Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision,

Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education

by Camillo Grazzini
This classic position of the breadth of Cosmic Education begins with a way of seeing the human’s
interaction with the world, continues on to the grandeur in scale of time and space of that vision,
then brings the interdependency of life where each growing human becomes a participating adult.
Mr. Grazzini confronts the laws of human nature in looking at the protection of offspring as they
grow into the higher purposes of the cosmic plan. The world becomes the house for children or a
household where everyone has a cosmic task.
I ntroduction Cosmic Vision, Plan, and Education

Some time ago I was saying how much I like the By 1935, Maria Montessori’s cosmic vision,
Congress letter paper, with its watermarked back- her thinking in relation to a cosmic plan, her ideas
ground of cities and dates in pale blue. Belonging of Cosmic Education, had all started to take on a
to three different continents and linked to dates definite form, had started to crystallize. But what
spanning a period of almost seventy years, these about these three expressions that all share the great
cities recall all the congresses held by our Montes- qualifier cosmic? In reality they all represent differ-
sori movement and they bear historical testimony ent aspects of a single mode of thinking.
to the work carried out on behalf of the child and
in favor of peace, a work which began in 1907 with The first aspect, that of “vision,” has to do with a
the founding of the very first Casa dei Bambini or way of seeing, a way of understanding the world; and
Children’s House. Montessori’s own grandeur has to do with her way
of looking at the world and at the human being.
Over the last fifty years, this is the third time
that we are publicly honoring Maria Montessori The second aspect is that of the “cosmic plan.”
in this magnificent city of Paris. In 1953, the 10 th Looking at the world with grandeur of vision, with
International Congress was held here (the first to a cosmic vision, we find order at the level of nature,
be held after Maria Montessori’s death); then, in at the level of creation. For such a cosmic order
1970. UNESCO celebrated the centenary of Maria to exist, and for the upkeep and continuation of
Montessori’s birth; now, thirty years on, the 24 th creation in general, we find many agents at work
International Montessori Congress is being held and among them we find human beings. Virtually
here, the first congress of the new millennium. all of these agents of creation, or cosmic agents, act
and work unconsciously: Humanity alone has the
The theme of this congress is close to that of the potential to act consciously.
first congress held in Paris: the theme then was “How
to Help the Child to Adapt to Our Times”; this time it The third aspect, that of “cosmic education,” can
is “Education as an Aid to Life.” The close similarity be looked on as the operational aspect: becoming
of theme is significant because it demonstrates the aware of the different kinds of cosmic work carried
continuity of our work, and the theme itself high- out by the various agents and of the interdependen-
lights Maria Montessori’s life work for the child, and cies and interrelationships involved, and thereby
encapsulates the aims and work of the Association developing one’s own cosmic vision; becoming
Montessori Internationale, the organization founded conscious active participants ourselves and thereby
by Maria Montessori herself in 1929. participating more fully in the cosmic plan or cosmic
organization of work.

Grazzini • Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision, Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education 107
 Incidentally, at this point we can understand ing the second plane of development: for example,
that, unlike what many people believe, cosmic in no using the imagination to understand reality, realities
way implies contestation or rebellion or breaking beyond the reach of the physical senses; striving
free of given patterns of behavior for the purpose of for mental and moral independence; exploring the
self-expression at all cost. It does not imply adopt- vastness of culture; forming a particular kind of
ing transgression as a way of life. On the contrary, society; and so on.
cosmic 1 implies order, the world as universe and
unity, the beauty of universal order as opposed to In her book, What You Should Know about Your
the disorder of chaos. This linking of order—unity— Child (a book which was first published in Sri Lanka,
beauty lends depth of meaning to the expression in 1948), Montessori herself speaks about the cosmic
chosen and used by Montessori herself. plan as follows:

There is a plan to which the whole universe is

Cosmic Vision subject. All things, animate and inanimate, are
subordinated to that plan. There are also patterns
The Montessori vision of the world has a cosmic
for all species of living and non-living things. These
dimension because it is all-inclusive: Montessori patterns fall in line with the universal plan.
looks at the world, sees the world on a very grand
scale, that is, at the level of the universe with all of Everything in nature, according to its own laws
its interrelationships. There is the inorganic world of development, approximates to the pattern
of perfection applicable to itself. There is an
which is ecologically linked in innumerable ways urge in every individual of every species to fit
with the biosphere which, in turn, is linked with into the appropriate pattern. There is also an
human beings or the psycho-sphere. inevitableness with which all patterns fit into
the great plan.
Montessori’s vision is also cosmic because she
From the seed to the full-grown tree, from the
looks at the whole of humanity throughout time: she
egg to the adult hen, from the embryo to the man
sees human beings as being guided by finality from the of maturity, the striving to embody a pattern is
time of their appearance; she sees humanity as both perceptible. It wants a loftier vision to understand
adult and child; she sees the individual both in his and appreciate how all creatures and all things
unity or oneness and in his developmental differences evolve into infinite varieties of patterns with a
magnificent impulse to subordinate themselves
during the diverse stages or “seasons of life.”
to the central plan of the universe.

It is this vision of an indivisible unity made up of It is certain that the urge to protect the offspring
energy, of sky, of rocks, of water, of life, of humans and to conserve the species is among the stron-
as adults and humans as children, that lends a sense gest urges of all nature. But there is a purpose
of the cosmic to Montessori’s thinking. higher than the protection of the offspring or
the preservation of the species. This purpose is
something beyond mere growing according to
This cosmic sense pervades all of Montessori’s a pattern or living according to instincts. This
work, both her thinking and her educational ap- higher purpose is to conform to a master plan
proach for all of the different planes or stages of towards which all things are moving. 2
development of the human being: from birth without
violence, to the infant community, to the Casa dei This “higher purpose” can be understood more
Bambini, to the elementary school, to the Erdkinder clearly if we think of the world as a great household,
community for adolescents. a cosmic household, where all the jobs involved in
running the household have been divided up and
Quite clearly then, this cosmic vision belongs by shared. Understood in this way, expressed in this
right to the whole of the Montessori movement: It way, the cosmic plan actually consists of an inte-
is indeed the key which gives us all a shared direc- grated structure or cosmic organization where all
tion and common goal in our work. In stark contrast that exist have tasks to fulfill, their cosmic work to
to this, there is Cosmic Education which is for the accomplish.
second plane of education only, destined only for
six- to twelve-year-old children. Indeed, Cosmic Examining the cosmic workers at the very
Education responds to the specific developmental grandest scale, we see inorganic agents such as the
characteristics and needs of the human being dur- Sun (the prime source of energy), the Land (but

108 The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 38, No. 1 • Winter 2013

 vessel or container for the seas and oceans. There
is Water, the hydrosphere: the great constituent or
element of the surface of our planet and also of our
own bodies; the very source of life. There is the
atmosphere, Air: the very breath of life.

Then too, there is the sphere of life: plants,

animals, and human beings—the cosmic agents in
organic form, those that make up the biosphere.
Then, with mankind and with mankind alone, do we
have the psychosphere, for “something new came
into the world with man, a psychic energy of life,
different from any that had yet been expressed,” a
“new cosmic energy.” 3

Montessori says all cosmic agents are guided by

a universal intelligence which uses the home, 4 that
impulse, urge, or drive, albeit unconscious, toward
evolution, self-functioning, and full self-realization.
If this is so, then the Montessori idea of finality
and syntropic phenomena (where we see a process
leading from what is simple, from the homogenous,
to the complex and differentiated and therefore to
The study of nature arouses great interest and what is ever more highly ordered) also involves
considerable observation power, Villa Paganini, Rome.
the non-living world. And all this reminds me, in a
Courtesy of Paola Trabalzini
Illustration 43: “Botany. The study of nature arouses great interest and certain way, of yet another outstanding individual;
considerable observation power (Montessori school, Villa Paganini, Rome)”.
it reminds me of Teilhard de Chardin’s powerful
vision of the world.
also the rocks and the earth or soil), the Water and
the Air, all of which act and “work” according to Cosmic Task and Cosmic Work
the cosmic laws of their being, that is, according to Each agent, great and small, has its own man-
their inherent nature. (Incidentally, in the thinking date or mission to carry out. This constitutes its
of Empedocles, these would constitute the roots of own particular function in the cosmic plan, its
sources of all and everything.) Then there are the specific cosmic task that has to be carried out
great
Theorganic cosmic
NAMTA Journal, Vol.agents,
36, No. 2,plants and animals
Spring 2011 uninterruptedly and unceasingly. However, the
who, with their sensitivities and instincts, also possibility of doing this depends also on the work
act and “work” according to their cosmic laws or of other agents. In other words, there is a cosmic
inherent nature. Lastly, there is the human being, organization of work which necessarily involves
always in his two manifestations: the adult and the specialization or division of labor, a collaboration
child, the child and the adult. amongst all the workers or agents, and therefore
innumerable relationships of interdependency.
Cosmic Agents

All around us there are cosmic agents, of whom With Montessori’s cosmic fable, “God Who
we also form part, and these constitute the living Has No Hands,” we see the coming of the great
and non-living world. inorganic, nonliving, cosmic agents as well as the
laws of their being. In the work and activities that
There is energy, the Sun’s light and heat. There follow on from the fable, we see how these agents
is the lithosphere: the very ground on which we interact and function together in all their possible
stand and where we build our homes; the Earth combinations and relationships, from the Sun with
or soil with which we dirty our hands, in which its energy and the planet Earth as a whole, to the
the seeds of plants can take root, and to which, on cycle or game played out by Water with the help
dying, we return; the Land which is also the great of the Sun, Air, and Land. The endless activity and

Grazzini • Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision, Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education 109
unceasing toil of these agents explain so many of
the phenomena with which we are familiar: day
and night, summer and winter, rain and wind, snow
and ice. But their work and toil also explain the
seemingly changeless features of our globe where
all, in reality, is endless change: where wind and
water and ice constantly carve and sculpt the land;
where the land is worn down and built up only to
be worn down again, in endless cycles; and where
the frontiers of land and water are ever changing.
And in all of this unceasing toil, these agents be-
have, can only behave, according to their nature,
according to their cosmic laws, the laws they were
given. To express it in terms of Montessori’s first
cosmic fable, it is as though these agents respond
to the call of God, God who has no hands, and each
one, Sun, Air, Land, and Water, whispers: “I hear
my Lord, Thy will be done. I obey.”

With Montessori’s second cosmic fable, “The

Story of Life,” we see the coming of Life which
has its own laws. We see how Life appears to save
and preserve the order and harmony of the world
since, left to themselves, the nonliving agents can-
not maintain cosmic order and threaten to bring
The globe is a source of profound interest and is the starting point
about chaos. Illustration 44: “The globe is a source of profound interest and is the
for greatpoint
starting spontaneous activity in the
for great spontaneous studyinofthegeography,
activity Gwalior,
study of geography
India. Courtesy of Paolia Trabalzini
(Montessori school, Gwalior, India)”.
Montessori regards the sphere of life, the bio-
sphere, as an intimate part of the Earth’s body;
Take, for example, the corals. These extract cal-
and Life’s function is to grow with the Earth, to
cium carbonate from the water and, tiny as they are,
work not just for itself but also for Earth’s upkeep
they build up new land and they also protect main-
and transformation. Thus Life too is one of the
lands from the sea. How much calcium carbonate
creative forces of the world, an energy with its
was extracted by this army of tiny workers to build
own special laws.
the Great Barrier Reef (of Australia) which stretches
for about 2000 kilometers (1250 miles)?
The great agent of Life includes, of course, many
The NAMTA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 2011
many beings, both plant and animal, and Montessori
And what about the green plants that constantly
refers to these living agents as “engines of God,”
purify the air we breathe through their endless work
for such they are.
of photosynthesis?
Take for example the diatoms. These micro-
The cow, says Montessori, is one of the most
scopic (unicellular or colonial) algae extract silica
important land animals, for its one duty in the
from the water to build their “shells.” The layer of
cosmic plan is the maintenance of grasslands and
glass-like silica deposited on the cell wall forms
meadows in good condition, and this it does: cutting
sculptured designs that vary from one species to
the grass, pressing down the ground and fertilizing
another; and there are thousands and thousands
it, all at the same time.
of these species! Minute as they are, these shells of
silica are found in layers, hundreds of feet thick, on And what about the vultures? Faithful to their
lands formerly covered by shallow seas, and vast function of cleaning the earth of things danger-
deposits from diatom oozes covering large parts ous to other beings, they eat carrion and corpses
of the ocean bed. in putrefaction.

110 The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 38, No. 1 • Winter 2013

 And what about the earthworm? It sinks into velopment of the Earth, of creation, modifies and
the earth and works away as “God’s little plough” transforms the environment, building a new world
(to use Darwin’s expression), aerating the soil and which is always new, “a supranature, a civilized
also leaving it more fertile. environment” which goes above and beyond pri-
mordial nature. In other words, the adults build a
We could go on, and on, and on. But enough has civilization which is in constant evolution and which
been said to understand what Montessori means involves a continual modification and enrichment
when she says: “All things in nature have a pattern of their “spiritual territory.”
to which they conform and all of them adhere to
a plan into which they weave themselves to form Thus, in some—as yet unpublished –lectures
a universe in equilibrium. They function for the that Montessori gave in 1950 6 she writes this:
preservation of the whole according to a plan and
Man’s arrival has created a psychosphere on
for the preservation of the species according to a
Earth. What is his task in it? For we must under-
pattern: thus are brought about order and harmony stand that mankind, too, has a task with regard
in nature.” 2 to the Earth on which it lives. The coming of
mankind meant a new force, whose function it
Cosmic Task of Human Beings is to further the progress of evolution. We notice
that man possesses certain capacities which may
When it comes to human beings, the prime stimulate progress on Earth. His scientific work
spiritual agent, and the Cosmic Task of human be- gradually discloses the secrets of Nature and,
ings, Montessori distinguishes between the adult moreover, makes use of them, thus creating new
possibilities. His technical skill has harnessed
and the child since their tasks are very different
the forces of nature in order to build the most
and consequently, so is their work. complicated machinery. Man’s toil has developed
agricultural products which were unknown in
The child’s Cosmic Task is to construct the hu- primitive nature. Obviously, man too has an ac-
man being itself, construct a man who will build tive task on Earth. . . .
peace, a man who is adapted to the world in which
he lives. The greatest onus of this task lies on the And she continues by saying,
child of the earliest years; and the greatest work
So far, however, man has failed to see that there is
ever accomplished during any lifetime is that which a field to be explored in mankind itself. We have
takes the human being from the helpless state of now arrived at a stage where we must cultivate
the newborn babe to the child who not only mani- human energy. Until now we have devoted our
fests the characteristics of his species but clearly attention chiefly to the inventions of mankind
and their workings.
belongs to his own human group, and is also his
own individual self. Now we have once more to connect these things
with man, who invented. Man must take a central
Such an enormous work of creation and con- place in life.
struction, one which is beyond the power of any
other age, is only possible with the power of what Montessori concludes with the importance of the
Montessori calls the absorbent mind; with the guid- child and the child’s education for the advancement
ance of those irresistible attractions of limited dura- of humanity and the evolution of civilization:
tion, that Montessori calls the sensitive periods; and
This we can effect through the child. But the child
with the drive of incredible creative energy. Using cannot do it by himself, he can only acquire a
his hands, that marvelous human gift, the child higher form of character with adult assistance.
explores his world, develops his mental powers, The child has no fixed form of behavior, and
and constructs his very self and, ultimately, the therefore he needs a guide so that he will not
adult human being. We are each one, as Montessori go astray.
says, “the child of the child” that we once were; a
But now it is no longer enough to consider the
variation, if you like, of Wordsworth’s line of verse:
only child of the earliest years, we must also take
“The child is father of the Man.” 5
into consideration the older child, the six- to twelve-
The adult, on the other hand, whose Cosmic year-old child who is in the second plan of his de-
Task is one of contributing to the upkeep and de- velopment. And this is what Montessori says:

Grazzini • Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision, Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education 111
 We can make the human race better by assisting but, above all, they embody interdependency: be
the child in building his character and acquiring this the interdependency of various cosmic forces or
his moral freedom.
the interdependencies within the context of a single
One of the means to this end is a cosmic education, force. With these kinds of discoveries, the children
which gives the child an orientation and guid- come to understand and appreciate the importance
ance in life. For this education wants to prepare of collaboration at a cosmic level.
the growing child for the task awaiting him in
adult life, so that he will feel at ease in his own
environment, in which he will later have to live
Cosmic Education helps the children to become
as an independent being. aware of cosmic tasks and cosmic work, be these
carried out consciously or unconsciously (as is
Cosmic Education usually the case). In this way, the children reach a
deeper understanding of the full functioning and
All that I have said so far, about a cosmic vi-
role of each of the cosmic agents, living or nonliving.
sion; about the cosmic plan or cosmic organiza-
Consequently, the children become more and more
tion; about the cosmic agents with their variety
aware, not only of the importance of work, but also
and diversity of tasks and work, all of which lead
of the importance of work that benefits others, that
to a cosmic order; and about man’s special place
contributes to the well-being of others, and they
and role in the cosmos for creation; all of this is
come to see how much they too have received and
involved in Cosmic Education. Very gradually, and
continue to receive. Mario Montessori recounts how,
without any need or direct teaching and preaching,
once they became conscious of cosmic work: “The
the children are led to see, to understand, and to
children sought eagerly the cosmic task of whatever
appreciate much of what I have already discussed,
came under their observation and, penetrating into
and much more besides.
these tasks, they came to acquire a feeling of grati-
Cosmic Education has many aspects and facets tude towards God for the nature he had provided,
and (also for reasons of time) I shall limit myself to and towards mankind for having created, starting
indicating and highlighting some of these. from natural conditions, a supranatural world in
which each individual could perform his own task
Cosmic Education helps the children to acquire a and provide himself with all he needed from what
cosmic vision of the world, a vision of the unity and had been produced by the work of other men.” 7
finality of the world, a vision which gives a sense of
meaning and purpose. This vision encompasses both Cosmic Education results in creative attempts
space and time; in other words, the children learn to lead a new and different kind of human life,
to understand the world both in its evolutionary with responsible participation in all natural and
development and in its ecological functioning. human phenomena. Let me illustrate this with one
small but telling example. When Maria and Mario
Cosmic Education gives the children the op- Montessori were in India, some of the children in
portunity and the freedom to explore, study, and the school heard about a great problem of adult
acquire knowledge of the universe not only in its illiteracy there. Quite spontaneously, they decided
globality, but also in its complexity; and they learn to play their part in alleviating this problem and,
to appreciate how the various cosmic forces, follow- with permission, they borrowed some materials
ing the laws of nature, work and interact such that from the school and taught some such adults in a
our universe is one of structure and order. In other nearby village, to read and write. What an example
words, the children are helped to become aware of for all of us!
what is only too often taken for granted and not
seen: the natural or cosmic laws that bring about Cosmic Education also means a very different
the order and harmony in nature, a cosmic order kind of approach to culture. With this approach, we
and harmony. pass from the whole to the detail; each detail is, or
could be, referred to the whole; the whole is made
Cosmic Education enables the children to dis- up of ordered parts; and lastly, specialization of
cover many kinds of interrelationships that exist in knowledge and interdisciplinary, developing simul-
the world and that explain how our world functions. taneously, integrate and complete one another. “In the
These are sometimes relationships of dependency cosmic plan of culture,” wrote Montessori in 1949, 8

112 The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 38, No. 1 • Winter 2013

Studying the timeline of life on Earth, a geological-biological progression of animals, plants, and Earth changes, Japan

“all sciences (branches of learning) can be linked his own place and task in the world, at the same
like rays springing from a single brilliant centre of time presenting a chance for the development of
his creative energy. 6
interest which clarifies, facilitates, and furthers all
knowledge.” And one year later, she says: La Nazione Unica Dell’umanità
Thus the way leads from the whole via the parts
I could stop here for I have examined all the
back to the whole. In this way the child learns
to appreciate the unity and regularity of cosmic three aspects of Montessori’s thinking that I was
events. When this vision is opened up he will be asked to address. However, I should like to take a
fascinated to such an extent that he will value the little more time to examine further that very spe-
cosmic laws and their correlation more than any cial agent of creation, humanity, that has its own
simple fact. Thus the child will develop a kind
glorious, as well as inglorious, history. Throughout
of philosophy, which teaches him the unity of
the universe. This the very thing to organize his their history, human beings have always organized
intelligence and to give him a better insight into themselves into different human groups, and the

Grazzini • Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision, Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education 113
 Illustrations

contact between groups has varied from peaceful

trade and exchange right through to open conflict
and warfare. What does Montessori have to say
when it comes to the future of humanity?

In her lectures of 1950, 6 she says this:

Every human group has a form of its own. Now

we find that these groups have a tendency to unite;
not because the individual members have grown to
love each other—for how can one love such a huge
number of people that one does not even know—
but because obviously the next step in evolution is
the unity of mankind. In the psychosphere there
should now only be one civilization.

Even earlier, in 1937, Montessori was saying:

“All mankind forms a single organism . . . a single,
indivisible unit—a single nature.” 9 For Montessori,
in other words, a single nature of humanity already Intensity of work and observation, courtesy of Paola Trabalzini
Illustration 21: “Intensity of work and of observation”.
existed decades and decades ago.

There are others who have expressed simi- Universal union, says Montessori, already exists,
lar, though not identical, ideas: for example, and therefore all that is needed is that we should
Marshall McLuhan with his “global village;” become aware of this reality and “replace the idea of
and Gorbachev with his “common home” when the necessity of bringing about union among men, by
speaking of Europe. 10 the recognition of the real and profound existence of
these bonds of interdependence and social solidarity
In any case, sixty-five years ago, when the League
among the peoples of the whole world.”
of Nations was still in existence and the United Na-
tions still lay in the future, Maria Montessori had And also: “This solidarity between human beings,
widened the limited concept of a “nation” (mean- which projects itself into the future and is sunk in the
ing, for example, “an ethnic unity conscious of its remotest ages of the past … is a wonderful thing.”
cultural distinctness and autonomy”) and extended
it to embrace the whole of humanity. Ethnic unity, “The living idea of the solidarity of all men …
then, is determined by all of Earth’s human inhabit- closely united by so many bonds, generates a warm
ants belonging equally to the human species and, feeling of sharing in something great which even
as for the different human groups, Montessori says: surpasses the one’s feeling for one’s country.”
“A single interest unites them and causes them to
function as a single living organism. No phenomenon Illustration
We can22:note
“Farm work. Greenhouses
in passing and a water idea
that Montessori’s tank for
of aquatic plants,
can affect one human group without affecting others La Nazione Unica, in the guise of world unity, wasfor watering
a water tank protected by nets against insects, and a long tank
the little gardens”.
as a consequence. To put it a better way, the interest also shared by H.G. Wells and by Julian Huxley.
of any one group is the interest of all.” 9
This idea of human solidarity throughout time
Even the new economic process of globalization, and space, and therefore the concept of a single na-
understood as the unifying of world markets and tion of humanity, also forms part of Montessori’s
The NAMTA Journal, Vol. 36, No. 2, Spring 2011
therefore human work, seems to be, at least to my Cosmic Education; and the children come to grasp
way of thinking, anticipated in Maria Montessori’s these ideas, not through mere words and little
writings. Montessori, however, always links the sermons, but through the exploration and study of
international economic reality to human or social humanity, both past and present.
solidarity, as we can read in a very well-known
lecture she gave in 1949 in San Remo, a lecture We have seen, however briefly, that Montessori’s
which she even called “Human Solidarity in Time education is education as a help to life and an education
and Space.” 11 for peace; it is an integral part of an anthropological

114 The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 38, No. 1 • Winter 2013

and sociological vision of the child and of humanity, I wish to thank Baiba Krumins Grazzini for her
with its ecological and spiritual role in the context help in preparing this contribution.
of the universe with all of its history.
E ndnotes
Conclusion
1. Cosmic comes from the Greek kosmos meaning
During the two years following Montessori’s order, world, universe; and the etymological
return to Europe after her second Indian sojourn meaning has nothing to do with hair, despite
and the San Remo Congress, that is, during the years what was said by other speakers during the
1950 and 1951, Maria Montessori became involved Congress. Comet, on the other hand, comes
with UNESCO. from the Greek kometes meaning long-haired
(and this in turn comes from kome which is
She was a member of the Italian delegation to the Greek word for hair). Etymologically
the UNESCO General Assembly, held in Florence, speaking, therefore, a comet is a long-haired
in May 1950; during the same month, at UNESCO star. Obviously cosmic or cosmos on the one
in Paris, she was welcomed “as one of the found- hand, and comet on the other, are totally dif-
ers and inspirers of that revolutionary movement ferent concepts and must not be confused.
known by the name of the New Education.” On this
same occasion, when she was asked by UNESCO’s 2. Montessori, Maria, What You Should Know
Department of Education to give “her vision of how about Your Child (Adyar, Madras: Kalakshetra
to reach a better international understanding,” Dr. Publications, 1 st edition, 1948).
Montessori listed six points and one of these cen-
tered on Cosmic Education. 3. Montessori, Maria, To Education the Human
Potential (Adyar, Madras: Kalakshetra Pub-
lications, 1 st edition, 1948).
Lastly, in December 1951, on the occasion of
the third anniversary of the Universal Declaration
4. Horme comes from the Greek horme mean-
of Human Rights, UNESCO invited Montessori “to
ing impulse, and this is related to the Greek
send a message to the world in order to emphasize
hormao which means to excite. The diction-
the highly idealistic value of the event.” This is
ary meaning of horme is “vital energy as an
how Dr. Montessori came to write “The Forgotten
urge to purposive activity” and this is how
Citizen,” her last important contribution, for she
Montessori uses the term in The Absorbent
died four months later.
Mind (Adyar, Madras: The Theosophical
Publishing House, 1st edition, 1949). The term
Relations with UNESCO have been maintained
was first suggested (though apparently not
to the present day, since the Association Montes-
adopted) by C. G. Jung and developed and
sori Internationale, under whose auspices this
used by Sir Percy Nunn, whom Montessori
congress has been organized, is an NGO, or Non-
cites in her book. (Nunn, Percy, Education:
Governmental Organization, in operational relations
Its Data and First Principles (London: Edward
with UNESCO.
Arnold Publishers Ltd., 3 rd edition, 1945,
reprinted 1970).
“To contribute to the maintenance of peace by
means of education” is the main aim of the organiza- 5. Wordsworth, William (English romantic poet,
tion hosting our congress. Therefore, I should like 1770-1850), see 7 th line (The Child is father
to conclude by recalling how, in 1950 in Florence, of the Man) in “My Heart Leaps Up When I
the poet Jaime Torres Bodet, who was the Director Behold” in Poems in Two Volumes, 1807.
General of UNESCO at the time, welcomed Ma-
ria Montessori by saying: “In our midst we have 6. International Montessori Conference,
someone who has become the symbol of our great Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 1950,
expectations for education and world peace.” unpublished proceedings.

After fifty years, education and world peace 7. Montessori, Mario M., “Keys to the World”
still remain humanity’s great hope. in AMI Communications 1998/4.

Grazzini • Maria Montessori’s Cosmic Vision, Cosmic Plan, and Cosmic Education 115
8. Montessori, Maria, “Educazione cosmica,” 10. McLuhan, Herbert Marshall and Bruce R.
manuscript published in the form of Powers, The Global Village (Oxford: Oxford
an anastatic reproduction in Il quaderno University Press, Inc., 1989) Gorbachev,
Montessori, 29, Spring 1991, Castellanza Mikhail S., La casa comune europea (Milano:
(VA), Italy. Mondadori editore, 1989) Also Perestrojka—Il
nuovo pensiero per il nostro Paese e il mondo
9. This lecture was given on December 29, 1937 (Milano: Mondadori editore, 1987).
at the Internationale School voor Wijsbegeerte
[International School of Philosophy], Amers- 11. In La formazione dell’uomo nella ricostruzione
foort, The Netherlands and published in mondiale, proceedings of the 8 th International
Education and Peace, transl. Helen R. Lane Montessori Congress, San Remo (IM), Italy,
(Chicago, IL: Henry Regnery Company, 1 st August 1949 (Rome: Ente Opera Montes-
English edition, 1972). sori, 1950).

Camillo Grazzini had a long association with the Montessori movement having worked under the guidance of
Mr. Mario Montessori, the director of studies at the Bergamo Centre, from the founding of the centre in 1961
until Mr. Montessori’s death in 1982. Mr. Grazzini was one of the original members of the Pedagogical/Material
Committee. As a researcher his knowledge of every detail of our work was outstanding, whether it was of the
materials, the history of the movement, and of course Cosmic Education. Camillo Grazzini worked for the Bergamo
Centre as lecturer, AMI trainer, and director of training, until his death in January 2004. Camillo Grazzini
inspired over forty generations of Bergamo students in their Montessori work for and with elementary children.
Reprinted from AMI Communications, Special Issue 2010, pages 44-54. Reprinted by permission of
Baiba Krummins Grazzini.

116 The NAMTA Journal • Vol. 38, No. 1 • Winter 2013