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| Man and his Family, by Wilder Penfield |
Man and his Family, by Wilder Penfield
McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, 1967
Originally given as a lecture of the Josiah Wood Lectureship, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick
Excerpts from Dr. Penfield’s book:
When I returned, he was asleep. He wakened at once and, reaching for the message, read it carefully and nodded: “’There is a crisis in the family. It is time for men and women to take action. We can control our civilization.’” On the following morning, at twenty minutes after eleven, the faltering heart of a great Canadian stopped beating. Death came quietly to Georges P. Vanier. (p. 14)
The Institute is based on the proposition that, through the family, civilization can be controlled and the evolution of society can be directed. This proposition was the inspiration that came to Georges P. Vanier and his wife while they lived at Rideau Hall. (p. 17)
Who is to say what are the most important causes of the rising tide of anti-social behaviour? Not I. We must face it all, together. But this one thing I know—the place to correct the causes of the evil is in the home, not in the courts of law, not in the prisons. And of this I am sure: the woman is the natural defender of the home, and when a husband is present, or if he cannot or will not assume the leadership, she must be the Captain of those who defend the Citadel. (p. 31)
Young people of today have not changed fundamentally. They want, before all, else, to have successful families of their own, even those who have never known a happy family first hand. Those who do not hope for this constitute a small minority of abnormal individuals. (p. 35)
“Get interested,” he (Stephen Leacock) said, “not in one thing or a part of a thing but in all things.” He even paraphrased the first aphorism of Hippocrates (without acknowledgement, I may add). “Art,” he said, “is notoriously long and life is infamously short.” He added, “It is not much that we can ever know, but let at least be wisely distributed.” (p. 43)
At this time of crisis in Western society, men are looking to education for the cure of what is wrong, and for leadership toward what is right. It is the family, as well as the university and the school, that must respond to the challenge. ... Education begins at home. It should continue there after the last diploma is won. Culture is an indefinable quality that is distilled in the process of living the good life. It is a matter of manners and morals and personality. Culture, in its original sense, is the sin qua non of successful education. It points the way to responsible citizenship. And the best of all cultures is the home-grown variety. (p. 47)
In capitalist countries there is a vast confusion without a major plan of propaganda either for political power or public good. One practice that is peculiar to these countries is this: By means of “free” communication and “free” advertising (that can be purchased), the styles of dress and even behaviour of the majority are influenced by the few for their own financial gain. We discover, now, that in this vast democratic confusion there is a frightening increase in anti-social behaviour. (p. 49-50)
Man, coming to maturity, finds in marriage all the things that make life worthwhile. When all is well, he finds love, pleasure, security, dignity, happiness, companionship. The untutored native discovers this for himself, like the bird that builds his nest and sings in praise of love, no doubt, and family life. Happiness, security, love . . . these will always be theirs while the family is intact. Should the family fall, society and civilization will be doomed. (p. 52)
This would be a movement toward temperance in all things. We might put a stop to the glorification of violence, crime, wrong sex relations, pornography, alcoholic excess. (p. 59)
I have spent a professional lifetime studying the human brain. I assure you there is, as yet, no scientific proof that the brain can control the mind except in delirium or insanity. Science thrpws no light on the essential nature of the spirit or man or God. In 1960, at the three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Royal Society of London, the oldest scientific society in the world, the President, Sir Cyril Hinshelwood, made this statement: “The men of science themselves, as far as can be judged, have numbered about the same proportion of religious believers as the generality of people. Nor,” he added, “have they been conspicuously less well endowed with kindness or morality.” For myself, I would like to believe that this was a modest understatement of the part of a Nobel Laureate. (p. 62)
To my way of thinking, belief in God is the most reasonable of all the assumptions open to me, and I believe that the spiritual essence of man, being similar to that of God, is somehow in communication with God. (p. 62 – 63)
In conclusion, the family is the citadel of society. Let me repeat: “There never` has been – and I believe there never will be – a durable society based on any system other than the union of man, woman, and child, and on fidelity to that unit.” (p. 66)
The world has not changed fundamentally. The changes we see are material ones. Things of the spirit do not alter. Truth remains. Moral values are the same – yesterday, today, and tomorrow. (p. 80)
Love is the strength within the family. This strength could save the world, as well as the nation. There is authority in human nature. As the family evolves, wisdom comes in the normal course of things and security, and a happiness, too, perchance, that is unique. (p. 88)
