Item # 63: Advocating for Naïveté.

Recently I discovered I might be naïve.

I had asked a group of 20-somethings to introduce themselves by sharing a story about something which they were proud of and which they believed to be unique to them personally. One told of how he had climbed Everest, another about having lived in 17 different cities, another of having recorded an original song he wrote and yet another who told us of his near-death encounter with a bear in a forest. I listened to these stories, wide-eyed and attentive, interested and enthralled. Such amazing stories. Or so I thought.

It turned out that one of the stories was simply not true. It was shared in jest, and was supposed to be so obviously absurd that I would recognize this, and chuckle. I did not.

Because I am naïve.

I realized it at that moment. See, when someone tells me a story, proposes an idea, suggests an opinion, I take what they are saying to be a sincere truth. I accept any thought, idea or opinion to be worthy of my serious attention and my open-minded consideration. To be clear, I may (and often do) disagree with what is being stated; I may question or critique what I am hearing, but I trust that whatever is being stated, is being stated with authenticity, with honest intention.

Some time ago I recognized that I was an Idealist. I even added it to my Twitter profile: “Located at: A Land of Ideals & Toronto.” While others often tossed the ‘idealist’ moniker in my direction in a disparaging way, I came to realize that others labeled me ‘idealist’ due to my interminable solution seeking. Rarely accepting ‘no’ as an answer, always believing there was a way, those qualities led colleagues (and boyfriends) to send barbs of ‘be realistic!’ in my direction, and to shake in frustration at the sky-high ambitions and expectations I just couldn’t release. Even if others could not, I came to terms with my Idealism.

But naïve, well, this represented a new discovery.

na·ive 

• having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.
• having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous.
• having or marked by a simple, unaffectedly direct style reflecting little or no formal training or technique.
• simple, unaffected, unsuspecting, artless, guileless, candid, open, plain.

The initial investigation did not look promising. I certainly did not want to be “unsophisticated”, “artless” or “plain”.

But upon deeper investigation, in stripping away the negative, emotionally loaded terms, I noticed others: “unaffected”; “candid”; “open”; “having a lack of judgment”; “absence of artificiality”. Upon deeper investigation I saw associations I could get behind, things I would like to be.

Then I came across a quote from Friedrich Schiller:

Every true genius is bound to be naïve.

Poet, Philosopher-Partner to Goethe and the second most influential playwright in Europe, Schiller seemed to have some thoughts on being naïve. Schiller wrote about how the sacrifice for conceptual ideals is about the drive for self-preservation and ultimately human freedom.

And then I came across another quote by Pulitzer Prize winner, Academy Award winner, Speechwriter for Franklin D. Roosevelt and one-time screenwriter for Alfred Hitchcock, Robert E. Sherwood:

To be able to write a play a man must be sensitive, imaginative, naïve, gullible, passionate; he must be something of an imbecile, something of a poet, something of a liar, something of a damn fool.

So...where am I going with this? Where do I mean to end up? I bring this full circle in order to Advocate for Naïveté. These men quoted above were Advocates for Naïveté. In advocating for naïveté, I think I conclude that it is a good thing to be open, candid, to have a lack of judgment…to be naïve.

And on that note, I have to update my Twitter profile. Located At: “A Land of Ideals. Populated by the Perpetually Naïve.”