Children experience “wow” constantly. Everything is big and wonderful but as they are conditioned, by parents, teachers and other influential people in their lives, over and over, the “wows” become fewer and farther between. We are reminded by Jesus to be as little children not because they are so sweet and innocent (which, by the way, they are) but because they are so much more aware. Their awareness of the world is not limited to the narrow perspective we develop as, so called, conscious beings. As adults we often become annoyed at the frequent questioning of “why” little children seem to be asking constantly and about everything they see. They really are not asking “why” to understand “why” as we tend to think about it rather they are asking “why” this doesn’t seem to matter as much to you as it does to me. If you consider the things that matter as adults it becomes clear that we have lost a lot, if not all, of the sense of wonder and awareness little children have.
Where did it go? What happens to us is what we are doing to them!! Children have an incredible sense of awareness and seem to be in awe of everything that goes on. In fact, we can look back and remember very special times in our lives where some event, circumstance or activity seemed to enliven every fiber of our being and just thinking about it gives us chills. What happens to this sense of awe and wonder?
We are born into this world with a heightened awareness that, from the moment of birth, is transformed into another kind of awareness. It is the awareness all of us are conditioned to view the world as and it is not the awareness we had as children. What we had as children is conditioned out of us by those who have had it conditioned out of them.
Have you ever returned to your childhood elementary school, home or some other place that you remember so vividly as a big and wondrous place only to find it small and nowhere near as awesome as you remembered it? What happened? In essence you grew up but more dramatically your awareness of the world went from wonder and awe to “as an adult here is what is important.” Our conditioning takes us from an awareness of complete wonder and awe to a false sense of what is important in the world and in our lives.
Jesus’ admonition to be as little children was a reminder to each of us to get back to the sense of awareness, the sense of awe and amazement we all once experienced as little children and give up the conditioning that has replaced it. Imagine how fun the world would be if we didn’t put careers, education, politics, affiliations and all the other things we consider to be so important, ahead of the sheer wonder of being alive in an incredibly wondrous world that is so rich and full of fun and beauty we, like children, can’t get enough of it and it never stops being big and wonderful. Being like little children is having the awareness of wonder, awe and fascination of every aspect of life not complicated by the conditioning that most adults consider important.
“Be as little children” was a challenge to adults not to be innocent, but to have the awareness we have all experienced as little children! The child is the parent of the adult. We all know what it was like to be a child and how incredible everything was in that world. When we go back to sensing reality in that way what we now see as important becomes less so.
The illusion we now experience as adults is just that – an illusion that only has significance because we have been conditioned to view it that way.
The things we see as important, as adults are not. The awareness we had as children is!
Change your awareness to that of a child and the “now” becomes “WOW!!”
Want to change your “frequency of WOW?” Change your awareness of now to the awareness of “how” you once were. Find your inner child and WOW, WOW, WOW!!!!!
While I would agree that children have more of the sense of newness/uniqueness of a situation than do adults, I suggest it is because they have not yet practiced it into a routine, into a ‘given’.
It is this ‘practice’ that differentiates the adult from the child.
The parents/world give the child the expectations/assumptions of the nature of the world. It is the child’s experiencing and re-experiencing that takes away the ‘wonder’ and makes an assumption a fact.
We each start with a set of assumptions (about everything) and we either confirm and reinforce it or not, but the key is that the more we do, the more we do. Every subsequent experience that is repeated tends to result in the ‘same’ experience.
‘As it was in the beginning so shall it be’
Only by trying to live in the here and now can we hope to break the ‘habit’ of knowing the world and get back to discovering the world.
(www.wakefielddoctrine.com)
The expression of being like a child to me means being open and accepting of the will of God, just like a child accepts everything that the meaningful adults teach him.
So many people strive to be spiritual, yet they fail simply because they have been unable to accept the will of God in their lives. We as adults may have our preconceived ideas as to what God wants form us due to the previous religious information we have collected. And we would like to grow but are reluctant to reliquish past information, clinging to it for our dear life.
Yet just as we have grown up and developed perhaps the wisdom that God would like to offer us now has also developed over the last tousands of years. Yet we cling on to the old stories and explanations of them as the only true ones. Perhaps it is time for mankind to open up and receive the messages from God worthy of 21st century. Perhaps God has upgraded His way of communicating with as past the old school Bible.
If we really want to drink from the spiritual fountain we need to empty our cups from the old stale tea and make room for a fresh hot tea so that we can trully enjoy it. So be like a child, empty the mud from your cup and wash it clean so that God could pour some of His fresh content for you to enjoy.
Mariola,
Well, said. Thanks for sharing that wonderful insight. Yes we need to rid ourselves of the old so we can receive the new. I could not have expressed it better. Thanks, again
Carl
What a wonderful post–thank you Carl:) In my Playgroup, if a small child asks a question—like ‘why is the sky blue?’ We always give it back to the child and ask; ‘why do YOU think the sky is blue?’ Their answers are always magical:))
Thanks Marina. Children do know magic. Thanks so much for sharing. Much love,
Carl
So very true, Children live in the power of Now!.. and that should be everyone’s WOW Factor.. if only we could take a leaf out of their book and understand we only have the NOW Moment…
Great post 🙂
I agree Sue. It seems like such a simple thing but that awareness we had as children gets buried so deeply in the stuff of the world it really is a chore. Still it’s the only way to really experience life! Thank you my lovely friend!!
Carl
Wow!!! ?
Thank you “L.” Love and appreciate you! 🙂 <3