The Mind of a Child

Chapter 7 and 8 of Altered States was curiously informational, entertaining and interesting. I particularly found the few sections about children's perceptions and lack of reason or logic fascinating. Hughes makes some great points about the state of a child's mind and stimulated ideas of my own. I especially like the phrase that a child's inability to reason that frustrates us as adults and at the same time makes us jealous that we do not have the same ability to break free from the logic and reason society has constructed around us. As a child, from my earliest memories until I was about 8 years old, I was incredibly creative. I could draw and sketch landscapes, abstract objects, doodle intricate designs and on and on. Inexplicably, my creative niche left me around 10. I couldn't understand this since a big part of my life until then was creative expression through art and design. Now, if I sit down to simply draw a plain landscape, my mind has a hard time justifying what is coming from my hand and onto the paper, and I get stumped. Hughes' explanation is simple and correct, and has really opened my eyes to explore the subject further! It makes sense to me now that I cannot any longer draw or just CREATE like I used to so easily do as a child. I'm a big Star Wars fan, and in one sequence of Episode II, Yoda (the wisest Jedi ever) found himself stumped about a particular problem. He turned to one of his toddler pupils who quickly produced an answer, almost without thought. Another Jedi, Obi-Wan Kenobi, chuckled at the ridiculous response by the child--but he was right! Yoda replied, "Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is." Children can think more creatively, without barrier. This is true of most of us, and makes me jealous of children and also, makes me wonder what DIDN'T happen to those great artists of the world in their childhood-- perhaps they never lost that creative slice of their consciousness because that particular part of the brain has not matured? I don't know, I'm not a brain anatomy expert, nor an artist, but nonetheless am intrigued by the part of the brain that is not tainted by society's acceptance.