Winnie the Pooh, children, school, indoctrination, dogma, incarceration, and the innocent mind

excerpted from THE WAY OF WONDER: a return to the mystery of ourselves, by Jack Haas

          What happens is that though life begins for most children as a bewildering entry into a magical, mythical, incredible world, the great majority of us get pushed out of the wonders of childhood without ever knowing what has happened; we get ‘schooled’ and mentally trapped early, get caught in pre-fabricated, obtusely delineated lives, and never again awaken to the wonder of our own existences and of this mysterious creation. Instead we spend our days confined in futile acts of triviality which only succeed in hemming us in further. We get lost in a labyrinth of facts, ideas, preconceptions, and societal ‘truths’, and in doing so we forget the fact that life is not a simple event which is easily contained in the boxes the mind requires in order to function within humanity’s prefigured conditions; we forget the miracle, the mystery, and the confounding implausibility of all and everything, including ourselves. And that is a great tragedy.

“Rabbit's clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.

“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit's clever.”

“And he has Brain.”

“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.” ...

“I suppose,” said Pooh,

“that that's why he never understands anything.”

Winnie-the-Pooh

There are many lies which hide themselves from us under the guise of assertions, assumptions, and appearances, but really they are all products of the first lie- The Lie, The Big Lie- and that lie is ...that we understand.

           The indoctrination into the dogma of false certitude begins at birth, accelerates exponentially through the ubiquitous incarceration called school, and is fertilized and fostered by every institution we encounter throughout our lives, from the church, to the media, the marketers, and the family. Rarely is the innocent mind cultivated.

          This cognitive corruption is committed unwittingly by nearly every society on earth; from our earliest years we are confined to mental boxes, are force-fed a massive amount of useless information, and then punished if we fail to regurgitate the ‘truths’ as they are told to us. Most of us, in essence, have been brainwashed by learning.

excerpted from:

THE WAY OF WONDER: a return to the mystery of ourselves

by Jack Haas

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Mystical books, visionary art, and fine art photography by Jack Haas