Meditation for Thursday 11 September 2025
Last week I took my 10-year-old granddaughter to the Immigration Museum as she had not been there, and it had been many years since my last visit. It got me to thinking that there is a freshness and spontaneity that children find in discovering things for the first time and even in everyday experiences like our tram ride on the way to the museum.
I watched as she delighted at the turntable between the carriages on the tram laughing and wondering as she moved with the turntable while her fellow passengers self-conscious adults remained sombre.
A child is almost surprised at the simple delights of things whereas we as adults can so easily lose touch with the sense of wonder and curiosity.
My granddaughter’s openness to the experience of the tram ride and the wonder of the museum is very close to the meditative mind. In this case she was relating directly and without preconceptions to the experiences whereas I as an adult with my education and socialisation have had my behaviour and reactions shaped. It can’t be denied that something is gained but it must also be acknowledged that something is lost.
The simplicity of childlike consciousness is one of the gifts of meditation
I ask myself the question can I still play with the freshness and spontaneity of a child?
As adults we learn to think in particular ways, to think rationally and to provide answers logically. With people we socialise in acceptable ways by adopting the manners of the social group and ordering our lives within prescribed parameters.
Meditation begins where education and socialisation finish.
Meditation
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