Childhood and Childlikeness
Aydin Areta

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A beautiful piece by Dr Mostafa Mehrayin in praise of childhood and childlikeness awakened in me the desire to continue this feast of love. There is a saying attributed to Kahlil Gibran in Mirrors of the Soul that perhaps ought to be the morning and evening prayer of every seeker of knowledge and awareness:
“Save me from knowledge that cannot weep, philosophy that cannot laugh, and greatness that cannot bow before children.”

It is the tender heart of children that keeps their eyes always close to rain; and so it is with the mind of a thinker who has not moved far from the heart of childhood. Perhaps nothing in the world is more magical or healing for the human soul than the laughter of children. The philosophy of such a thinker will never be far from the passion of life and the exuberant laughter of childhood. Only such thought can bow before the splendour of childhood, and this is one reason I love Mehrayin and his thought.

There is a saying attributed to the Buddha with this meaning: “The heart of a child is the mind of a Buddha.” The mind of a Buddha is a mind that has attained awakening. The question is: how can a mind filled with the light of consciousness be like the heart of a child? What qualities in the heart of a child are also the path through which enlightenment passes?

A child’s heart is unclouded by the dust of judgement. It is free of learned fears, pessimism, and the calculations of adulthood. It is filled with love of renewal and absorbed in wonder at the world. A child’s heart is spontaneous. It is not directed toward obtaining something, yet it is full of joy, effortless love, and the passion of life.

Childhood is a land between heaven and earth. Heaven flashes in a child’s eyes, while the body has not yet gathered the dust of the earth. The greatest quality of childhood is neither lack of awareness nor even childhood innocence. Its greatest quality is honestly living one’s own “unique self.”

And so it is with a mind that has attained enlightenment: free of judgement, learned fears, and the boundaries those fears draw; continually empty of the burden of already-knowing, yet filled with love for the magic of knowing. This knowing is connected with the heart of life and with this-worldly living. The magic of childhood moves within this very world, just as an enlightened mind does.

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