The Only Thing We Need To Be Good Philosophers: A Prayer For My Son
THE ONLY THING WE REQUIRE TO BE GOOD PHILOSOPHERS IS THE FACULTY OF WONDER.
Babies have this faculty. That is not surprising. After a few short months in the womb they slip out into a brand-new reality. But as they grow up the faculty of wonder seems to diminish. Why is this? Do you know?
If a newborn baby could talk, it would probably say something about what an extraordinary world it had come into. We see how it looks around and reaches out in curiosity to everything it sees.
…But long before the child learns to talk properly–and long before it learns to think philosophically–the world will have become a habit.
I am a brand new father. My son Benjamin was born Friday, September 2, 2011. The above passage, which comes from Jostein Gaarder’s novel Sophie’s World, affirms to me that my newborn son now possess this unquenchable, priceless wonder that many have lost and will never again regain: The ability to see all things as new.
Jesus teaches that unless be become like little children, we will never see the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 18:3). Perhaps Jesus is saying that in order to live the rich, full life we were meant to live, we must recapture the innocent, mystical and wonderful way of being that only a child can know.
My prayer for my son is that he will never lose this wonder. That he will never become world-weary and slip into habitual, comatose existence. That he will instead, live thin-skinned, and experience wonder and beauty in whatever he beholds.
May God bless him and keep him, and make his face to shine upon him.
Amen.
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