Music, Prenatal Education, and Morality

Tian Xing

PureInsight | July 11, 2005

[PureInsight.org] Studies done by scientists in Spain have found that fetuses have strong preferences on music. Even though he or she is still in the mother's womb, a 28-week-old fetus prefers gentle, exquisite and highly harmonious music composed by Mozart and Verdi over heavy metal music. This seems to prove the "Mozart Effect," which says, "Listening to Mozart's music can enhance a fetus' intelligence."

The study results reminded me of water crystallization experiment directed by Dr. Masaru Emoto in Japan. In one experiment, one water sample was exposed to the beautiful Christmas song "Silent night," which has exquisite melody and peaceful lyrics. Another water sample was exposed to a piece of heavy-metal rock music. Then both samples were frozen and formed water crystallization, which could be seen clearly under a microscope. The water exposed to the Christmas song formed beautiful hexagons, while the water exposed to the heavy-metal music formed ugly crystallization without any shape or pattern. See: http://www.pureinsight.org/pi/articles/2003/2/3/1405.html

It appears that exposing beautiful things to a child beginning when he or she is a fetus will have great benefits toward the child's future development. In fact, ancient Chinese people placed strong emphasis on the environment that a fetus should be expose to as well as the moral characters of the expectant mother.

In Book about History, Sima Qian recorded how Tairen, the mother to Emperor Wen of Zhou Dynasty, conducted herself during her pregnancy, "While Tairen was pregnant, she refrained from seeing wicked things, listening to obscene sounds, saying bad words, or eating strange food (food with pungent, spicy, bitter or astringent flavors)." Emperor Wen of Zhou Dynasty went down in history as one of the most capable and benevolent Chinese emperors. Therefore, Wang Xiang, an early-childhood education specialist during the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty, wrote, "When a woman becomes pregnant, she should not lean against anything when sitting, take any unsteady steps when walking, see any wicked things, listen to any obscene sound, say any bad words or eat any strange food. She should do good deeds that promote loyalty, filial piety, affection and charity. This way she will give birth to a child who has outstanding ability, wisdom and virtue. This is called prenatal education."

Later on, in the book Important Annotations to Three Character Classic, He Xingsi from Hengyang in Qing Dynasty, distilled Wang Xiang's comments into one character: "Zheng (Virtuous)." According to him, all mothers who are virtuous will by nature have virtuous children.

In his book, Symptoms and Sources of Every Disease, Chao Yuanfang, a famous doctor in the Sui Dynasty, said, "After three months of pregnancy, the fetus's appearance starts to form. But it is not fixed yet and can be changed based on how it feels…. if you want the child to be good-looking, you should wear white jade; if you want the child to be virtuous and capable, you should read poetry and books; this is called 'the outward appearance is determined by the internal feelings.'" In his book Qian's Pediatrics, Qin Yi, a famous doctor in the Song Dynasty, wrote, "If you want your child to be delicate, live in a place with beautiful scenery; if you want your child to be smart and attractive, read literature and art books often."

Therefore, it isn't difficult to see that the morality level in the current society has a major say in the lives of our future generations.

Translated from
http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2005/6/9/32680.html

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