Albert Knox suggests that as we grow older we lose our curiosity in the world around us. I partially agree with this statement as we do seem to take things around us for granted as we grow older. However, this does not necessarily mean that we have lost our ability to wonder. In addition, this only applies to some and not all – as proven by philosophers who are grown adults yet still consult themselves with questions regarding the world we are living in. Put simply, what Knox said may apply to some individuals but cannot be generalised to all. I believe that everyone has a choice in whether to use or not to use this special ability, as Knox proposes, we are given at birth.
The first reason why people may appear to have lost this ability is that the majority of us, if given the choice, would rather live comfortably with no worries than bother ourselves with questions that cannot be answered. Being immortals, time is precious and should not be wasted away wondering why we are here when we are. This is precisely why we crawl deeper into the warmth and comfort of the rabbit’s fur as we age. For this instance, Albert Knox is indeed correct and we have ‘lost’ our faculty of wonder.
Another reason is that the norm of society nowadays simply does not allow grown-ups to turn around and ask silly' and pointless questions such as "Where does the world come from". Although we may sometimes think about it, we may not express our wonder in it as nothing can change the fact that it cannot be answered. The lack of reality in the answers we come up with is just an add-on to why we decide to ignore and not concern ourselves with these interesting but naïve questions.
The last reason I could come up with is that it is the constraint from the responsibilities we are given and the limited time we have that forces this faculty of ours to the very back of our thoughts. It stays there virtually forgotten for most of our lifetime and is only retrieved when we have grown old and has retired which explains why elders are thought to be wiser. If this is so, Albert Knox is incorrect.
To summarise, I think that it is due to our preference in conforming to society as well as our own decision to stay ignorant that our ability to wonder seems to diminish in the process of growing up when it is actually still here inside us.
5 comments:
I agree with your statement that as adults "we decide to ignore and not concern ourselves with these interesting but naïve questions", and it may be that the society we are in disapproves of us asking these questions,whilst most of us yield to conformity and we ourselves tend to avoid appearing 'dumb'.
As time goes by, the faculty of wonder is repressed, and we seem to have lost the 'freedom' and 'readiness' to express the quite clever thoughts we would have had when were were younger.
Yixia Gu
I ilke the way that you have recognised that not all adults have lost the ability to wonder!!
Perhaps for many who do get the odd "flash of wonder" the reality of day to day living getting in the way is most frustrating?
I agree how you said that our time is precious and we simply don't have the time to stop and think about these questions which do not have a definite answer or even, ever have an answer. For us,i.e students, we concentrate and put most of our efforts into studies, getting ourselves into Universities, obtaining good jobs for survival.
Do you think we should be ignorant or choose not to wonder about these questions just because we don't have the time for it?
I never thought of this before and after giving it a little thought, i agree on how you said that this faculty of wonder may apply to some and may not to others , in other words, not genearlized to all.
I also agree to the point that it is our choice of whether or not we choose to have this ability. This shows that if we don't want to wonder we choose not to and if we want to reach the tip of the rabbit's fur then we need to jump higher and ot reach the top.
It is true that us humans as we age lose the ability to wonder due to the distractions in life such as students too into studies and fully concentrating or workers, totally busy with their daily work and lots more.
Avani
I agree with you how some people might think wondering about life is a waste of time since our clocks are ticking!
D you agree that living the moment is more important than trying to figure out the wonders of life? Do you think we can figure out the wonders of life?
But if we can't wonder and find an answer to the big questions, why bother? What will we have achieved from this conquest? Dissatisfaction? The knowledge that no greater knowledge exists?
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