The Beauty of Innocence

~ L'Innocence~

The other night I asked Emery a question....did he think it was possible to regain innocence ?

Wikipedia says of innocence, "It can also refer to a state of unknowing, where one's experience is lesser, in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale. In contrast to ignorance, it is generally viewed as a positive term, connoting a blissfully positive view of the world, in particular one where the lack of knowledge stems from a lack of wrongdoing..."

The conversation and question regarding the restoration of innocence came about after seeing a commercial on television for some crime show where such heinous acts were shown. In the brief moment of the commercial, I actually learned something I had never known about and wished I never did learn. I lost a bit of my innocence. Yes, even at 53 there are things I don't know about in the world an I am thankful for not knowing everything.
Our interaction with plain people has shown me the beauty of innocence retained into the adult years. Slang words, unknown, sins never heard of, lack of expecting people to do wrong, and the list can go on and on. To live 6 decades perhaps and never know of some of the ugliness in life is not a negative to me, its beautiful. I am reminded of a verse in the New Testament that is an instruction for Christians....For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret (Ephesians 5:12). If its shameful to even mention what the disobedient do in secret, it sure must be shameful to watch what they do. And without watching or talking about the ugly side of life, our innocence is really preserved. But what about if you have already taken in all this stuff, and find yourself giggling at innuendos and such ? What to do to decontaminate your mind from the very things that took innocence away. I can hear some of your saying, "but, innocence leaves you vulnerable and prone to be taken advantage of. " I have a solution to that one, but its another subject all together. Honestly, I know very few innocent adults in the plain world that are taken advantage of.
So back to the original question, can innocence be regained, restored ? I suspect so, in time. Lots of time maybe and with effort to think of the good things. Jesus said we are to become like children...children were innocent so much longer in the old days, before we lost the defining line between what is acceptable for young minds to see, hear and experience.
What do you think about innocence and retaining it, restoring it, regaining it ?

Normally I use my own photography but I love this painting "L'Innocence" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau and I felt it was perfect for this subject.
This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
This applies to the United States, Canada, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.