The essence of Life.

About a week ago, Fintan came to his mother in a ruminative mood. His eyes were filled with ponderings.

“Which,” he began, seriously, “is more important: the brain, or the Heart?”

His mother, Syahidah, understood him to mean not the heart which pumps, but the Heart which feels.

“Well,” she began, considering his question carefully, “that depends.”

He understood what she meant, but wasn’t satisfied with such an open answer.

“Which,” he continued, seeking certainty, “makes the decisions, which tells you what to do?”

“The brain makes the decisions,” she said, softly, looking into his ever gentle eyes, “but the Heart will tell you if it is right or wrong.”

He gathered her words into himself and found them good. He smiled his understanding. It seemed that his Heart told him, they were right.

He wandered off, happily and his mother gazed after him, pondering his thoughtfulness, and the characteristic nature of his questions.

As Fintan grows, he deepens. He seems to consider matters which many children would just ignore. Often, his questions are about his place in the world, or the nature of the world and its people. He is, in short, considering life, its meaning, and its truth. Personally, I find this heartening, for it seems likely to me that he will try to live his life with wisdom, seeking a meaningful path through it, instead of skating on the superficial surface of society, weighed down by the unsatisfying values of the world around him. Fintan will, I rather think, come to decide what his own values are – and what, indeed, it means for something to be valuable. There is the likelihood, therefore, that he will live a life that is true to himself, and, indeed, culture a self, which is true to his own innate nature, rather than live a life driven by external values and, therefore, becoming a person deformed by those inappropriate “values”.

In short, Fintan is, I think, destined to be Fintan as he should be. That, I rather think, is a good outcome for any life: that we should become the selves we should have been. I hope he achieves this goal – and that all my children do, too. That, by the way, is what I have tried to do with my life. It is the best way to live.

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To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

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Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

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