Last updated on November 4, 2023
“People say you’re born innocent, but it’s not true. You inherit all kinds of things that you can do nothing about. You inherit your identity, your history, like a birthmark that you can’t wash off. … We are born with our heads turned back, but my mother says we have to face into the future now. You have to earn your own innocence, she says. You have to grow up and become innocent.”
― Hugo Hamilton, The Sailor in the Wardrobe
The book was resting in my lap, I had to digest and analyze what I had just read. Could it be, that now in my mid-fifties I am finally on my way to finding the innocence I thought I had been born with?
Had I too entered this world with my head turned back, looking at a past that had been lived by the generations before me?
I thought about my human inheritance. A god I had been directed to worship because only he was the right one, according to the people around me. The customs, rituals, and all prejudice I had obtained with the first breath I took. The birthmark I can’t wash off what does it stand for in my case? The stories of World War II, the Holocaust, and perhaps the dislike of Turkish people and my fear of everything in Eastern Europe I had been brought up with.
Am I now finally on my way to face the future without the baggage I had been burdened with by birth? Will I soon be able to say I am not just educated in my mind but have received a good education in my heart as well?
The day I will look at everything around me with the curious eyes of a newborn. Will that be the day of my innocence?
Interesting that you say you’re not born innocent. Isn’t that the basis for most of the Christian and Jewish religions? But then you say you acquire innocence by looking at everything around me with the curious eyes of a newborn which you’ve identified as “not innocent.”
I think you’re on the right track. We all have to unlearn all the beliefs and traditional thought we’ve been burdened with: our parents’ god, our culture’s traditional approach to peoples and perceived enemies, our approach to life that is void of curiosity. I’d say the majority of our lives are spent in discarding the useless attitudes and habitual ways of thinking we acquire from our inherited past–the birthmark we cannot erase.
Born with sin? Yep that’s the angle most religions use to keep people in fear.
“Discarding useless attitudes and habitual ways” yes, that’s what we all need to do and it takes a long time.
Interesting theory… have to think on this one for a bit.
I like the idea that I made you think 🙂
This is so interesting thank you
Thank you for reading.
It is an honor to read your blog. This post, two times. Thank you. 🙏🏻
Oh, how sweet. Thank you, Michele.
Welcome 😇
Only the future will reveal that. Meanwhile, it is not a bad idea to consider the wisdom of our current beliefs and actions.
So true. It’s never a bad idea to question (and consider) any beliefs and actions.
A lot of food for thought!
I like that.
🙏🌹🙏
Some deep thoughts for a Monday morning. I do not think we can ever fully realize how our thought and action patterns were created by our upbringing and those around us, until we pause long enough to think for ourselves. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful Monday. Allan
Have a great week, Allan.
🩵
We will see
I have read many books that have touched on this exact topic which has led me to look deeper into the neurological aspects of our brains and more specifically how the subconscious mind works in terms of learning from those around us and thereby assuming their customs and rituals and beliefs. We make them our own by osmosis, basically, and literally without consent because an infant has no other choice than to learn from his parents and family and immediate environment and accept it as gospel truth until he is old enough or conscious enough to begin questioning.
It’s almost like saying you have to break up with yourself in order to become your true self before you can reclaim your own innocence.
I love what you said and the thoughts behind it. So true. I think most of us at point will rethink the values and perhaps question some of the things we have brought up with.
We keep a few, toss a few and ultimately work on ourselves to become who we want to be.
In the grand tapestry of human existence, our inheritance, history, and free will are threads woven with cosmic significance. Our genes impart a legacy, but it is our choices that sculpt our destiny. As we navigate the currents of history, our free will is the beacon lighting our path, guiding us toward the uncharted realms of our potential.
So true
Powerful quote! I want to check out Hugo Hamilton! <3 Yes to looking at people outside of the confines of group-think of the past is a good thing. Now with lessons learned of my own I feel more free to trust my intuition and decide for myself. Thanks ladybug!
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If you check Hugo Hamilton out. Read his first biography. It’s genius. 🙂
Instincts are spontaneous , but not always “good”….
Then it’s our charge to direct or tame them , though sparing our personality …
It’s not so easy to obtain a good result!
I do believe we can wash off that birth mark, to some extent- we carry within us the knowledge of what came before us, who came before us, we can become our own person and forge a new path.
An interesting thought … ‘Innocence’ used as a concept to denote open-mindedness, acceptance, curiosity, being non-judgemental … however, not in a negative naive kind of way, but as a wholeness. It works for me.