The Wisdom of a Child

I was at another blog today and something simply occured to me. It is a philosophical blog and the posts are long, but then so are some of the comments. What got me thinking was that the shortest comments were the ones that said the most. The long ones were often just rambling and saying nothing except to try and justify a belief or the rejection of an idea.

I remember a preacher talking about a college student going to visit his totally illiterate grandfather and somehow the conversation got around to the idea of truth. The young college sprout started talking about how truth was relative and ultimately unknowable, quoting many great philosophers. His grandfather, who couldn't read his own name, let along works of philosophy listened to him and finally said, "Sonny, It's real simple. Truth is what is so, as opposed to what ain't so." Without any difficulty, that unschooled farmer decimated some of the great philosophers of the past century by one simple observation. (I may have used the story before; it's one of my favorite illustrations.)

At times children seem to amaze us with their observations but it really isn't so amazing. They simply say what they see and hear and give us their observations without guile. I often wonder if our great thoughts are merely attempts not to see the obvious but the unschooled, like the child in The Emperor's New Clothes, simply sees what is there and repeats it. Yes our senses and experiences can and do fail us, but most often they at least point us in the right directions.

Perhaps when we are confused and overwhelmed, we need to just simplify our thoughts and look at things with the wisdom of a child. See what is simply there.