The Context of Child’s Logic

-------- Vinay Ranjan

Once upon a time there was a sparrow called Coco. She

gave birth to a baby boy called Chuck. When Chuck was a
few months old he grew curious. Soon enough he learnt to
fly. He would fly with Coco and come back to the nest in
the evening. Even after several days of this routine he
failed to grasp its purpose. Unable to contain his curiosity
any longer, he queried Coco.

“Mum, how did I come to you”, asked Chuck.

“God sent you to me”, answered Coco.

“Why did God decide to send me to you?”

“Well, God imagined your creation in that way – your

passage into this world as my baby.”

“But, mum God did not ask me.”

“Umm.. He doesn’t ask. He creates in his wisdom and

passes on our existence according to his imagination. God
loves to see his imagination being played out by us.”

“Did He tell you why He sent you here in the first place?”
 2

“No.”
“Me neither.”

“Tell me mum, why do you think God sent us?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Will you know later?”

“Can’t say.”

“Does anyone else know mum?”

“Can’t say.”

Some birds happened to flap their wings and took a flight

disturbing the nearby foliage.

Chuck continued.

“Mum, why did He imagine our creation as birds?”

“So that we could fly.”

“Who taught you to fly mum?”

“Nobody.”
 3

“But you taught me to fly.”

“No. God gave us wings and it was inherent. You had it in

you. I only helped you realize it. I helped you experience
the wind beneath your wings in a different way, so that
you could ride it.”

“Mum, do we actually fly? Or, is it the sky flying past while

we flap our wings?”

Coco was feeling a tad tired by the volley of questions. But

she continued to deal with Chuck’s queries.

“Don’t know. May be,” said Coco.

But Chuck had other questions, too.

“Mum, do you think if God would have imagined us as

humans, we wouldn’t be able to fly?”

“Not naturally. May be artificially. Perhaps, by copying us.”

“So mum, if I wanted to walk instead of flying, could I do it

without losing my character as a bird?”

“May be you can, temporarily though. But in the end you

will have to return to flying. He designed us in a way that
 4

we cannot contradict our basic nature. Birds are meant to

fly.”

“So tell me mum, in spite of the wings if I didn’t choose to

fly, can He force me to fly?”

“Perhaps, not. But it doesn’t work that way. You see, if you
abandon flying, you run the risk of rusting your flying
skills. Sometimes your life might depend on it. God needs
your co-operative actions to support your survival.”

“So, God needs my co-operation for watching his

imagination play out the way He wants? Is He not
Supreme then?”

“The omnipotence of the unknown is always supreme. But,

we all have to take responsibility for our own actions. You
see, He offers us multiple choices. In making our choice,
we reveal our destiny to ourselves –the consequences of
our actions.”

“So, there is a cause and effect relationship between our

actions and our destiny. Do we, then, choose our own
destiny?”

“We choose and shape our destiny. A different destiny

could be brought to us by different choice of actions.
Although we are following His script, it is our own
 5

performance which decides the quality of life we deserve

and get.”

“Mum, does God punish us for not choosing our actions

according to his script? Say, if I keep away from flying and
later I want to fly again, do I have to start right from the
beginning?”

“I am afraid, yes. Because, it is like failing a class in

school. In order to successfully clear a class, you are
required to take and pass the exam in all subjects again.
You will not clear the class by appearing in only the papers
you have failed. It is like revisiting what you already know
and bettering it in the process till you attain a certain
level.”

“Mum I am not entirely convinced.”

“Doubts are a sign of progression son. But remember,

denial without an alternative reasoning leads to
uncertainty. Your journey has to take the route from
uncertainty to certainty, using known and available
parameters to unravel the unknown.”

“So life is a journey into the self-discovery of the

unknown?”
 6

“In a way, yes. It is also discovering the infinite

possibilities that life holds. It is like peeling off layers of life
on the axis of time. Such progress is experience of the
variables of life between the two extreme truths – birth
and death.”

“So are you suggesting that ‘birth’ and ‘death’ are the
only absolute truths?”

“Yes.”

“Then, why go through the rigmarole of life only to

experience what you already know, that your birth assures
you of your death?”

“Because, experience makes obvious that which is

obvious without experience. But all the same, we need to
find out for ourselves.”

“So, do you think that from tomorrow I should fly alone,

without you, on my journey to self-discovery?”

“So be it son.”

Coco had to agree because she wanted Chuck to remain

open to all truths.
7