13 January 1985
The Essences of Childhood
Children take their lives and the world more seriously than adults do; a child accepts every facet of life as intrinsically meaningful. He/she does not require a superstructure of laws of interaction and meanings of relationships to make sense of the world. This purity and atomism of childhood begins to disappear as more and more laws and extrinsic meanings are taken for granted. Hence, adults become blasé about the world, while moving away from essences. As an illustration, the essence of goodness and evil are directly accessible to a child; to an adult, however, goodness and evil are vague, abstract, and intangible unknowns that have nothing to do with the “concrete reality" of day-to-day life. Adults, therefore, play the game of life, though without being truly serious about it; children, on the other hand, play their games in total awareness of their meanings, and in earnest seriousness. Children know the True, the Good, and the Beautiful in the latter three’s actual essence, and require no concepts to “visualize” them; adults need the concepts to categorize and visualize those essences, as they are no longer able to directly perceive them. Children are not taught the essences; rather, they are made to forget them. Does one begin to get old when one has completely forgotten the essences?
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12 comments:
Well said. I find that I am losing some of my courage from childhood, you know just being able to approach a situation without much thought and with purity. I guess, as we get older, we become more and more afraid. Fear is a powerful thing.
Interesting, as a mother of small children, to ponder. Enjoyed late night lurking here, thank you
You write very well and your entries are very thought-provoking. Childhood innocence is a virtue which too little praise is lavished on. Do you mind if I link you up as one of my favorite reads?
i disagree. children accept things with only limited experience from which to judge or ascertain what actually is happening. they unwittingly simplify. adults have much more knowlege and experience from which to understand. you say children understant good and evil... well i say that adults know things are rarely that simple.
It's nice to see the delight a child will have in... say, nature for example, and in this i have to agree, but don't assume we (adults) are all walking around not seeing the beat=uty or not appreciating the somple things!
The amazing ability that children have to absorb observations always amazes me...but otherwise my experience with children is very limited...
-Laura
http://passionbeforeperfection.blogspot.com
I have always used the analogy of alcohol to describe the diference between chidhood and adulthood and their experience of the world.
Perception of the world is a complex set of chemical and electrical signals in the brain. As a child the smallest of signals produce a greater effect, as alchohol produces a greater effect on inexperienced drinkers. As we grow older, we become used to the signals and require a greater hit to produce the same response, as a drinker requires more alcohol to get drunk. This means that as adults, the things that used to move us and rouse us, no longer produce a signal strong enough to affect us.
The innocence of a child ... Very thought provoking!
Yes what gets me (& got to me when I was a child) was that my feelings were not taken seriously. And that rubbish about children living stress-free lives... stress like suffering is all relative. Failing an exam to a youngster can be as devastating as a grown-up losing their house. I just wish more people could see that.
Came across your blog on my new hobby - "next" button clicking. Drop by mine and tell what you think. It is very different to yours, you've been warned!!
All the best
Gledwood
(gledwood2.blogspot)
i have to agree with Gledwood on this. you put into perspective so much of what causes later in life the depressions, and other issues that adults face. Facing failier is harder for childeren than adults, its just that childeren have room to learn while adults have to make time to preceive these new notions. the essence is stolen from people too young and having to grow up so soon makes life harder rather more barely. beautiful insightful post. ive truely appricated find your blog.
best of wishes
Kyla
One word; beautiful.
Interesting thoughts. Here are my (totally subjective) opinions and some questions, too.
Children need concepts to understand the true, the good and the beautiful. We learn what is good and what's beautiful. Ever since we're old enough to talk, we get told what's good, what's bad and what's beautiful. For example, children growing up in Asia get a different concept of beautiful scenery than children growing up in Africa. If it were true that children thought the "really" beautiful things to be beautiful, what is beautiful? Who can say what beautiful is? If children see the essence of beauty, why do they so often dislike other children or things thought to be "different"?
IMO, children do not necessarily accept every facet of life as intrinsically meaningful. When i was 7, school wasn't meaningful to me, neither was the fact that the sky was blue and not green, that people grow old or get ill. I think a lot of children develop OCD, ADHD or stress-related illnesses because of our society.
I'm also either too cynical or not naive enough to believe that children are innocent. Children are capable of cruelty just as adults are.
I believe children are far more wise than we are
they liveb the present and they live it at the 100%
we always regret the past and fear the future but we are not aware of our present
it is very sad...I often wished i could get back to that state
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