Innocence is sacred. Our natural desire to protect it is so strong that when it is shattered, something within us shatters too. Unlike innocence, naivete is not sacred. It’s a stage we outgrow.

When we learn that unfathomable evil exists and is foundational to societal structures, we lose our naivete. We were naive because we trusted what we were told. Confronted with betrayal, our reflex is to try and fix what broke our trust. We demand that the world keep its promises, restore trust, and pay for what it’s taken.

But that impulse arises from the sting of lost naivete, not the heart of our grief. What we truly mourn is stolen innocence — and the world can’t give that back to us. Only we can navigate our way to what that innocence was and is, and why it’s so deeply important to us. A naive experience of innocence is gone to us. But we can be curious about what healing and wisdom can teach us about the true nature of innocence, about consciously reclaiming and protecting it, and about creating the inner and outer conditions where it can flourish.

Shelly