It is considered the lot of narrow-minded and simple-minded people. But what if the simpleton is not as simple as it seems? Behind the mask of conscious naivety, there may be a power that can sweep away prejudice and awaken creativity in us.
Simplicity, gullibility, the ability to sincerely and openly admire music, films or another person, ingenuousness are all components of naivety (as opposed to over-complexity and cynicism). Of a simple-hearted person we say: “He is as naive as a child!” and we experience, above all, touching feelings.
“Naive”, from the Latin word nativus, – “born” (“innate”), that is, we are talking about a natural, direct, non-reflective childish view of the nature of things”*. Perhaps that is why a meeting with a naive person involuntarily awakens in us the memory of the original sincerity and immediacy of perception of the world and people.
But naivete can be just as irritating. “Such a duality of feelings suggests that naivety is multifaceted,” explains transactional analyst Ekaterina Ignatova. For what?
Such behavior is a defensive position in the face of reality, life’s difficulties, which cannot be influenced.
Transactional analysis suggests that in different circumstances our “I” manifests itself in three states: Child, Parent, Adult.
“If the Parent habitually dominates, who knows everything in advance and at the same time does not see beyond his own nose, then such naive omniscience will most likely be perceived as stupidity and narrow-mindedness,” says Ekaterina Ignatova. — When a child dominates in a person, who is afraid to take responsibility, others focus on his infantilism. And only when dealing with those in whom the Child lives – spontaneous and trusting – we perceive his naivety most often without condemnation, on the contrary, emphasizing his openness and purity of soul.
Where does naivete come from? “Most often, this is a subjective position that a person unconsciously takes and which manifests itself in the form of repression,” says psychologist, expert in psychodiagnostics Lyudmila Yashina. – It’s something like “I don’t want to know anything about the imperfection of the world and my being. And I’ll act like it doesn’t exist.” Such behavior is a defensive position in the face of reality, life’s difficulties, sometimes tragedies and catastrophes that cannot be influenced.
Avoidance strategy
Sometimes naivete can hide laziness, manipulation (feigning incapacity to be taken care of), or cowardice (feigning ignorance so as not to take responsibility). That is why for many it is unacceptable.
“All those ‘Yeah, you think so?’ and “We wanted the best,” in which real deeds and actions get stuck like a fly in honey, they just enrage me, 37-year-old Oleg, head of a PR agency, is indignant. “Naive people love to play the victim of circumstances, actually manipulating you and trying to arouse sympathy.”
“Often those who are guided by very high standards behave naively,” says Lyudmila Yashina. “For example, at an early age they were taught that lying is not good, and they do not imagine deception in adulthood.
Such people do not talk about truth and lies, they just feel and live like that. They are guided by high morality, any deceit revolts them: “How could he do this? Why spread deliberate lies? Such people are really very gullible, and they are easily deceived.
Being in the present, the beginner is delighted with his discoveries, he receives, he has everything, he does not feel lack
So, 26-year-old Marina was deceived by a partner for three years, and then suddenly left. “I trusted our relationship and did not think that I would have a reason for jealousy. Friends warned: “Trust, but verify.” But I do not believe that this principle is correct, and I hope to meet a man who shares my views.
The psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan wrote of those who see naivete as a flaw: “The undeceived err.” Valeria is just sure that you will not deceive her. She is 45 years old, and from her youth she reproaches her mother for looking at life through rose-colored glasses: “She can stop in the middle of a crowded street and start admiring the color of a cloud or the shape of a gasoline spot on the pavement. I can’t bear this loud innocence.”
In accordance with this
The “naive mind,” or conscious naivety that irritates Valery so much, appeals to the philosopher Michel Lacroix: “It is the naivety of an adult, which consists of knowledge, realism, insight, and also the sum of disappointments. By suppressing it, you can deprive yourself of the basic qualities necessary for a prosperous life: trust, admiration, openness, enthusiasm.
The giftedness of the simple-minded is also explained by Zen philosophy, which has the concept of shoshin, that is, “the mind of a beginner”: “It contains many possibilities that a master does not have,” says Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki ***. In other words, to those who look at the world with a fresh look, much more is revealed.
“Naivety is a way of being in tune with the present and only the present,” Shunryu Suzuki continues. We suffer not from what we lack, but from ignorance of what we have. And being in the present, the beginner is delighted with his discoveries, he receives, he has everything, he does not feel lack.
The freshness of the worldview helps us to be open to other people. “I think that a person is by nature kind and can be trusted,” smiles Elena, 30, a school teacher. “But I am often told that I am naive, especially for a teacher who every day is faced with little tricks of his students, in particular, with the desire to evade punishment for not learning a lesson. And then I answer that cynicism destroys the planet, and naivety will save it!”
“In addition to the fact that with a naive view of the world we remain flexible and receptive to the new, naivety – and this is no less important – allows us to believe and trust, – Ekaterina Ignatova sums up. “Trust yourself, others, and the world at large.” Perhaps conscious naivete is the most harmonious state of our soul?
* Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary (Infra-M, 2011).
** J. Lacan, Seminar XXI, Les Non-dupes errent, 13 ноября 1973 года.
*** C. Suzuki “Zen Consciousness, Beginner Consciousness” (Alpina Publisher, 2013).