In life as we all experience growth, the increase in age depreciates the astonishment on the existence of the universe. Children, generally, when come to this planet, have this faculty of wonder which makes them great philosophers ; the question of the existence of the world and everything in it makes the child so enthused and inquiring, making them wonder. However this wonderment diminishes as they grow up, as this world becomes a habit to them, where they just accept the world for as it is.
Many say that the ability of wonderment about the world is lost as age increases because everything occurs for a reason and this is Heraclitus’s argument for why it is all in the process of growing up. The logos for all of it occurring is that it is God’s way. He also said that things will always flow, which means things can’t remain unchanged, and so therefore the wonderment diminishes as a change ; philosophers are then breaking the law of nature as the diminishing wonderment is the “flow”. He also believed that opposites are created to show what the other one means, and so if there wasn’t someone who didn’t wonder then wonderment and astonishment wouldn’t exist. Some might also believe that it is all in the process of growing up, because of fatalism, as it is all predestined : from the questioning inquiring child to the accepting unenthused adult. As destiny would like it to be, the adult should be ,more focused on the life that they live rather than how their life has come to be, as it may all be destined.
Some still believe that it isn’t the process of growing up, that we lose the ability to wonder about the world, but it is the choice of us as human beings that we choose not to wonder too much. It is part of our free will as we go through life, that we can raise the question when and where we feel like. As we grow up our minds may only become more intellectual, yet as we grow up we still choose to not mention things that we don’t get definite answers for.
In conclusion, it is mainly believed amongst the majority and myself, that the world does stop questioning the existence of the universe because all three reasons stated by Heraclitus.
1. It’s God’s way to make it as that age decreases the wonderment of the universe decreases
2. It’s the flow, where things can’t remain unchanged
3. Opposites exist to show the other meaning.
1 comment:
I appreciate your thought and comments on 'wonderment', Hasina. I believe you've outlined your argument well with Heraclitus' tenets. However, I wonder if the process of aging is partly attributed to the mental, cognitive capacity of the brain becoming saturated with thought, or, scientifically speaking, neural networks deteriorating. On the other hand, wisdom that comes with age, as a sage cliche might uphold, would argue in favour of deeper wonderment because one would have vast experiences to form more meaningful knowledge and generate more far-reaching questions about the world. Do you think aging just slows the thinking process due to decreasing cranial tenacity but doesn't really stop wonderment?
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