How to be naked like a baby

[Kabeer]

...and just as happy.
http://thinksimplenow.com/happiness/...d-like-a-baby/

[Ramsey]

Hmmm.. yes... this person does not seem to be describing my childhood.

Trusting: I think they'll ruin the environment by the time I'm as old as mother

Delight: One day I'll die and leave this world.

Present in the moment: I don't have to explain this one.

Mind you, I'm not saying my childhood was all cynicism and doom, but either this guy doesn't remember his own childhood realistically or I'm part of a group of people with a more realistic view on life.

I'll give him one thing though, "dance like no one’s watching".

[Kabeer]

Ramsey, I think they are reffering to going WAYY back. Like before your thoughts were shaped by the world around you.

Like when you were 2 or 3 did you have those thoughts you outlined above?
Maybe you grew up a bit faster than other children too, but im sure there would have been at least one time you were something like that.

PS:

Delight: One day I'll die and leave this world.
............................
Mind you, I'm not saying my childhood was all cynicism and doom................

Lol wow, now that is a strange thought for a young child.

[Ramsey]

When I was 3 I took my little teddy bear bag and went to the living room where I said to my mother and her friends "I'm tired of this place and I'm going away." Five minutes later they realized that the door was open and they ran after me. Luckily they could still see me in the distance (and 3 year olds don't have long legs anyway)

When I was 4 one of my older cousins (let's say around 14-16) saw me sitting outside in the yard looking quite depressed. She asked me what was the matter and I said: "Life is just a game and God is using us as pawns" The worlds youngest nihilist.

While I'm most probably an exception (at least in the matter of extremes), I can say that I know a lot of people who claim that their childhood wasn't that special either. Before the age of 12 mind you. Once one enters secondary school I think it is somewhat of an obligation to rue the day you were born.

[zainab]

Ramsey I hear you either we're exceptional or just plain pessimists of the highest degree.

[Kabeer]

Hmm interesting. Does either of think you were born this way, or at some point learnt to be this way?

For instance Ramsey, you quoted me the age of 3. Do you think a baby can be like that too? I guess when I read that article I also took the the automatic assumption babies are born without any of this in their minds.

[zainab]

schemas and personality traits develop from a very young age in some cases as early as from with in the womb. There a few and when i say few i mean literally one in a million who remember what it is like at 9 months in the womb i can't remember the name of the gentlemen who could....I was told in a psychology class long ago. But these negative schemas or pessimistic personality traits are a result of the mothers emotional state during pregnancy, and this is what the child remembers and it reflects or casts a shadow upon most of the persons early childhood.

If picked up on earlier, these schemas can be challenged however if left till the adolescent period of a childs life due to the hormornal changes and the general teen years as mentioned by Ramsey these experiences just re inforce the negative schemas and the negative childhood memories so much so that you dont remember the positive ones.

It is this that matures us mentally beyond our years and gives us a deeper albeit gloomier insight in to life, hence Ramsey seeing himself as a pawn in god'd game of chess and wanting to leave home at three, or my obsession with how long did i have to do good before i had to leave the world, and not wanting to make friends because everything i saw seemed fickle and temporary not worth keeping. Or the feeling that God always over looked me because i was insignificant in his design of the universe and didnt matter.

[Ramsey]

Hmm interesting. Does either of think you were born this way, or at some point learnt to be this way?

For instance Ramsey, you quoted me the age of 3. Do you think a baby can be like that too? I guess when I read that article I also took the the automatic assumption babies are born without any of this in their minds.

While Children Psychology is by no means my favourite psychological field I do like the field of personality. The thing is that personality is a complex thing and while there are many theories, don't let anyone kid you that any of them explains everything. Rather theories of this sort of often there to explain a certain facet of the human mind and behaviour.

Personality is partially something that comes with you from the womb and partially from what happens out of it. Picture it as such, each of us gains a certain kind of building material, let us say, clay, a stone, lego, and a drawing set. Now, each of these mediums can more easily be used to create certain things then others. It is the natural inclination of the material. However, there are still countless variations of things you could make with it. People are the same way, they come with certain inclinations, and as they travel through this world they develop it in different ways. Someone with an inborn fascination towards those things that are abstract and pondering could become the next Einstein. Or he could easily become a famous religious scholar, an artist, the next unabomber.

This means that babies do certainly not spring into the world as a blanc slate. However, while they may come into the world with (let's say) certain inclinations which could easily lead to a more realistic outlook on life this will not come to pass until (if ever) events happen in their life that cause them to think in this manner. Still, children are by no means stupid, and an unhappy household (for example) can have an effect from a very early age. Perhaps even after they are only a few months old (perhaps, don't quote me on that one)

schemas and personality traits develop from a very young age in some cases as early as from with in the womb. There a few and when i say few i mean literally one in a million who remember what it is like at 9 months in the womb i can't remember the name of the gentlemen who could....I was told in a psychology class long ago. But these negative schemas or pessimistic personality traits are a result of the mothers emotional state during pregnancy, and this is what the child remembers and it reflects or casts a shadow upon most of the persons early childhood.

If picked up on earlier, these schemas can be challenged however if left till the adolescent period of a childs life due to the hormornal changes and the general teen years as mentioned by Ramsey these experiences just re inforce the negative schemas and the negative childhood memories so much so that you dont remember the positive ones.

It is this that matures us mentally beyond our years and gives us a deeper albeit gloomier insight in to life, hence Ramsey seeing himself as a pawn in god'd game of chess and wanting to leave home at three, or my obsession with how long did i have to do good before i had to leave the world, and not wanting to make friends because everything i saw seemed fickle and temporary not worth keeping. Or the feeling that God always over looked me because i was insignificant in his design of the universe and didnt matter.

Hmm, I do not really agree with what you say (especially your interpretation of my last post). I am not convinced for example about the personality traits being a direct result of the emotional state of the mother while the child was in the womb. While perhaps an influence without a report on it I would think it simply one of the many small influences. To use myself as an example I can trace certain inclinations directly to my father and some of my maternal relatives. True, we directed them in completely different places but the inclinations seem in part genetic. Furthermore I believe that period to be a happy one in my mothers life. I am also afraid that my own experiences have their own context. My running away from home was most probably an independent streak for example. I probably simply did not like it there, so attempted to leave. Right after calmly stating so to everyone.

I also do not believe in the memory part. I have very few memories of my earlier years (the above stories were from people who witnessed the events) and the few I have are half happy and half not. I have not seem an inclination to forget the positive memories in the people I have interviewed either.

Also my remark about secondary school was a veiled joke at the American education system. The educational system is America is a horrible joke. "No Child Left Behind" was a politically correct act of outright sadism. In anycase, there are many different ideas of what form us. It could easily be that some people are simply mentally "mature" then others their age group, and that this caused a more gloomy world view. However perhaps instead of mental maturity it might be more self-awareness. Perhaps a higher self-awareness which causes you to realize how different you are from others. This would cause you to separate yourself from "the herd" (as many in the situation would come to call it). Separated from group identity you look inside and you see the world as only someone outside it, can see it.

This is but one of the many ideas.

[Kabeer]

Ramsey,

Thank you for your last post, it was very good. And I could identify with the last paragraph well.

Peace.