I read this by Joi Ito this morning and I thought it fit in well with our discussion here.
Neoteny is the retention of childlike attributes in adulthood. Human beings are younger longer than any other creature on earth, taking almost twenty years until we become adults. While we retain many our childlike attributes into adulthood most of us stop playing when we become adults and focus on work.
When we are young, we learn, we socialize, we play, we experiment, we are curious, we feel wonder, we feel joy, we change, we grow, we imagine, we hope.
In adulthood, we are serious, we produce, we focus, we fight, we protect and we believe in things strongly.
The future of the planet is becoming less about being efficient, producing more stuff and protecting our turf and more about working together, embracing change and being creative.
We live in an age where people are starving in the midst of abundance and our greatest enemy is our own testosterone driven urge to control our territory and our environments.
It’s time we listen to children and allow neoteny to guide us beyond the rigid frameworks and dogma created by adults.
Wow! what thought provoking quote. Children for so long, and yet we loose that imagination, creativity, playfulness, and surprise in what seems like the blink of an eye. It’s no wonder Jesus told us we needed to become children again. The world is a different place through their eyes.
I remember going to a retreat years ago, there were a lot of pastors, And on the opening morning, the person leading it gave everyone a bucket of soapy water, and a wand to make bubbles. Just ti have fun, making them, chasing them. You have no idea how difficult that was for some.
I agree with much of what Joi stated, however, many children are screwed up by our own indoctrination. I think when Jesus said we must become like a child, he meant in many ways. I don;t thins it is wrong to believe in things strongly as long as we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I really like what she said, it makes me think of my own life, creativity can so often be stifled be economics.
You are certainly right! The Bible says that we must become like little children to enter the Kingdom of God. I have a 2 year old son and I have learned so much about how children act and how much we can learn from them. For example kids don’t care what other people think about them, they also never try to act like someone they are not. They don’t pretend in order to impress others, they just are who they are! Great post!