(no subject)

[rivka]

Some of you will have already seen this on my Facebook, but I had to share it here as well.

One of Alex's nursery school teachers occasionally has the kids tell her stories for her blog. She posted (with our permission) Alex's account of the universe yesterday. I really like it.

"The universe is made of tiny round cells and the magic is how our cells join together. There is nothing in the space between the cells. Then they bump together and get stuck together and it continues until they are tiny animals like jellyfish and plants.

The first people on Earth were made from apes. I came from my mom. My mom came from my grandmother. My grandmother came from my great grandmother. My great grandmother came from my great great grandmother and so it is for all of them. But my great great great great great great grandmother was an ape. But actually it’s really disgusting. We come from sperm.

I was born from my mom’s tummy in 2005. It felt… strange. I used to be in the darkness there and then I came out and it was so bright I screamed. I wanted to come back into the dark because I thought it was the light. I don’t want to go back now because I don’t need to be in the dark anymore.

When you die you just stay dead, you return to the dark. My babysitter thinks that when you die you become the trees or something. I think when you’re dead, you’re dead.

In the darkness of death, there are lots of stuff. My opinion is, that in the darkness of death everything is possible. It means you can do every single thing. But in the light of being alive you can only do a few things.

We are made of the stuff of the universe because we’re made of cells and cells are part of the universe. All cells are the same. One last thing I’m telling of, is that there is lots and lots of stuff.

My foot is starting to hurt.”

(She walks away)

I quoted the whole thing, which is not good blog etiquette, but I wanted to have a record of it in case she ever takes her blog down. Click through anyway to read other fascinating stories, like "The Love of Hearts When the Dinosaurs Were Made."

I really wonder how she elicits material like this from the kids. I recognize some of the source material from Alex's story - we've been reading a fantastic picture book about human evolution called Our Family Tree - but the metaphysical cast she put on it really startles me.

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

She's a profound little philosopher.

[ratphooey.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful girl you are raising, there!

[saoba.livejournal.com]

She's a pretty cool young person, you know.

[ailbhe]

But actually it’s really disgusting. We come from sperm.

... can't... breathe... for laughing...

And then I got to the bit about from the dark and back to the dark. Wow.

Wow.

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

Wow indeed. My religious development would have been much less circuitous had I known that nearly everything I knew at age three about ontology was correct.

I'm curious as to why she feels that the connection to sperm is disgusting, though. Is it the physical fluid or the process by which part of Dad joins with part of Mom, or something else? I don't deny it, but it seems discordant that being descended from apes is sacred by comparison.

[lizzibabe.livejournal.com]

well, little spermies in and of themselves are pretty nasty looking things.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I came across an image just recently, of a night-flying bird passing through the windows of a lighted room. The idea being that life is our brief time in the light, just a short segment of our whole existence.

But where would Alex have picked up that image?

[ailbhe]

Perhaps she's arrived at it from first principles. It's dark in the womb and dark when you're asleep or have your eyes closed or are underground. The person who made the image had to get the idea from somewhere, after all; Alex could be tapping the same source.

[sioneva.livejournal.com]

Very cool - kids have a way of seeing connections, especially metaphysical ones, that I think we lose as we grow and become more closeminded to the universe, so to speak.

I'm glad you're keeping a record of this for her :)

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Your kid is kind of amazing, which I'm sure you're well aware of. That's a really incredible thing she's recorded. I'm glad you're having that because I'm sure Alex will have fun looking back on it when she's older.

[chipuni.livejournal.com]

The story is a delight, and I look forward to reading more of those young children's views of the world!

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

This delighted my whole family. James says she could start her own religion. ;-)

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Wow. She's got a better handle on how the universe works than a lot of adults!

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

"In the darkness of death, there are lots of stuff. My opinion is, that in the darkness of death everything is possible. It means you can do every single thing. But in the light of being alive you can only do a few things."

That sounds sort of like the Buddhist 'Void' or 'Plenum'.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Your daughter is wonderful.