It is generally assumed that children are eager to explore the world. They are always open to new facts, new ideas, new things to do, new adventures. They are well-aware of the fact that they don't know much. They are not ashamed to ask questions, to make discoveries, to reach for greater knowledge. All these things could be applied to our inner child as well.

Once we begin to see ourselves as adults, our attitude changes. We acquire a great amount of self-importance. (Self-importance is much different from self-esteem. A self-important person is a pretender, the one who attempts to influence others through certain actions. A person with healthy self-esteem doesn't feel any need for that.) We settle for what we know. We pretend that we arrived, that we have all the answers. We pretend to be competent and knowledgeable - sometimes we pretend so well that we convince ourselves. Little do we understand that this mindset becomes an obstacle to true knowledge.

The fact is, there is nothing to be ashamed about ignorance. It is realistic to admit that there are many things for us to learn. All the great people in the world realized that it is a good starting point for their movement toward genuine wisdom.

"I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance", said Socrates.

"Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused", said Lao Tzu.

So, let us not hold back our child-like responses in dealing with the world. Let us allow ourselves to be interested in life anew, and to let go our attitude of intellectual superiority. We are under no obligation to be a "know-it-all".

Let us not take things for granted. It could happen that some well-respected person gave us an explanation of a certain thing, and we liked it. But even though we are satisfied with this knowledge and it serves us well, there are always more aspects for us to ponder.

Frankly, I don't like the term "thing", because it suggests something static. Yet things are never static - they live and move. Today they are different from what they were yesterday; tomorrow they will be different from what they are today. This is applied to all things, even to seemingly unanimated stones. While all things change, relationships between things change even more rapidly. Each "thing" is a complex dynamic system within the Universal Dynamic System. So, why do we think that our knowledge of a thing is accurate and up-to-date? In a sense, all knowledge is knowledge of the past. Only our constant efforts keep it more or less relevant.

Let us not be dogmatic in our knowledge. Someone might say, "I am not a religious person, I am free from that". Not necessarily: some forms of dogmatism have nothing to do with religion. Dogmatism is but a mental tendency to avoid thinking, being sanctioned by some higher authority. A dogmatic person intentionally never questions certain statements. Doubt is considered to be a crime.

Dogmatism breeds intellectual dishonesty, which never does any good to anyone. An intellectually dishonest person can live in a world of self-made illusions, suffer numerous losses, and then rationalize them. But why should we follow that course if we have a more promising alternative?

Sometimes it takes a child to cry out: "The king is naked!"

Finally, let us not be cowards. Sometimes we avoid new facts because we know that we will have to act upon them. They come to us as challenges. They require certain courage which we might not be ready to display. But while it is true that we need to avoid recklessness, courage is the essential ingredient of every successful life. Cowards never win prizes and never become truly happy.

Thinking and acting like a coward, a person gradually loses self-respect, which in turns lead to lower expectations, lower achievement, and lower satisfaction. But it is possible to reverse this process. The way to start is not necessarily with courageous acts, but with courageous thinking. Let us dare to ask questions we"ve not asked for many years. Let us explore anew that which we thought we already know. Let us let go all mental dogmatism and attachment to our petty ideas. Let us be open and free, just like our Inner Child is free!