“It seems as if in the process of growing up we lose the ability to wonder about the world”
Throughout a human being’s life, the process of growing up enables us to get accustomed to the world around us where sightings that amused us as children start to seem very ordinary to us. As a child, questions arise as to wonder why some things are the way they are and why they cause us to feel a certain way, for example cutting your finger with a knife may put you in a state of pain and therefore a child starts to wonder why a knife is an object that inflicts pain on one. However, as we become older, these stimuli and responses become familiar to us and interacting with objects that erect specific responses become a basic necessity in our lives, and are seen as very regular.
During the process of growing up, the wonderment seen in children begins to disappear as they as human beings evaluate to become adults, supporting this is Heraclitus’s argument that all things ‘flow’ and things cannot remain unchanged, therefore the change seen in wonderment during the process of growth from a child to an adult is seen as valid and philosophical.
However, others may believe that it is not during the process of growth that the ability to wonder diminishes, it is simply the choice of an adult to wonder or not. As seen from another perspective, human beings are brought into the world with free will, therefore giving each person the right to choose whether to ponder about questions that are unanswerable or not. Personally, I believe that as one grows up, time is lost and one chooses to ignore such questions as ‘Where did the world come from?’ and ‘Who created the universe?’ as such questons are not prioritized enough.
In conclusion, I believe that with the process of growing up, the idea of wonderment of the universe dissolves in the daily lives of adults, as they are pre-occupied with more important things, and also as one gets older, their surroundings become a daily habit and as I mentioned earlier, one becomes accustomed to them. Also, there must be a flow as Heraclitus preached, things cannot remain unchanged.
1 comment:
Very good response Komal.Thorough,well thought out and supported by suitable examples. Some fascinating thoughts. Are we born with free will? Some would say not, but that we acquire our identity by what we make of this life.Also the notion that things cannot remain unchanged would have scared the living daylights out of people once upon a time - maybe it still does. Are you saying that everything is uncertain? Is there anything about the age we live in that makes this feel less scary? Is anything fixed, certain and immutable?Great food for thought!
Post a Comment