“Maturing Towards Childhood” As Longing and Dreaming. A Possible Vision of Pedagogical Guidance?

Résumé

This article explores the concepts of longing and dreaming as categories fundamental for human development throughout life. It aims to creatively employ concepts from philosophical, literary, and cultural studies and to attempt to transpose them into pedagogy through a brilliant paradox called “maturity towards childhood”. The categories of longing and dreaming are peculiar imponderables that require subtlety of description. The phenomenon of ambivalence is used as a descriptive tool. Hence, the argumentation reveals the dual nature of the categories under investigation: as pain and pleasure, as arche and telos, as “the radiance of life and that which frightens” (Pawliszyn 2019: 331). The essence of the article’s narrative is the argument for the titular “maturing towards childhood”, where childhood is understood, following G. Bachelard, as a cosmic childhood, that is, beyond time. Is the vision of pedagogical guidance toward “maturity towards childhood” as longing and dreaming possible? It is undoubtedly needed so as not to completely strip human education of sensitivity, subtlety, reflectiveness, passion, and the depth of experiencing the world. It is our duty, as those who “guide children” into the world (Greek: paidagogos), to understand, care, and be sensitive to “maturity towards childhood” as a contemporary “competence of absence”.