Walking on the streets on a wet rainy day, I realised it had stopped raining and so I shut my umbrella. As I looked up to check the sky, my eyes froze upon the rainbow peeping out of the sky. I gazed in absolute wonder, my steps ceased, my eyes transfixed, a smile spreads over my face. How many times I had seen it before, yet the beauty of the rainbow and the magic of its being, filled me with an untold joy once again. I stood there for a while simply marvelling at the perfect creation of nature and fell in love with the rains all over again.
Have you ever experienced this state of wonder? A feeling of sheer surrender to the glorious vision beheld by the eyes; when you don’t bother to analyse it, evaluate it, or judge it, but simply enjoy it and revel in the vision. This vision remains etched into your memory forever and the emotion seeps into every bit of you. It is no wonder then that even when years have gone by, and you recall the memory, you feel as if you are living the moment in the present. This feeling is beautifully captured in the verses of William Wordsworth in his famous poem ‘Daffodils’... For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. ‘Wonder’, is a very powerful feeling. It is what triggers imagination and inspiration. That which is ‘unknown’, holds the power to entice us, and captivate our thoughts compelling us to discover it’s meaning. And even when you are finally able to demystify it, you will still find the experience moving, every time you recollect your first encounter. Umpteen number of intellectuals and geniuses who have uncovered the mysteries of the universe, have, with every uncovering, become humbled by the wonders of the creations of this world. "The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious." - Albert Einstein. “Wonder is the beginning of wisdom.” ― Socrates Wonder comes naturally to children. There is magic in ‘wonder’. A child beholds the entire world in mystery. Everything that it sees is new and captivating. And so it is natural that we see children always curious and ready to explore. The simple everyday acts of the grown-ups seem to fascinate them enough that they try to replicate them. It is also a medium through which children establish their self belief. ‘I can’ is the building block of self confidence. It is important that we respect this stage of learning and self discovery in a child. Young children imitate and identify themselves with their near and dear ones. And so imitating the father going to work, or the mother cooking tasty food for the family, seem to be their most favourite play. In the play world of a child, simple dead objects lying around, seem to magically come alive and take different forms. They live with kings and fairies who enrich their imaginations. It is through play that children engage with their environment completely. It builds their passion for life. So what often seems silly to an adult, is the most important act of learning for a child. ‘Play’ is their way of learning about the world as well as themselves, at a pace that is right for them. Interfering in this exploration, that stems from the sense of wonder, by impressing heavy scientific information and facts, or even redirecting the child’s imagination to things that we adults find important, negates the child’s sense of self. Every time we tread into this territory and tell them what they ought to do, we disrupt their learning process. It gradually sets in the belief that the child doesn’t know what is right. The child experiences an internal conflict between longing to play, and following instruction. Besides, downpour of information into a child even before the child is ready and able to process the information, or internalise the knowledge, often does more harm than good. A child who is unable to comprehend the information, begins to feel lost and is disheartened. Repeated experiences of this negative emotion, gradually makes the child believe that he or she is ‘lacking’ something. As adults we must resist our urge to explain and rationalize everything around them. Allow them to create their own understanding of things through association. Let the child grow out of this wonder-filled stage naturally. Around the age of 6, children begin to respond to things differently. Stories of toads and fairies do not satisfy their curiosity any more. There is evidence of readiness and longing to know more. That’s when they are ready to move out of the fairytale world and go ahead. But the question is, ‘Are we ready to wait for them? Are we ready to go and meet them where they are? Or are we in some strange rush to grow them up?
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Bandana BasuWisdom lies all around us. It is for us to look for it in our day to day lives. Archives
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