The river is flowing, flowing and growing; the river is flowing down to the sea……
Strains of an old song I happened to hear again Yesterday for the first time in an awfully long time…..It brought back memories of my children’s time at Steiner school…and especially it brought back memories of their little childhood. They sang cool songs related to the elements and all things natural…they swung in swings made of old tyres and hung on a sturdy tree, they wore fairy tutus, and in my son’s case very little at all! They made up fantasies and played make-believe and were enamored with Care-bears, Strawberry patch kids, fairies, Thomas the Tank engine and Postman Pat! They played recorder and had goats and rabbits for pets…they swam in the dam and made little structures with rocks and things found in the forest, they went on picnics to exotic pretend places and fed wallabies in the yard…they danced freely and picked yummy things to eat from their very own veggie garden…they made up beautiful and lyrical stories about extraordinary enlightened humans, and acted them out for an intent parent audience….in short they had a rich imaginary life to round out their ordinary one. The great thing about it though was that it was gentle, old fashioned and simple.
Today’s kids seem to be forced into the role of little adults so…early! Their clothes mimic those of teenagers and Youths…their fantasy role models are tough, street-wise, saviours of the world who turn into aliens and deal with complex conflicts and heavy fighting. There are robot dogs for pets and other things that require less real care and attention…their playground is on the big screen with Wi, X-box or Playstation…….they even have games that encourage them to exercise, because running around outdoors just doesn’t seem to hold their interest!
It seems for a lot of children, the art of just being a kid is lost…….the softness has gone out of their childhood experience….the ability to indulge their naturally temperate, sweet natures and the depths of their innate connection to nature and all things simple. No wonder the emerging generations have a high rate of clinical depression and suicide…its not just the world they are entering into, it’s the one from which as children they have emerged….without the carefree- ness of childhood as a foundation to adulthood we are left bereft of the ability to even know what it feels like to be relaxed, to be care-less.
To be able to let go and find our peace as adults, we need a consciousness of something greater than ourselves…a connection to our inner child who runs in long grass, falls asleep when he/she is tired and is not afraid to dream…who trusts in something positive about his/her experience and who isn’t afraid….if we don’t have this in childhood how ever do we expect to find it in our aging selves?
One of the hardest things for many adults entering into meditation is the ability to visualize. This is the great skill of the child….to enter a world of their own creation. Their little minds have an expansiveness that is lost on most adults…..as we grow we narrow our possibilities through the boxes of intellect and by what we are taught is reasonable and rational. Are we to lose the great thinkers of the world because all the fantasy they have been given to lose their expansive minds in is based on fear and anger and a sense of responsibility for all the world’s ills? Is fantasy and make-believe to be relegated to the screen of a computer or TV only…or can it intrude on daily activities and become an extension of our experienced world?
Which is more dangerous….the belief in possibilities that are noble, adventurous, enlightening and full of hope or the quest to get a better score and pile up more personal victories whilst playing a game that offers little or no real human interaction?
It just makes me wonder….at the very least I sense a need to appreciate on many levels the beauty of childhood…and to maintain its simplicity as much as is possible in this increasingly complex world.
If what we think is what we create...then we need to begin by thinking about what it is our children are thiking about.........their thoughts are everyone's future!
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