Chris L Peterson:
Seven seems an excellent age for a child to start understanding the
beauty of a Universe in which understanding can come from rational
thought processes alone.

I was a prodigy -- taught to read by age two, though not by intention,
I think. First complete book I remember reading was a science fiction
paperback that attracted me only because I was fascinated by the
strange creatures on the cover. Age four, maybe. I don't know the level
of my "rational thought processes" at that age, but that book
transported me -- at superluminal speed no less -- to worlds that I
/knew/ didn't exist. Now that's magic! Then I found Tolkien and came
damned close to inventing the phrase "blown away." Books (and sometimes
movies) can still do that for me. I had been reading magazine articles
well before age 4 -- I remember my grandfather's Mechanics Illustrated
and the National Geographic. Started reading about the stars at about
the same age -- my Dad had been a ship's navigator before the Great
Depression. Got my subscription to Scientific American at age 5. Had no
trouble distinguishing between benign myth and reality, be it beautiful
or harsh. Still don't. Believed in Santa Claus. Still do,
metaphorically. Today, at age 61, when a child asks me if I believe in
Santa Claus (as will happen tomorrow with many children visiting,) I
say of course I do. "But how does he..." "Magic, that's how." I have
yet to destroy any young intellects in this way.

Good scientists (and rationalists in general) are those who _never_ lose
the magic of childhood- something that really has nothing to do with
believing in Santa Claus.

Jeez! Next I'll be accused of attempting to legislate Santa Claus into
the schools! My remarks on believing in Santa Claus may be seen as a
metaphor for the magical myths that are cherished by children in every
society.

A child's belief in those myths does nothing to stifle the rational
thought process; indeed, I am quite convinced that they help to jump
start it.

One of the brightest people I know -- a dear friend, colleague, fellow
Humanist-Rationalist, fellow progressive, PhD(s), respected researcher,
theoretician, teacher, &c -- has probably never read a work of fiction
in his life, except maybe as assigned in some academic course. Didn't
read Tolkien, saw only the first Star Wars, didn't get it. Gets dragged
by his wife (also an academician) to Harry Potter movies, doesn't enjoy
them. Definitely has a chunk missing from his life. I blame his
upbringing by a strict, humanist-rationalist father who happened to be
be a Christian minister -- and no, I don't see a contradiction there.

Davoud

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