This Elementary wonder

Englishman GK Chesterton was a severe critic of rationalism. A fervent convert to Catholicism who influenced CS Lewis of "The Chronicles of Narnia" fame, he extolled mysticism and the existence of fairies: 

This elementary wonder... is not a mere fancy derived from the fairy tales; on the contrary, all the fire of the fairy tales is derived from this. Just as we all like love tales because there is an instinct of sex, we all like astonishing tales because they touch the nerve of the ancient instinct of astonishment. This is proved by the fact that when we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we need only tales. Mere life is interesting enough.

There's much in Chesterton to disagree with. But I give him full credit for celebrating the astonishment of the world as it is, and for seeing that too much of modern life is grounded in a belief that we all do better once that astonishment is extinguished by responsible adulthood. That's pretty much the thinking that called into existence rock and roll (although I'm sure GK would disapprove of that). And it is to Chesterton's passage above -- from an essay penned in 1908 titled "The Ethics of Elfland" -- that I return whenever this picture of my youngest, then just two years old, listening for genies in a bottle, resurfaces on social media. 

As GK writes: 

A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door.

That's this picture in a nutshell. A beloved little boy, a quiet day in the woods, a footbridge over a tiny stream, the music of long-lost bottles. 

The elementary wonder of it all.

 

Picture taken on Unicorn Farm. Credit: Yamini Singh