I used to believe . . .

I’ve always found it fascinating to see how difficult it is for adults to appreciate children’s cognition. It seems as if when the brain makes those leaps from one stage of cognition to another we develop a sort of cognitive amnesia arelated to how we used to perceive the world at a previous stage. Unless one is trained or working in a field that involves daily contact with children it often becomes a challenge to appreciate the mind of the child. As Paul the Apostle wrote, “When I was a child I thought like a child, reasoned like a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things.”

The website I used to believe: the childhood beliefs site is a delightful place where people share their memories of former ways of thinking and perceiving. I use this site in my Educating in Faith (click here for a course syllabus: m3730-syllabus-2007.pdf) course as a way to discuss the concept of faith formation related to cognition and stages of faith. You’ll find some of the things people used to believe related to faith on the website, along with other common (and some not-so-common) ones.

Take a moment and think back to a previous stage in your life:

• Identify ideas or concepts you used to believe but no longer do. Share some of those.
• Do any of the entries on the website match your own experience?
• When did you stop believing what you used to believe? What caused the change? What replaced the former truth”?
• Why is it that children so readily adopt those childhood believes?
• Have you ever had to unlearn something? What? How difficult was it to give up your belief?
• Can you identify commonly held beliefs that adults still have from their “childhood faith”?

As a child I used to believe that clowns were “real.” When I was told (by my mother, no less) that they were just regular people with painted faces and funny costumes it felt like a kick in the gut. Thanks mom.

“It is my belief, you cannot deal with the most serious things in the world unless you understand the most amusing.” Winston Churchill