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Be Like a Child

Why a child-like curiosity makes life shine brighter

Ed Noble
3 min readSep 8, 2020
Media from Wix

It is fascinating to reflect on how I was as a child. The sheer inquisitiveness, the yearning to understand the world. As if being dropped in a video game, the natural instinct is to experiment, to test the limits of the body, to find out the rules of the game, and what the creator designed. I would ask my parents “what is out there, beyond the stars?” and they would answer “it goes on and on.”

And so I would ask “how long ago is long ago?”, “Where do we come from?”, “Where are we going?”, “Why are we here?” and “How is it all possible?”. My parents would smile and answer as best they could. But they didn’t have answers which I regarded as good enough. They had accepted what I saw an unacceptable; that we simply do not know.

Growing older meant the magic faded. A dullness crept in, the world is what it is and there is no point in questioning it. Rules are rules and even if you don’t understand the point of the game, you better play it. It is easy to become mired in the silly formulaic structure that we humans have designed for ourselves. Work hard in school, get a job, work long hours, pay your taxes, get married, have kids, don’t step outside the lines and you’ll be ok. Most people don’t want to wonder why it is they are there, they just want to get to the shops before they…

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Ed Noble
Ed Noble

Written by Ed Noble

I write about philosophy, psychology and ethics. I live and work in London, having previously studied physics. Started writing in lockdown.

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