This week I wrote a blog post for a website called Arts of Thought, which features articles on psyche and spirit, love and intimacy, and spiritual practices among other topics. The piece is called Neoteny: The Art of Being Young at Heart.     In my new novel, Childless, I use the concept of neoteny (Latin...Read More

You’re child is a genius.  No, I don’t mean that your child is an Einstein or a Picasso or a Martha Graham.  I’m using the word ”genius” in its original meaning which relates to ”giving birth” (e.g. genesis) and ”bringing pleasure” (e.g. genial).  Thus, being a genius means giving birth to joy, and I believe...Read More

Over the past thirty years, I’ve sought to explain to educators and parents that each child is a natural genius, born with innate curiosity, creativity, playfulness, imagination, wonder, wisdom, and many other qualities besides.  As many great thinkers have pointed out, the challenge is not how to get our children to be creative or curious,...Read More

I’ve often claimed that every child is a genius.  This is sometimes misunderstood to mean that I think every child could be an Einstein or a Picasso.  I mean nothing of the kind.  I’m using the word ”genius” in its original meaning, which means ”to give birth” (it’s related etymologically to the word ”genesis”) and...Read More

Here are some quotations that I’ve collected over the years about the amazing genius of children. “The real magic wand is the child’s own mind.” – Jose Ortega Y Gasset (Spanish philosopher) “The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” – Mencius (Chinese sage) “No Columbus, no Marco Polo has ever seen stranger and...Read More