“But it’s not fair! It’s not right! Things shouldn’t be that way!”
This means that a child’s heart knowing might lead him to ask an inspired question or assert something he “just knows” from the same inner source, but these insights don’t fit the parameters of the typical class discussion. If we’re not supposed to hit, then why do some people spank kids? Why do we help some people and not others? If you tell a lie and it doesn’t hurt anyone, why is that wrong? Children aren’t usually encouraged to think that way in school. They may even have been socialized out of the kind of heart knowing that leads to these questions. Nor have they been given language to talk about spiritual values. But if an adult encourages or validates the inspired inquiry, children rise to it quickly—they have the capacity and only need to be encouraged to use it.
It’s not hard to raise the questions of right and wrong, good and evil, and create a safe and welcoming space for kids to share from their deep inner wisdom. We can ask, “What does your higher self say?” “Does your heart feel an answer?” Our interest and the words make heart knowing real and important. Children love the questions and will respond in whatever way they’re developmentally prepared to do. We have only to invite the conversation.
Miller, Dr. Lisa. The Spiritual Child (p. 173). St. Martin's Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Like the mother in Hans Christian Andersen’s folk tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, the child’s good sense gets “shushed.” The child’s protest is threatening to the adult powers that be. The child’s spiritual sensibility is perceived as a threat to the secular order.
A child continually complained to his mother “Mommy, it’s not fair! It’s not right!” The mother said, “Son, you have no right to complain unless you can do it better.” And so the son was determined for the rest of his life to make things better. He is rare but not alone.
- Have you ever felt in the face of injustice and incompetence the desire to make things better?
- Have you ever validated another person’s concern about injustice and helped them in their attempts to rectify things?
- To what extent do you think these concerns about injustice and incompetence to be spiritual concerns?
- How has your faith helped you manage these frustrations and anxieties?
