There are children playing in the street who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
~ J. Robert Oppenheimer
(Pearls of Wisdom)
perceptions of children
There are children playing in the street who could solve some of my top problems in physics, because they have modes of sensory perception that I lost long ago.
~ J. Robert Oppenheimer
(Pearls of Wisdom)
Hi Barbara,
You know that is so true, I think because a lot of children see things totally in a different light than Adults, their minds are still an open book.
Yes, their minds are open to possibilities that we stopped seeing long ago. They’re not afraid to stretch their imaginations all the way to the stars!
LOOOOOOVE IT!!!!! Thank you!! Added this one to my collection on anewgaia.ning.com also!! With credit to you for finding it!
Hugs, OM
It’s often inspiring to watch kids at play. Happy you love this one, OM! (((hugs)))
Seeing the world through a child’s eye is the gift of being a grandparent. Didn’t appreciate it as a parent-too busy. Now I can take the time to really see it.
It is a precious gift to see the world anew through the eyes of a child. These days as many wait longer to start families some parents are as old as grandparents used to be – I wonder if they tend to take more time to see the child’s-eye view than younger parents do.
A book I have just read by Adyashanti said that he can remember thinking that all adults were insane. He couldn’t figure out why for awhile. Until he realized that they believed their thoughts. They truly believed their thoughts. 🙂
That reminds me of Thoreau’s words about perception: “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” (Or think!) Was “Falling into Grace” the Adyashanti book you were reading?
Yes, indeed, Barbara! That’s the book I was reading. Have you read it?
Not yet. It’s been on my wish list and it’s now on my Kindle. We should be going on a long train ride next week, so I hope to read it then! It sounds like it will be good!
It’s a funny thing… I keep stumbling across writings about seeing things as a child (or with beginner’s mind). Before I came here to visit and read your quote, I was looking through quotes I collected years ago and found this:
We mustn’t ‘put away’ the ways of childhood as we grow, but should polish and care for them like precious gems. Those who abandon their inner child abandon their awe and dilute their appreciation for Nature. ~ Yerevan Yacoubian
I love the quote, Robin! How sad to abandon our sense of awe and dilute an appreciation for nature… Awe and appreciation are precious gems indeed! I’ve never heard of Yerevan Yacoubian before and can’t seem to find anything about him/her online. Is he/she an author?
Oh this is so true. The things children – and we, as children, when we were – perceive that adults don’t. I miss a lot of that.
Me, too. I often wondered why adults weren’t picking up on certain things, and they, in turn, wondered at my dreaminess, oblivious to lots of other things they wished I would pay attention to!