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a child
Jun 29, 2010 18:46:31 GMT -5
Post by klaus on Jun 29, 2010 18:46:31 GMT -5
a child asks not, "who am i?"
a child knows the answer.
it is we grownups who ask, "who am i?"
a child asks not, "why am i here?"
a child knows the answer.
it is we grownups who ask, "why am i here?"
a child asks not, "where am i going?"
a child knows the answer.
it is we grownups who ask, "where am i going?"
a child's laughter is its answer to us grownups.
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a child
Jun 29, 2010 23:49:33 GMT -5
Post by spiritualbooks on Jun 29, 2010 23:49:33 GMT -5
And from that laughter comes the wisdom of all things.
To be free,
To be wild,
To be...
Just like a child
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 2:02:24 GMT -5
Post by enigma on Jun 30, 2010 2:02:24 GMT -5
The child doesn't know answers, it just hasn't learned to ask such dangerous questions. Sooner or later, the child will take a bite of the apple and the wrong question will come attended, inevitably, by the wrong answer, and the gates to hell swing open wide.
Once invited for dinner, the answers will overstay their welcome and not rouse you until they have devoured your innocence and gorged themselves on your peace of mind and rummaged through your cupboards for bits of satisfaction and contentment.
When you realize that your guest has not come bearing gifts but only a voracious appetite, has not come to entertain you but to humiliate you, not to enlighten you but to imprison you, only then do you check your guest's credentials and throw a sideways glance and see that he is a fraud and show him the door.
Now you're really alone, and your cupboards are bare, and you're hungry. The question comes again; "Who am I"? This time you're not fooled by impostors. Your wits are sharp, your brow is set, your gaze is fixed and penetrating and there is an emptiness in your gut not so easily filled by fairy tales and pixie dust. The next dinner guest you invite will come bearing many gifts, and one of them will be gratitude for the company of old miseries and the Grace of thieves.
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 5:59:24 GMT -5
Post by ravenscroft on Jun 30, 2010 5:59:24 GMT -5
The child doesn't know answers, it just hasn't learned to ask such dangerous questions. Sooner or later, the child will take a bite of the apple and the wrong question will come attended, inevitably, by the wrong answer, and the gates to hell swing open wide. Once invited for dinner, the answers will overstay their welcome and not rouse you until they have devoured your innocence and gorged themselves on your peace of mind and rummaged through your cupboards for bits of satisfaction and contentment. When you realize that your guest has not come bearing gifts but only a voracious appetite, has not come to entertain you but to humiliate you, not to enlighten you but to imprison you, only then do you check your guest's credentials and throw a sideways glance and see that he is a fraud and show him the door. Now you're really alone, and your cupboards are bare, and you're hungry. The question comes again; "Who am I"? This time you're not fooled by impostors. Your wits are sharp, your brow is set, your gaze is fixed and penetrating and there is an emptiness in your gut not so easily filled by fairy tales and pixie dust. The next dinner guest you invite will come bearing many gifts, and one of them will be gratitude for the company of old miseries and the Grace of thieves. great post bravo!!! |
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Nemo
New Member
Posts: 3
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 9:54:12 GMT -5
Post by Nemo on Jun 30, 2010 9:54:12 GMT -5
Yes, most poetic.  |
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 10:35:22 GMT -5
Post by klaus on Jun 30, 2010 10:35:22 GMT -5
enigma,
Maybe the questions a child asks aren't ego centered, not being ego centered the answers a child receives aren't filtered through ego.
A child is forced to take a bite of the apple when the child starts school.
I noticed the innocence, joy and laughter die in my own children when they started school. Play became work.
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 12:18:22 GMT -5
Post by karen on Jun 30, 2010 12:18:22 GMT -5
Yes, most poetic. +1!  |
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 21:32:55 GMT -5
Post by divinity on Jun 30, 2010 21:32:55 GMT -5
A child knows all the answers when it's born... then the adults take over and apply their own fears and pasts to the child (who is living in the present moment) and soon create another neurotic human afraid to really live. A child will sit with it's head out of the car window like a dog, loving and enjoying the wind until his mother screams about the bugs putting his eye out. And so it goes!
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 23:19:52 GMT -5
Post by enigma on Jun 30, 2010 23:19:52 GMT -5
enigma, Maybe the questions a child asks aren't ego centered, not being ego centered the answers a child receives aren't filtered through ego. A child is forced to take a bite of the apple when the child starts school. I noticed the innocence, joy and laughter die in my own children when they started school. Play became work. Yes, I agree. The questions a child asks mostly come from innocent curiosity and are met with openness and wonder which is why we marvel sometimes at the simple wisdom. A small child might ask 'Why is the grass green" or "Does God hear me when I pray", but he won't ask "Who am I?" until the devil makes his rounds. The damage is already done with the question. Spiritual seekers ask that question, not because an answer isn't known, but because it is. |
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a child
Jun 30, 2010 23:35:04 GMT -5
Post by enigma on Jun 30, 2010 23:35:04 GMT -5
A child knows all the answers when it's born... then the adults take over and apply their own fears and pasts to the child (who is living in the present moment) and soon create another neurotic human afraid to really live. A child will sit with it's head out of the car window like a dog, loving and enjoying the wind until his mother screams about the bugs putting his eye out. And so it goes! We certainly do share our neurosis well, but the child knows nothing when it is born, and this is innocence and freedom. Knowledge is an insidious kind of ignorance, the kind that makes us feel wise while quietly building a prison of thoughts, though it is only thought that is imprisoned. What 'we' really are is still innocent and even now knows nothing of prisons, which is why it keeps playfully wandering into the jail cell and bouncing in the cot. |
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Post by zendancer on Jul 1, 2010 7:20:17 GMT -5
A child knows all the answers when it's born... then the adults take over and apply their own fears and pasts to the child (who is living in the present moment) and soon create another neurotic human afraid to really live. A child will sit with it's head out of the car window like a dog, loving and enjoying the wind until his mother screams about the bugs putting his eye out. And so it goes! We certainly do share our neurosis well, but the child knows nothing when it is born, and this is innocence and freedom. Knowledge is an insidious kind of ignorance, the kind that makes us feel wise while quietly building a prison of thoughts, though it is only thought that is imprisoned. What 'we' really are is still innocent and even now knows nothing of prisons, which is why it keeps playfully wandering into the jail cell and bouncing in the cot. Beautifully stated! |
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a child
Jul 4, 2010 11:27:36 GMT -5
Post by divinity on Jul 4, 2010 11:27:36 GMT -5
How do we know what a child knows or not at birth? Where does learning come from and how are high spiritual truths learned... and when...if we were never created and will always be?
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a child
Jul 4, 2010 11:44:49 GMT -5
Post by karen on Jul 4, 2010 11:44:49 GMT -5
Maybe they are low spiritual truths.
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a child
Jul 4, 2010 12:33:55 GMT -5
Post by zendancer on Jul 4, 2010 12:33:55 GMT -5
How do we know what a child knows or not at birth? Where does learning come from and how are high spiritual truths learned... and when...if we were never created and will always be? How do we know what a child knows at birth? Become like a child, and the answer to this question becomes obvious. Where does learning come from? "Your name is Jane Doe. Two plus two equals four. Etc" How are high spiritual truths learned? By unlearning. When are high spiritual truths learned? After a sufficient amount of unlearning has occurred. |
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a child
Jul 4, 2010 13:10:13 GMT -5
Post by enigma on Jul 4, 2010 13:10:13 GMT -5
How do we know what a child knows or not at birth? Where does learning come from and how are high spiritual truths learned... and when...if we were never created and will always be? How do we know what a child knows at birth? Become like a child, and the answer to this question becomes obvious. Where does learning come from? "Your name is Jane Doe. Two plus two equals four. Etc" How are high spiritual truths learned? By unlearning. When are high spiritual truths learned? After a sufficient amount of unlearning has occurred. Zakly, and this unlearning is also what I just got through addressing in Cabin's post about sin. Talking about 'high spiritual truths' is fun n all but the real work is about dissolving illusions. (That's also what the Burt vs Blue Jay discussion is about.) |
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