Mumbo Jumbo

July 14, 2013

Kids hear voices, they see things in the dark, have imaginary friends, believe they can fly, walk thru walls or cupboards, perhaps, into another dimension, describing the world before this one, communicating with people who have died, can speak with the family dog and house plants, bend spoons, and heal the planet. Depending upon how we handle these incidences, a child can create various interpretations for their future. How do you think Science Fiction was envisioned. We must have read the Philip Pullman series a dozen times when Taelor was little.

Did our freedom of imagination go into hiding to be tuned-down until just before we die. I have witnessed a number of deaths. Many people observe someone standing in the room with us, as the end draws near, a loved one usually, seemingly communicating with them. They describe visions of the next place, as though they have gone for a brief visit, and wish to enlighten me with details upon their return. There is a peace and acceptance, letting go, if you will, that appears comforting,  even welcoming.  

As soon as children get the stink eye one too many times, they shut down, shut up, shrink into their imagination only when alone, and don’t have to manage someone else’s fear and pretentious viewpoint. Creative, artistic, out of the norm children are corrected when the sky is lavishly painted purple versus the proverbial robin’s egg blue.

       

My good friend’s pragmatic granddaughter recalled the voices she had heard when she was very small, maybe three years old. She almost immediately stopped hearing voices, and now, at the legal age of eighteen, has tuned-into them once again. Fortunately, her family has not deemed her insane and taken her to the nearest psychologist. Instead they are allowing her to talk about her experiences, in the safety of their home, to discuss it as a family. How does she feel about it, how can they support her in the process of discovering the possibilities, versus shutting down in fear and upset. It takes courage and commitment to strive forward into the things we fear the most-the unknown, inexplicable and mysterious.

On an HBO special series I riveted to, about First Nation Tribal members in Northern Territory in Canada, I recall the interviewer asking a small child if he could speak their native language. “Of course,” he replied, “how else could I communicate with my ancestors?” How else, indeed.