Proven guilty of innocence (but not naïve)
“We all dream of being a child again, even the worst of us.” (Don Jose, The Wild Bunch)
Back when I was on Facebook, every morning, I’d be informed of which friends were marking a birthday. It became one of my daily rituals to post — on each of their walls — a question from legendary Negro League pitcher Satchel Paige:
“How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?”
As you might imagine, this birthday greeting inspired a fair amount of reactions — almost all of which involved versions and variations of this: “I feel and act much younger than my chronological age.”
Here’s the decidedly non-scientific conclusion I’ve drawn from this anecdotal evidence: Most of us are still very much in touch with our proverbial inner child and we desperately seek re-admittance to what André Breton once called, “the mysterious realm inhabited by children.”
This isn’t to say we desire to be naïve, mind you. Rather, it’s about maintaining a child-like innocence. As Shunryu Suzuki explains: “In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few.”
Society does its best to perpetually encourage us to “grow up” but that usually entails surrendering our innocence while staying just naïve enough to not rock the mainstream boat.
“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.” (Albert Camus)
To be naïve is to believe the hype.
To be naïve is, for example, to trust that the corporate media reports the news without bias, that the two-party system offers genuine choice, that cops are here to protect and serve everyone equally, that for-profit medicine promotes good health, that the standard American diet is nutritious, that a massive military budget brings peace, and that governments — along with the corporations and banks that own them — have our best interests in mind.
To be innocent is to recognize these universal deceptions — and comprehend the contemptible logic [sic] behind them. To be innocent is to still have faith that we can collectively cultivate concepts that create positive social change.
The Powers That Shouldn’t Be bank on us staying naïve. In that state, they can easily control our wants, our desires, and our dreams.
To be naïve is to remain asleep.
To be innocent is to dream while awake.
The naïve readily buy what the parasites are selling.
The innocent dare to dream in the face of global nightmares.
To borrow from an obscure songwriter, “You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.”
Join us…
Part of that naïveté is the dependence on the nanny state. And it is beyond naive to believe that any of our so called leaders are going to make life better for anyone other than themselves. The great awakening is coming but for many of us it will be quite a rude one.
growing up in the woods my biggest wish was to live in a wooded area. So my childhood dream has come true. Had to move across the ocean but made it. You are so right, we all want to stay young, but with the knowledge we have now. Playing in the woods with the dog every day (to my surprise I saw her picking blackberries yesterday) I wonder if that was what Jesus meant when he said to let the children come to him? Also reminds me of a Sophie Kinsella book I read years ago, 20s girl, where she visits a retirement home, where the old folks are moving along with music from their youth, and she realizes that deep inside, they are all still in their 20s.