"In some sense, kids don't have words early on. So they're just seeing without a filter of words. And I even have memories myself as a young child of just the wonder. I remember walking to kindergarten and seeing this bush with all sorts of flowers on it, and all these monarch butterflies on it. And I was completely transfixed. Here I was, five years old, I was looking at magic, and I knew I was looking at magic. And I stayed there so long that I was late to kindergarten. And I learned that I got in trouble for that. So taking time to enjoy the magic, I learned early on was something that would get me in trouble. Our growing up and becoming adults, we often learn to not give time to the magic because there is no time for it. You need to get onto the next thing."

Donald D. Hoffman is a Professor of Cognitive Sciences at the University of Cal ...