Does the quality of innocence have to be lost?

Question

The question is about the corruption of the mind.
Why are we so corrupted?
Innocence is not an attribute not something you can learn.
You have it as a gift but you then loose sight of it only to be reminded of it through you children.
Has an innocent mind a place in our society??

Please dont compare innocence with being naive or lacking experience.

Innocence is always near the truth so it has much power.

The tale of the emperors new clothes depicts it well!!

Answer 1

Interesting question!
Some random thoughts...............prefer to think, shaped by experience rather than corrupted that to me implies criminal intent. Innocence, and childlike enjoyment I believe can be relearned but it takes a certain amount of 'unlearning' . By that I mean...............ignoring the 'for goodness sake grow up' type jibes that you all hear at some point in our lives. Childish innocense is not about being specifically age related. It is more about being able to see the good and the joy and the FUN in simply being.
So, yes, an innocent mind has a place in our society..............and we need more of them to remind us that life is not all about doom, gloom, duty and work.................not necessarily in that order.

Answer 2

I agree that innocence is opposed to corruption, but I'm not sure I agree with your rather one-sided defintion of innocence.
Innocence can be defined as being naive, foolish, uninformed and can mean different things to different people.
To me, innocence means being pure. And I do think it is an attribute. Some people can acquire it, I suppose, but they are mostly serious students of spiritual self-development, and often they may think they have acquired it but they haven't.
Being innocent or pure, is a characteristic we are born with and, as part of our true character, is something we can never really lose.
I know a few adults who are still so very pure and childlike, but not in the least childish. They are sensitive souls who feel crushed by the hard world they must live in. Therefore, I think some of the previous answers are correct - to try to become innocent when you are not so naturally, will only make you unable to play the rules of the rat race.
I live in Japan now, and the most shocking and beautiful thing I discovered here is the attitude towards autistic people, whether child or adult. Instead of being a cause of embarrassment, they are considered "pure" souls; fragile but totally honest. There is no concept of Angels here, but I got the impression that such humans are thought of in the same way we Westerners think of angels. They tell the truth and no-one can be hurt by it; they follow their own hearts and have no interest in politics or philosophy or capitalism.
They wouldn't hurt a fly, but often kill one from too much affection, or curiousity..
They are the least corrupted souls in the Human Race.

Being innocent and pure is a hard road to travel. I doubt anyone would give up their cosy lives to walk that path unless they were born with an innocent nature. Likewise, innocent people cannot give up their innocence in order to fit in with society, but feel compelled to blend in, and end up falling prey to cancer or other stress-related diseases because they are so sensitive and unable to understand all the devious plotting going on around them.
And they can't do anything about it, because no-one would take them seriously.
So, the quality of innocence does not have to be lost. It will never be lost. It has to be found though. In the people who still carry it and they have to be loved and respected. Maybe then, a little bit of what they have will rub off on others.
An innocent mind will always have a place in our society, because it already has to live here. But I am sure the value of that mind could be appreciated far more than at present.

Answer 3

I think there's a difference between being naive and being idealistic. I do think that being naive, or innocent, is not very adaptive, in any society, and personally, I'm happy I lost that innocence early on so that I could successfully live in this world and protect myself from the harmful elements that exists whether or not I know about them.

I think that we can remain innocent by not becoming jaded and bitter. We can still have hope, hope for the best, and strive for an ideal world and society where the bad elements do not exist, but in order to make that change, we must first be aware of and acknowledge the bad, and that requires that we lose a certain level of our innocence.

Answer 4

I don't believe that innocence has a place in our society. We have children killing other children and witnessing unspeakable act that most adults will never see. While young women are taught that from a young age that dressing like an adult woman is acceptable. All of these things take away their gift of innocence and society as a whole will pay for the immoral and unloved generation of children that are coming up in the world.

Answer 5

Yes, I don't see innocence having a large place in our society. It used to be a standard upheld in our society, as a matter of fact it was a big deal for a women to show any skin other than her hands and face. But learned to break out and be themselves free of that conformity, therefore you have people like Elvis Presley, and N.W.A. and all these different groups bringing society to a new level of surprise, that some could call corruption, but they'd probably call saying what everyone is thinking but afraid to say themselves. I personally also like Innocence as well, but in truth I think people find corruption more exciting. We could probably influence the world around ourselves to purity, but not the whole world in it's entirety.

Answer 6

I think this question shares the common religious presupposition that our nature is 'fallen' and that in some mysterious way we are all (us adults) 'guilty'. Then we append a curious badge of 'innocence' onto children, despite the fact that they can be every bit as vicious and selfish as the worst adult.

To say that we are 'so corrupted' is to make a claim that requires evidence. I don't think we are! Most people get up in the morning and face life. They make the best fist of it that they can. They make their way, take some pleasure, and often also give some pleasure. Most of us do our best to be kind, and to avoid giving hurt. We don't live in the best form of society that could exist but neither do we live in the worst!

I therefore think we should avoid beating ourselves up and seeing ourselves as 'corrupted'. Like the flowers and the trees we have a right to be here, and to be ourselves!

Answer 7

Yes, I think it DOES have a place in our society. Remember, innocence does not mean naivete or stupidity. We probably allow our minds to become corrupted because we allow ourselves to be influenced by everything we take in w/ our eyes & ears. Sometimes it's good to shut those things off, when we can. I believe one can even get innocence back if it was lost. :)

Answer 8

absolutely not. For example, I used to think that I had to understand evil in order to understand good, but that's hogwash. There is no need to dwell on dark thoughts, or to understand the negative. If you have something good, a kind of innocence, losing it in order to "evolve" is just some kind of metephysical trapping. Like piercing a perfectly good nose just so someone other than yourself might think that you're cool because of it. Losing innocence- as a state of mind- is self-mutilation.

Answer 9

so true. innocence seems as if it has become a minority in our society. for those who desire to obtain it have a hard fight on their hands. perhaps there needs to be a balanced outlook on innocence. child are innocent in there own kind,tender,humble way. but,the bad side of that is they are vulnerable to the predator. where as innocent that we may strive for is coupled with knowledge and understanding. but,yet we view the events & actions of those around us. we want what they have,we are pushed to be better no matter what it takes,we strive for prominece. and somewhere along the way,we lose our innocence.

Answer 10

The quality of innocence has to be lost otherwise we haven't lived. If we all kept our innocence, we would be in a perfect world because there would have to be nothing there to remove our innocence. And this world is far from perfect.