I too have been speaking about the issue regarding ‘norms’ and ‘deferring to higher authority’ for years even to Congress. The very problem exists in the way we ‘educate’ our children. From the earliest stages, adults are the authority figures that children look to for spoon fed answers (instead of allowing them to discover), to intercede when problems arise (instead of teaching them mediation skills) and to inject themselves in every aspect of a child’s life (control). There is no room in the life of a modern child to explore (REALLY explore), question authority and more importantly TO MAKE MISTAKES and have it be OK. THESE are the markers, experiences that enable us to look inside, explore internally and listen to the voice that guides us. Unfortunately, it has become a ‘small’ voice because no one has the time, inclination or support to allow it to emerge. The inner voice is like a muscle that must be utilized or it atrophies, becomes quieter, faint and then, for some, non-existent.

When my children were young, they were home schooled for this very reason. At the age of five, my sons were climbing 40-foot trees, roaming through the woods constructing stick/twig bridges across streams and building Lego cities with monorails around the house. Scholars say that children of this age have short attention spans yet they sat for hours, even forgetting to eat, in intense concentration without distraction from music, interfering adults or technology….learning, making mistakes and listening.

In addition, being in the woods teaches children so very much. Standing at the top of a 40-foot tree promotes balance, co-ordination, and motor control not to mention discrimination and discernment skills. Nature trains the eye to have depth perception, foreshortening instead of the 2-3D impersonations in technology. One has to concentrate when up high with little to fall back on, which promotes decision-making, patience and long term planning. Most of all, one must learn to listen to that inner voice that calls through the nature spirits, the wind. And feel the hundreds of years of energy in the bark of the trees calling, calling. Or the smell of the leaves, changing seasons and impending weather patterns. Observing life through the critters crawling, flying and meandering around collecting, feeding, reproducing. Meditation becomes a way of life instead of a practice done in unison or solitude at a regular schedule. Listening to the ever presence of life becomes natural.

But with the high voltages of electricity running through the house/school/environment, the numbers of technology plugged in to us and the outlets, noise pollution from audio recordings to the amount of people in constant movement to go no where and do no-thing, the ability to listen, hear, see, feel the magic of life has diminished in capacity over each successive generation.