Montessori education is education for flow. It is education through the daily experiences of flow, toward forming the lifelong habit of seeking out flow, and in preparation for finding a life’s work in flow. Children in Montessori environments enter into flow in all areas of learning because of the contagious nature of the atmosphere of flow within the community, the constancy of their choices among activities, and the hands-on nature of the developmental materials.

Children enter into flow over months and years in a full range of the various aspects of community living and learning – practical, intellectual, and expressive – because they choose when and for how long to engage. As they become progressively more consciously responsible, children “choose” to develop themselves ever more broadly and fully, choosing to enter the state of flow deliberately in order to fulfill their responsibilities to themselves and their community. Children in a Montessori community learn to cultivate flow for accomplishing their less favorite pursuits. They become adept at taking a liking to activities to which they are less inclined.

This chosen path of self-development and self-education across the spectrum of practical, social, expressive, and intellectual areas is the personal journey of peace. This is the way to become a human being capable of forming a society that can bring peace on earth and health to our planet.

Conventional education develops the opposite attributes and characteristics, ones that drive individuals to accept the domination of the will-to-power of others over them and to live out the domination of the will-to-power over others in their own lives and their societies.

Conventional education leaves little space for flow and no encouragement for joy, leaving individuals with an aching emptiness. Tests and grades, rewards and punishments, and competitions and prizes exacerbate the emptiness. The only society these individuals are capable of developing is one that feeds their emptiness with greed and power. We have lived out this reality. It is a reality of anxiety, depression, and a succession of overlapping wars.

Now is the time to choose a better way. Montessori has shown us the details of this way through a philosophy, psychology, and practice that serves conception throughout life. The AMI training for the various planes of development is available and makes transformation possible. And the journey makes for such a satisfying and joyful life.

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