Friday, 2 May 2014

The World Through A Child’s Eyes



Here is the account of the experience of a small child, recounted in later life. I have taken it from Edward Robinsons's book Living the Questions.

It was a summer day and I was playing out back of the house, in an alley in the city where we lived. It was one of my happier days, when I had found playmates. A sudden storm came up and interrupted our play. I sat alone out there between the garages behind the house and waited for it to end. It was near noon. The rain ended almost as soon as it came, and the sun shone hot and bright once more. All at once I felt as if I were seeing everything for the first time. The light seemed like gold, the smell of the wet foliage was like perfume, with the rainwater shining and running about in little rivulets, the humming and the buzzing of insects and bees was pleasant to my ears. Everywhere I looked there was beauty. In that dirty alley wherever there was a leaf or a blade of grass it sparkled. I was filled with a great sense of comfort and peace. Now I watched a beetle going about its business, and then a small garden spider, and I was glowing with warmth.


It was as if all that was outside of me, I felt to be part of it. Then a thought came, It said “See! Everything is alive, everything lives. That insect, it has life, the grass, the air even.” And then I felt joy, and with joy, love and then a feeling of reverence.”

No comments: