Our Natural State: Action

In The Montessori Method, Dr. Maria Montessori wrote:

True rest for muscles, intended by nature for action, is in orderly action; just as true rest for the lungs is in the normal rhythm of respiration taken in pure air. To take action away from the muscles is to force them away from their natural motor impulse, and hence, besides tiring them, means forcing them into a state of degeneration; just as the lungs forced into mobility, would die instantly and the whole organism with them. It is therefore necessary to keep clearly in mind the fact that rest for whatever naturally acts, lies in some specified form of action, corresponding to its nature. To act in obedience to the hidden precepts of nature — that is rest; and in this special case, since man is meant to be an intelligent creature, the more intelligent his acts are the more he finds repose in them. (pp. 354, The Montessori Method by Dr. Maria Montessori, trans. Anne E. George, (c) 1964 Schocken Books, New York (and (c) 1988 Random House), ISBN 0-8052-0922-0)

This idea is generally consistent with evolution, Aristotle’s philosophy, the Renaissance’s and the Enlightenment’s ideas of reason, the philosophy of man of the ancient Greeks, modern science and technology…