The sound of children playing..

I used to live in a place where I could hear the distant sound of children playing. It was just far enough away to make it a dim, distant souund (as opposed to an annoyingly close one). It brought me tremendous peace and happiness, like listening to waves at the seashore ot birdsong. Come to think of it, somebody should make a healing CD or MP3 of that sound that you could put on infinite replay and just have going in the background, the way people listen to waves at night to get to sleep or whatever. I'd buy it.

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

These children were in another world of their own continual making and remaking (play), in a state of absolute GLEE!

So it made me wonder..

What the hell happened to us? as adults?

Are we missing something?!

Was something lost somewhere along the way?

Yep, we lost the glee you speak of, and we lost it by having kids. Go figure.

When kids look after us...

I hope you don't mind me sharing your thread Ted

I have four kids ranging from 16-7 and I get to see our entire existence through their eyes every day, and many variations through their friends, it's pretty freakin' cool! I can join in but I'm also Mum, I feel lucky and loved, it is very humbling.
If it was up to me, every one would feel THAT.

Originally posted by jiggerj

Originally posted by NewAgeMan

These children were in another world of their own continual making and remaking (play), in a state of absolute GLEE!

So it made me wonder..

What the hell happened to us? as adults?

Are we missing something?!

Was something lost somewhere along the way?

Yep, we lost the glee you speak of, and we lost it by having kids. Go figure.

edit on 5/12/2012 by jiggerj because: (no reason given)

No way. Why would you lose glee by having kids? I GAINED glee by having kids.

They make me understand what life is really about. I don't sit around worrying about them and thinking of ways to make their lives miserable... we get past disciplinary issues and move on. I spend as much time as possible with them, and they give me many ideas of how to have fun.

Here is an excerpt from William's Samuel's book "The Child Within Us Lives!" that I think all of you will find rather extraordinary, and certainly very interesting:

"I have never talked heart to heart with a single person who hasn't admitted that the child was still there within him—struggling perhaps, or a distant dream from the past, but still there. All of us continue to dream dreams and wonder about soft things. The heart of us still goes leaping through the high places of imagination occasionally and soars with the high flying swallows to see the far side of the moon. That is the Child at work. Yes, the Child still lives.

Moreover, this inner one, the old/new Child of us, is healthy and well, absolutely all right in every way. None of Its enthusiasm has been dulled by the years. Its eyesight is as sharp as an eagle's, Its hearing keen as a puppy's, and all the feelings of youth are pounding with excitement exactly as they did when we were children-children, unencumbered by the world.

Much has been said about the “heart” of us. Great theological positions have been established around “the immortal soul.” Reader, listen with that heart of yourself for a minute: The little child of us, the heart of us and the soul of us are the Same One. Whatever we have come to perceive with the heart has been a recognition of that eternal Child within. And now, as I write of the One, I address the heart, the soul with which we are all concerned. Oh yes, the heart and soul of us—the Child—is still right here quite capable of confirming Itself, evidencing Itself and revitalizing our view of everything.

As the years pass and the world encroaches relentlessly, we lose sight of this Original Nature of Identity except as an old photograph or a memory etched somewhere in an inaccessible past. It comes as a surprise to hear that the Original Child and all Its feelings are still around; then it comes as a wonderment to learn first hand that they are not inaccessible at all, but still right here, closer than breathing, closer than fingers and toes.

THERE IS AN AGELESS MYSTERY IN OUR ABILITY TO FIND IDENTITY

As one reads these words about the Child, the heart knows this is the truth, a truth hidden all these years in simplicity and childlikeness that we have left behind. When we are alone, we still play the child's game. While we are walking or driving or puttering with the pots, there is some little something we do in the mind's eye exactly as we did as a child. There are ships and ports and storms at sea when we wash the dishes or take a bath. Don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about. Deep inside, you do. You see, I am that child, too—the same Child—and I have become It again. I know, by God, by the grace of God, what I'm writing about here. And I know that the first step in feeling the joys of the Real (as we did as children) is to acknowledge that the Original Nature of us hasn't left us."

Thank you NewAgeMan for your recognition of this Child and for posting about It.

I just had to add the rest of that piece, its just so brilliant, at least I think so, I hope you do to:


THE HISTORIC CHRIST AND THE CHILD

“Bill, are you saying that the early church substituted historic Jesus for the Child?”

No. Churchdom has limited the Christ to the historic Jesus, and all of that has been done for a divine purpose the church seems to know little or nothing about. Everything that has happened is by God's grace. The historic Christ-in-linear-time came, as all luminaries, to confirm our own subjective Self-discovery. The historic Christ is the first begotten of the Father in world time, and the original believers had that straight. The discovery of the Child within is confirmed by the Bible and its accounts of the historic Christ and his role on earth. The Child I Am and You are “comes” to us as the second coming, as Messiah re-discovered within, for whom the Bible and Jesus are the first or external confirmation.

“Are you saying that the Child is the Christ also?”

Yes! Yes! Exactly that. “Close than breathing.” Exactly as the historic Christ said, He would never leave us nor forsake us. He has been here as the Child of us from the beginning. Our very Child-Selfhood—which seems to go away from us and returns to us, rediscovered.

“William, tell me if this is what I've hear you saying these past few days: the Child within is the same historic Christ?”

Yes. History, like all other things, is subjective. To rediscover the Child is to find what Jesus found, lived and confirmed before he began his ministry. When the historic Christ said he would be back again, he meant that each one who understood what he was saying would find the Child within and recognize THAT Self HIMSELF as the Messiah written in the heart, the “second coming,” in actual fact.

“Are you also saying that when I was a child on earth, I was that Christ-Child?”

Yes, spiritually. And I'm saying that everyone can prove the truth of this for himself by finding that all the acute feelings of the Original Nature which were present in us as children are capable of returning to us again.

“You know theology isn't going to agree with that, William?”

Perhaps neither theology nor the subjective groups, but all who feel the Child within themselves will agree, because they will KNOW it is the Truth, having proven it for themselves. And when the theologians begin to perceive that this is indeed what is meant by the New Covenant “written in the heart,” they will slowly, grudgingly give way, even those powerful conservatives so intent on going back to Biblical literalism. Not without argument. Not without doubt. Not without questioning those who have found the Child of themselves, and not without persecuting them mightily. Not everyone will be taken up in this Light. Jesus foresaw it accurately: Two are in the bed and one is taken; two are in the field and...five are in the household, two against three and three against two; father against son. Those without consciousness of the Child will not know which of the senses to believe, nor who in the world is telling the truth. Those who have found the Child within won't care what the theologians or philosophers think. We leap through Spirit's door and leave the flaming house behind."

( Excerpt from page 211 of "The Child Within Us Lives! A Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Metaphysics" by William Samuel)

reply to post by Sweetmystery

Nice. I agree. We CAN change/transform, and become as a Child again, spiritually, which is to be re-born, reinvigorated, reanimated with the very stuff of life, which is like play, or a really good story, both of which have their ups and downs, highs and lows.

The child within, is who we really are, he or she is our authentic self, and we can be both adults and contain this inner Christ-like child, we do not have to be ignorant - we can have our cake and eat it too!

Thanks to everyone who participated in this thread in whatever way however big or small. I think it's made a difference for someone. It certainly has for me!

Love,

NAM