One of the virtues of being very young is that you don’t let the facts get in the way of your imagination.
– Sam Levenson, American humourist and writer
I think we should all never fully grow up, ever. We should never give up that kid inside us.
That little child that never ran out of questions to ask with so much eagerness to know the world – in utter rapturous joy about even the smallest of wonders around them.
The kid who is not afraid to walk into the unknown and discover whatever might be there. Who innately knows that nature is kind to us, not yet taught to be afraid of sand, dirt, trees, leaves and other little insects, and ‘germs’ and ‘viruses’ by elders.
The child who cannot see anything different from another child just because their skin is of a different colour, they wear different clothes, speak a different language – they see only the soul within and just want to play.
The kid who is naturally born vegetarian – who loves all animals and cannot bear to eat them, because they rather play with animals than eat them.
Believing in fairies, unicorns, dragons, angels and magic. Imagining different lands and creatures in their make-believe worlds that adults only scoff at.
The Jewish faith believes that every baby is born with infinite wisdom and knowledge of who he actually is, where he came from and what makes this world truly magical. And then, just like that, in a split second, he loses all that memory and knowledge. It disappears forever.
They say it is at that moment, the baby utters his first wail. In utter sadness for a universe of wisdom lost. For he knows he has lost the real wealth of the world. Real knowledge – not the shallow superficial controlled narratives we are taught in schools and universities.
I find that when we abandon indoctrinated thought processes that keep us caged, keep our minds to open to allow whatever we think to come through, we somehow harness the energy of the universe and channel it inside us. We get insights, answers, and sudden revelations on how to solve problems that never crossed our minds before. It is because we become child-like. Trusting and open and engaging with the vibrations around us, we tap into that oneness where everything is possible, and we get revelations that comes from deep within.
Our education system removes that child-like wonder from us. We are made to lose our individuality. Our independent way of questioning and asking, our insatiable curiosity is slowly expunged. We get indoctrinated into a collective uniformity of thought and behaviour.
The daydreamers at school instinctively zone out from the great mundane of classrooms and teachers who don’t teach what they really want to learn. I was one of them. Society though labels us misfits and makes us the same as the rest, by shaming and guilting us into submission.
So that we can all fit in. Why must we fit in so badly though? To get an education, get a job, pay bills, marry, produce children, pay more bills, put the children through the same cycle we went through, and repeat endlessly.
It is nice to remain a child in wonderment at the world. To love one another freely without prejudice, hatred, division which is taught by media and authorities. I sometimes think, if left alone, humanity would thrive very well on its own. Simple village lives where simple living is all it takes – living in harmony with nature.
We voluntarily remove ourselves from sun, sea, earth, animals, trees, fresh air and fresh water which is our birthright. We have big corporations selling us water and soon perhaps even air, because we don’t know how to get it ourselves from the Earth that gives these all so abundantly.
As we get more caged in the confines in the grids of smart cities, we become slavishly reliant on middlemen for all our basic needs. We eat from canned and boxed GMO foods that makes us sicker. We pay for exorbitant medical care that should be a fraction of what it costs, and most of the time doctors have no idea why we are sick. Like a hamster on a treadmill, we run on continuously to do more so we can buy more things we don’t need and then we die.
That is not how we started life as children though. Let’s teach our children to till the land, understand nature, grow their own food, build their own homes, harness our own energy, live in harmony with animals.
Wisdom does not come from one source of textbooks. There are multiple wisdoms, and Mother Earth has much to teach. We just need to be childlike and open our hearts, ears, eyes to connect, listen and learn. We are children of The Earth – no one entity should own us and tell us how to live.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune. Feedback can reach the writer at beatrice@ibrasiagroup.com
