The Philosopher's Love And Joy
© Copyright 1999 by John L. Waters.
All Rights Reserved
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If I often bring joy to you, you often come visit me. If I often cause you to feel sad or
uncomfortable, you don’t come often. But is what’s true always comforting? And do
people really want to know what is true? On the other hand, the philosopher no one visits
is never forgotten.
If my music brings me joy as I play it or as I'm listening to a recording of it, but others prefer
playing their own music, or listening to their own favorite recorded music, this is a sad
truth I must face. And every other joyful person whose joy isn’t ordinary, must face up to
the same truth. And so truth isn’t always a comfort. Even so, what’s true is valuable, and ought not be denied.
Sharing joy is pleasant. That’s a truth in itself. And two or more persons enjoy being
together, doing the same thing they both enjoy. But there are two joys here, not just one
joy.
For instance, there is the joy of watching the sunset at the beach with your friend, and
there is the joy of watching the sunset at the beach by yourself alone. For you the joy of
watching the sunset may be greater than your joy of being with your friend. Or your
friend might not like watching the sunset, so you don’t go alone to the beach and watch
the sunset all by yourself.
The joy of passing time with good company often is greater than any joy you experience in
solitude. This is why often a child wants what the other children have, and does what the
other children do. But in most any large school there are a few unusual children. These
odd children are sometimes the butt of jokes, and they are sometimes attacked.
This is
because the main joy in so many youngsters is sociability, that is joy in being with other
persons who enjoy doing what everyone else is doing.
One thing that’s missing in education is the idea that the unusual, eccentric child almost
certainly has the same fundamental need as the teachers and the more typical children have. Children should be educated to
realize that the unusual child values companionship and the feeling of belonging. But the
need to conform is felt very strongly in children, so the child who can’t join in ordinary
activities gets punished from within himself as well as by other children and sometimes
even by his teachers.
And in our present society, as in our present schools, quite a number
of children express negativity, intolerance, fear, and hate. Empathy is the lesson left out in
so many modern schools.
Truth gives power to those who are truthful. Knowing the truth about being a child gives
parents and teachers the power to avoid teaching negativity, intolerance, fear, and hate.
Then, if adults deem it important to decrease negativity, fear, and hate in children, the
adults know how to do this.
Each day they give more attention to the isolated child, and
they value his special joy, and they encourage other children to enjoy that activity if it
doesn’t hurt others or harm property. In this way the consciousness of both adults and
children is expanded daily, and the unusual and at-risk children become leaders in the new
expansion of consciousness and new peace movement, in which empathy is studied and
practiced every day at home and at school.
(contributor: John L. Waters)
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