The nature of the Self, in the mind of a child.

Tiarnan is rather philosophical for a six year old. Today, he was having a serious little chat with his mother, when he suddenly asked, with the utmost intensity:

“Who is in control of me?”

His mother, Syahidah, focussed on him, somewhat startled at the question.

“Is it me, me, or is it my brain?”, he continued, drawing a distinction that seemed a little mystifying to her.

“Who do you think is in control of you?”, she prompted, acceptingly.

“Just me.”, he said, simply. “...and God, sometimes. God controls the whole world – but I am in control of me!”

He seemed happy with that conclusion.

Syahidah was quite happy, too, to have heard him think so. Listening to Tiarnan is rather refreshing. He ponders the world, asking questions of matters, that adults have come to overlook, or take for granted. He then reflects on them, deeply, answering them from within the context of his experience – yet, meaningfully, nevertheless. Tiarnan is a little philosopher and, in many ways, is proving to be a deep thinker, prone to pondering mysteries and cracking the enigmas of life. It is notable that the questions that concern him most could all be lumped under the heading: “The Meaning of Life”...for its nature and context are his primary interests. He really wants to understand what it means to be alive. He doesn’t just accept that he is alive and go from there...he is really questioning what life is and what it means to experience the living state. Yet, he is only six years old and has never read any philosophical or religious work of any kind. He is thinking for himself, afresh.

All of this leads me to wonder whether, as an adult, he might become a writer, who ponders deep questions and answers them for his readers. If so, that would be an altogether familiar outcome, for those who are privy to my writings of yesteryear (hint: not the general public, as yet).

Intellectually, Tiarnan has many a likeness to my own preoccupations – though his are in juvenescent form. That doesn’t disguise the fact, though, that he seems driven by the same motivations to question, understand and explain his world. Once again, I marvel at how much genetic influences appear to play in the formation of our minds, our characters and our interests.

I look forward to Tiarnan’s many interesting questions and ponderings, in the future.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

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Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

A child who asks deep questions.

Tiarnan is six years old. Normally, one has certain expectations of what being six years old entails. Tiarnan, however, in some ways, is busily ignoring these expectations.

Last night, as I was trying to settle him down to sleep. He suddenly perked up and looked at me, as if I might be able to provide the solution to something that was bothering him.

“Is life about a dream?”

I paused, in a little surprise at his question. He had a little smile on his face, as if he had had certain beliefs about my response. Before I could formulate a response, he launched another unexpected question at me:

“Why is real life real?”

This time there was no smile. He was very serious about it.

“What do you mean?”, I prompted, not fully understanding where his question was reaching, at first.

“How come I exist?”, he continued, as if this question explained the last.

“Mummy and Daddy made you.”

He smiled at that – as if he didn’t quite believe that was all there was to it.

“I know. The fat guy did it.”

“The fat guy? You mean God?”

He just smiled an answer and looked away at his thoughts.

I settled him down for the night. This was not the first time Tiarnan had asked such deep questions, but each time he did so, he managed to floor me – for they never seemed likely to come out of the mouth of such a small boy. Clearly, he had big thoughts, for one so small.

Tiarnan is but beginning his life – but he is already considering the meaning of life, its essence, purpose and origin. He is not satisfied to just exist – he is questioning how that existence came about – and, as he had made clear, he is not satisfied with the answers his environment (school and home) has been providing him. He is not sure whether to believe the answers he is told. Somehow he feels they miss something out. Of course, he is right...all the answers are far too simple to explain the complexities and subtleties of his questions. Perhaps I should have a conversation with him about evolution, for instance – and the origin of life.

I think, sometimes, society underestimates little children. Some people have the tendency to think such children don’t have meaningful thoughts. This is a mistake. Some little kids are busy thinking very big thoughts indeed. We do them no credit to ignore this possibility.

Thank you, Tiarnan for sharing your thoughts with me. They are always refreshing to hear. I hope I never cease to be surprised by them. 

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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

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

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Tiarnan's philosophy of knowledge.

Yesterday, Fintan, 9,  taunted Tiarnan, 6, on his return from home.

“While you were out, we watched Shrek 4.”, he said, expecting an upset response, perhaps.

Tiarnan was unbothered.

“I don’t know what Shrek is.”, he said, calmly.

He paused a little as if considering the matter.

“If I don’t know about it, then it doesn’t exist!”, he concluded. For him that very much seemed to end the matter.

Fintan didn’t want to get into a, what seemed to him, pointless argument over the existence or non-existence of something he had seen...so he left it and did not respond.

I thought Tiarnan’s statement interesting. It could mean many things. He could be saying that if he hadn’t heard about it, Fintan must be making it up. Or it could mean that if he doesn’t know about it, then it won’t bother him not to see it – because he won’t know what he is missing. I am in favour of the latter interpretation. Either way, it is an interesting stance to take on missing out on something – and one which deflated Fintan’s attempt to make him bothered about it.

Not for the first time, I am struck by how much of interest can be found in the conversation of young children. One only has to listen carefully to hear many, often unique, conversational stances, ploys, understandings and come-backs. Each of our boys, has the tendency to utter odd lines, which stick in the mind. Though, as a personality, Tiarnan’s probably tends to the most bizarre of the three of them.

As I hear them speak in this way, I do wonder at what kind of adults will emerge from this period of intellectual and personal fermentation. Each of them promises to be at least a little different from the norm...and that can only be good.

Happy philosophizing Tiarnan!

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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

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

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.) 

Where things come from.

Today, Tiarnan, five, asked one of his quintessential Tiarnanisms. I use the term to capture the distinct way he thinks about the world.

His mother had just been cooking. Tiarnan looked across at the sum of her work and enquired:

“Mummy made the soup...but who made God?”

His mother had no answer but a captivated smile. Once again, Tiarnan had asked a question that I doubt any other person has framed, in exactly the same way, ever at all.

Tiarnan is much troubled by the question of God, at present. His elder brother, Fintan, eight, has been heard to complain:

“Mummy: Tiarnan won’t leave me in peace, in the bathroom: he is always asking me about God!”

Tiarnan has come to see the question of who made God, as a bit of a problem. He understands the idea of a being that makes all things...but then, he is led, ineluctably, to the question of how the maker made themselves – or who made the maker. Like a good little scientist, he has seen the logical problem in the God Solution, to the origin of the Universe – and it concerns him.

Now, I could sit him down and tell him of my own thoughts on the matter. However, I don’t think I will. I believe that it is better for him to ponder this question on his own and come up with his own thoughts on it. Besides, telling him my thoughts, would only deprive him of the pleasure and reward of thinking it through himself. So, I will let him ponder – and enjoy the reports of his thoughts, as they fall off his tongue, at random intervals, in the times to come. It is better that way. Childhood is more entertaining, when left to the children, to think through.

Posted by Valentine Cawley

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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

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

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Ainan's reflections on Art

Some people might think that because Ainan is a prodigious young scientist, that his thoughts, interests and observations would only extend to science. This is not so. He often remarks upon matters way outside his supposed remit.

Yesterday, Ainan began to discuss his views on Art, over lunch.

“There is no such thing as bad Art...”, he began, quietly, to me, “for if it is bad, it is no longer Art.”

That, in itself, was an interesting viewpoint: one that enfolded a requirement for quality, into the very concept of Art. However, it was his second thought that attracted more attention at the lunch table:

“Art causes a chemical reaction in the brain, that makes you think it is beautiful. Therefore, Art is a drug.”

My wife, in particular, liked that viewpoint. He may have a point, of course: is Art’s effect on the brain drug-like for some people? Does it create a “rush” that needs repetition and reinforcement? Does it provoke some people to constantly seek out Art, to fulfil this need?

It is good to see Ainan thinking on matters outside his core interests. It suggests that, when he is completely developed, he will be much broader than might have been supposed in his contributions. I happen to like the variety of expression this implies, since it echoes the variety of expression in my own life.

There is also another aspect of his expression that I find interesting: it is succinct, pithy even. In a few words, he is capturing a broader idea than might, at first, be appreciated. It is “condensed” thinking. Perhaps there is not only a scientist in him, but a thoughtful writer, too.

(If you would like to support my continued writing of this blog and my ongoing campaign to raise awareness about giftedness and all issues pertaining to it, please donate, by clicking on the gold button to the left of the page.

To read about my fundraising campaign, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-in-support-of-my.html

and here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/01/fundraising-drive-first-donation.html

If you would like to read any of our scientific research papers, there are links to some of them, here: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2011/02/research-papers-by-valentine-cawley-and.html

If you would like to see an online summary of my academic achievements to date, please go here: http://www.getcited.org/mbrz/11136175

To learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 5, 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.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here:http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks. You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1


Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at:http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

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

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

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is athttp://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)

Fintan's deft rejoinders.

Fintan, seven, is, as I have noted, before, a boy who surprises. He has a disarming manner which lulls one into a sense that all is to be as expected - and then he pounces with one of his characteristic unpredictabilities. If an "unpredictability" can be characteristic, of course.

Today, he bested me, twice, in conversation.

I was discussing reading with him. "Reading is the most important skill in life.", I opined, seriously.

"Reading?", he doubted, openly, "Not walking?", he continued, with one of his little smiles that says so much with so little.

He had me there. I imagined then, a life of utter immobility and compared it to a life of illiteracy. He was right: immobility was worse than illiteracy. The former quite deprived one of a rich life - the latter, however, might not affect one, anywhere near as drastically, if one's choices were carefully made.

He had won, without even trying. I just nodded, a little, in acknowledgement of his point.

Later that day I said: "I am going to buy a dog."

Fintan looked at me, his eyes sparkling, with amusement at what was to come. "You don't want to buy a dog, you should rent one."

Again, he had a point, for we are very unlikely to live in Malaysia for the length of a dog's life: what would we do then, when the time came to leave? He had identified the essential problem with my proposal - and proposed his own slightly whimsical solution.

I like the way he challenges my assumptions, points them out to me and punctures them. He does it so casually, as if, perhaps, it were an automatic reflex with him. I think it is, actually. I think he sees the problem with what is said to him, the moment it is said. He sees the cracks in things - the flaw that should be highlighted for a better understanding of the situation. It is a useful way to think, particularly if developed, as he grows up. It should allow him to avoid many a problem and to act, I should hope, with a certain care and wisdom.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy being defeated by my son's ripostes. It makes me smile, to hear him so.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 6 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.htmlI 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.You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to:http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)