By Arie Kizel
When looking
at a mustard seed, it is difficult to imagine that from this tiny seed, whose
diameter does not exceed a millimeter or two, a thick bush or a shading tree
will grow. This powerful image stands at the heart of one of the most familiar
parables in the New Testament (appearing in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and
Luke). While the original context of the parable is religious and
spiritual—describing how the Kingdom of Heaven begins small and expands to
giant proportions—one can find in the mustard seed a fascinating and inspiring
analogy for Philosophy for/with Children (P4wC).
The Parable
of the Mustard Seed is one of Jesus's most famous parables, appearing in three
of the four Gospels in the New Testament (the Synoptic Gospels). The parable
appears in the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 13, verses 31–32; in the Gospel of
Mark, Chapter 4, verses 30–32; and in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 13, verses
18–19. The verses are presented differently, but they all share common
elements: the tiny seed that becomes a large tree, great faith, large branches.
For those looking deeply into the layers of the parable and at times into the
metaphor, it is immediately understood that faith possesses immense power, or
at the very least, a potential for such power.
The
scriptural parable allows for deep parallels regarding potential, growth, and
the way great ideas begin with a small spark. For instance, in a young child.
In the
original parable, the emphasis is on the sharp contrast between the starting
point and the final result. The seed is "the smallest of all seeds,"
yet it carries within it a complete genetic code of life and power.
In the world
of philosophy for/with children, the child is the mustard seed. Often, and very
unfortunately, the adult system tends to underestimate the cognitive and
existential capabilities of young children. Adults believe they are too young
to understand or philosophize about concepts such as justice, death, time, or
morality.
The
"Philosophy for Children" approach—founded by Prof. Matthew Lipman in
the United States, drawing upon other thinkers and supported today by top
psychologists of early childhood (such as the American Alison Gopnik)—proves
the exact opposite: within innocent, childish thought lies immense
philosophical potential. A simple question from a five-year-old child, such as
"Where does yesterday go when it ends?", is a cognitive mustard seed.
It is a profound metaphysical question that is no less ambitious than the
thoughts of history's greatest philosophers.
The mustard
seed does not turn into a tree overnight. It needs good soil, water, sun, and
time. Similarly, a child's philosophical thought does not develop in a vacuum.
In Philosophy for/with Children, the key tool for growth is the "community of philosophical inquiry." The teacher or facilitator does not function as the "source of knowledge" dictating answers, but rather as a gardener, a nurturer, an enabler.
The role of these facilitators is to create a
safe, listening, and challenging environment (the soil and the water), where
children can raise hypotheses, listen to one another, argue respectfully, and
test the boundaries of their thought. Through group dialogue, that small,
initial question grows and becomes a complex structure of critical, creative,
and caring thinking. Their role is not to give grades, and separating from this
teacherly need is one of the greatest difficulties for educators.
The end of
the parable describes the impressive result. In the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 4,
verse 32: "Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all
garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the sky can perch in
its shade." The tree that grows from the mustard seed becomes a space of
protection, giving, and hospitality for other creatures ("the birds of the
sky"). This is precisely the long-term effect of philosophical thinking
from a young age when it is liberated from adult interference.
A child who
is given the chance to think independently, to question, and to formulate their
own philosophical stance, does not only grow on an individual intellectual
level. They develop "branches" of empathy, tolerance, and the
capacity to contain views different from their own. In an alienated and
polarized world, children who have gone through a philosophical process become
adults capable of creating a protected and shaded space for the society around
them. Philosophical thinking gives them deep roots of mental resilience and
self-awareness, alongside wide branches of civic and social engagement.
When we allow boys and girls to philosophize, we allow them to sow the mustard seeds, and from this, society can benefit. If you only believe.
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