Albert Knox meant that we constantly encounter new experiences in a way it becomes so common and ordinary that we no longer find it extraordinary. People believe that we no longer explore new things with our creativity because it is human nature to take whatever they have in hands for granted.
I believe those who unceasingly explore new experiences are the ones who will become successful later in their lives. Newton's curiosity towards an apple falling on his head from a tree allowed humanity to discover the force called "gravity". Archimedes' curiosity towards water overflowing from his bathtub allowed us to measure the volume of almost anything. These examples of famous people show that we must explore our surroundings in order to make us different from everybody else. Many people have said that a baby's mind is like a sponge, absorbing whatever it sees, smells and hears. This is due to the fact that it constantly explores new experiences it encounters.
There are many factors which affects our exploration of new experiences, such as education etc. Education allows us to explain these new experiences which no longer make it interesting since we already understand the theory behind it. I remember watching movies in the cinemas were interesting until I found out the images I was viewing were projected off a projector behind the theatre. Why would magicians make so much money? It is because their audience do not understand the theories behind their magic and so they chose to explore this experience and try to figure out how the magicians do what they do.
Curiosity is innate in human beings and so it is impossible for us to "lose the ability to wonder". It is only up to us to decide how to explore these new experiences. Doing this not only improves our creativity, it can also help us to "think out of the box" and stand out of the crowd just as Newton and Archimedes did.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
We don't "lose the ability to wonder", we just get used to new experiences.
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7 comments:
When you say that people who wonder are the ones who become successful do you really think that our society rewards people who rock the boat? Surely the most "successful" are the ones who do as they are told and get the good grades........
i agree that getting good grades is the first step to success. However, creativity is very essential because the society has developed in a way that almost everybody get the good grades. To stand out from the crowd, we must become creative to ensure that we leave a unique impression for others. Giving an example, everybody who enroll at oxbridge get the good grades, what they look for are the ones who are humourous or in other words, creative.
I appreciate reading your thoughts and commentary on the ability to wonder as a means of engendering creativity and thinking beyond what is conventional in order to 'stand out'. I wonder, however, whether knowing what we know makes us complacent about knowledge because it is not derived from new experiences, nor does it stimulate us towards wonderment. This complacency is a way of reacting to conceptual input being normalized: in a sense we are de-sensitized to old knowledge and experiences.
However, In Albert Knox's example of Thomas, the child who sees his father flying and (p. 17), he is "certainly astonished" because a child with limited or emerging knowledge and worldly experience would find that merely fascinating without knowing that might be impossible, whilst his mother would find the same phenomenon shocking, "screaming with fight." So Know is saying that with deeper knowledge of experiences, we become even more enticed to wonder to the point that we would drop everything, even the "jam jar", to discover more?
Therefore, the next time when someone says, "I already know this so I don't need to learn about it", would your reply be, "Good, now you need to learn more"?
Mr. Liew
I agree with Wilfrid about him saying that new experiences become so common to us that we no longer find anything extraordinary, which might stop us from wondering. I also agree that education is one of the major experiences which will no longer make it interesting since we already understand the theory behind it.
I feel you have a point when you said that we get so used to new experiences that it doesn't surprise us anymore.
However, does that always apply? In the analogy of the flying father, if it was really true that people get so used to new experiences, the mother would not have acted the way she did
Hi wilfrid,
i agree how we can never lose our ability to wonder if we are always curious. It is always important to think "out of the box," this pre-tok itself is making us become critical thinkers to make us different and more successful in life.
I agree with Adrian in a way that getting used to new experiences is not always the case. However, in the case of the flying father, the mother is shocked because she cannot explain how it is happening with her existing knowledge.
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