Like A Child
Children are wonderful examples of many spiritual things because they haven’t been conditioned by society to forget them all yet. Children have no concept of time; they live perpetually in the moment. This in itself is a major enhancement to life. Of course we need the concept of time as we get older to manage our responsibilities and life in a linear existence, the problem is we get addicted to it. We base everything on time, we’re constantly trapped in the past or obsessing about the future. A child is living in the moment, filled with joy, excitement and enthusiasm!
When they are playing, they are completely in bliss with what they’re experiencing at that time. They’re not worried about when they should stop or what they have to pick up at the store after or anything else. They are completely enjoying what they are doing. Sounds like a healthy way of Being to me. We also hear about the faith of a child, often in religious texts. A childlike faith is beautiful. A child completely depends on their parents and those around them to take care of their everyday needs. A child’s faith is simple, it’s matter of fact. There isn’t an internal tug of war going between worry and faith.
If they are worried, it’s because someone has let them down in the past and they are fearful it will happen again. This is normal for a child in this world if they’re being cared for by unconscious adults and don’t have control over their own lives yet. As we get older and gain control over our lives, we need to work through this pain and place the control of our own lives into our own hands…both internally and externally.
If this hasn’t been their experience and they can remain in faith, it is pure. They simply expect their parent to be there for them in countless situations as purely as we expect a light to go on when we flip a switch. No doubt, no worry, simple and pure. It’s a beautiful thing to see in a child and a wonderful thing to try to emulate as an adult. If we can have the faith of a child with our own Source, knowing we are safe and cared for…the rest falls into place.
Children also see things without labels. They haven’t minimized everything in this world to a mental construct represented by a word. Because of this, they connect with the true beauty and magnificence of things. When they see a tall tree, it’s amazing! Beautiful flowers, a puppy, a dragonfly, the ocean, and so on…it’s profound, mind-blowing and overwhelming in a good way! Without labels, we can connect to the divinity within things. We can see the true beauty that is within things. Try to look at things, especially in nature without using the word to label it. Look at a tree without labeling it and pay attention to your heart. What do you feel? A sense of peace, love, joy? A connection with a majestic creation of nature that you used to label as a tree? We can learn to interact with life like a child again. Drop the description of things and connect to them, sense the presence within them connecting to the presence within you and experience the joy of being a child again. It’s very enjoyable and attainable.
We can still live our lives, be responsible while bringing in these childlike qualities now and then enhancing the experience we’re having as adults. Why should the children have all the fun???
