it is your ambition to be a
Monsieur or Madame Curie who wanted to discover one particular thing, to find
out a new mystery of a definite kind, then you have to concentrate upon the one
thing in view. But even then, once the object is gained, you can turn very well
to other things. Besides, it is not an
impossibility
Page – 428 in the midst of the one-pointed pursuit to find occasions and opportunities to
be interested in other pursuits. From
my childhood I have been hearing of the same lesson; I am afraid it was taught
also in the days of our fathers and grandfathers and great grandfathers,
namely, that if you wish to be successful in something you must do that only
and nothing else. I was rebuked very much because I was busy with many
different things at the same time. I was told I would be in the end good for
nothing. I was studying, I was painting, I was doing music and many other
things. I was repeatedly warned that my painting would be worthless, my music
would be worthless, my studies would be incomplete and defective if I had my
way. Perhaps it was true; but I found that my way, too, had its advantages – precisely
the advantages I was speaking of at the outset, namely, it widens and enriches
the mind and consciousness, makes it supple and flexible, gives it a
spontaneous power to understand and handle anything new presented to it. If,
however, I had wanted to become an executant of the first order and play in concerts, then of course
I would have had to restrict myself. Or in painting if my aim had been to be
one of the great artists of the age, I could have done only that and nothing
else. One understands the position very well, but it is only a point of view. I
do not see why I should become the greatest musician or the greatest painter.
It seems to me to be nothing but vanity. But it is a very natural and spontaneous movement in
man to change from one work to another in order to maintain a kind of balance.
Change also means rest. We have often heard of great artists or scholars
seeking for rest and having great need for it. They find it by changing their
activity. For example, Ingres was a painter; painting was his normal and major
occupation. But whenever he found time he took up his violin. Curiously, it was
his violin which interested him more than his painting. He was not very good at
music, but he took great pleasure in it. He was sufficiently good at painting,
but it interested him less. But the real thing is that he needed a stable poise
or balance. Concentration upon a single thing is very necessary, I have said, if
one aims at a definite and special result; but one can follow a different line
that is more subtle, more comprehensive and complete. Naturally, there is a
Page – 429 physical
limit somewhere to your comprehensiveness; for on the physical plane you are
confined in respect of time and space; and also it is true that great things
are difficult to achieve unless there is a special concentration. But if you
want to lead a higher and deeper life, you can command capacities which are
much greater than those available to the methods of restriction and limitation
belonging to the normal consciousness. There is a considerable advantage in
getting rid of one's limits, if not from the point of view of actual accomplishment,
at least from the point of view of spiritual realisation. Page – 430
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