Wonder is the beginning of wisdom. ~ Socrates
What is wonder?
We use the word wonder all the time. That’s wonderful. Have a wonderful day. It’s a big wide wonderful world. Wonder Woman.
But what is it exactly? And how do we cultivate it? How important is it?
Wonder is looking at the way the lashes of your sleeping baby curl atop rosy cheeks.
It’s looking at the star-studded sky, knowing that what you can see is a fraction of what lies beyond.
Or the feeling you have when standing on a mountaintop, you see peak after peak unraveling across the horizon.
Wonder is a feeling of awe that inspires exploration.
Wonder[ings] are the questions that arise from feelings of awe. From the emotion comes the inquiry.
Wonder looks beyond the known and embraces astonishment and curiosity.
“We are an impossibility in an impossible universe.” ~ Ray Bradbury
The very fact that we each exist is amazing. Check out this article and infographic that attempts to explain the infinitesimal chance of your own existence. Whatever your belief system, the fact that you are here is astonishing in its improbability.
Wonder is chasing bubbles and finding dreams.
It’s looking at the world through a child’s eyes.
Kids are so fully alive to their surroundings. Have you noticed the way they explore whatever is in front of them? We bring them shiny toys and instead they choose to chase a bug across the floor. Or try to catch the stream of dust that’s visible in the sunlight.
The smallest of things, even the most mundane, evoke awe in the child.
Wonder comes quietly when we’re fully in the present. It’s seeing the beauty in our world. Without expectation.
“Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.” ~ A.R. Ammons
Awe is found in a snowflake. Why is a snowflake a perfect repetition of shape, while the one falling on top of it is uniquely different? And these patterns are found throughout nature. Such as Fibonacci’s sequence. It’s found everywhere. In the petals of a flower to the scales on a cone.
As adults it takes more to startle us out of complacency.
Or worry. Or our own thoughts. It’s harder to fracture our jaded mentality so we can experience astonishment and awe.
Certitude is a corset that constricts wonder. And certitude starts where wonder ends.
Because the greater our understanding of the world, the larger our capacity is for wonder. Often we confuse opinion with understanding. Or we fail to see that our understanding and knowledge is the beginning of a journey into the unknown. Not the end.
Wonder helps us grow both intellectually and in our humanity
When we look at others through the certitude of our own experience, we turn a deaf ear to their story. When we listen to others, we increase our knowledge of the world.
The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.” ~ Ralph W. Sockman
Make the world your sandbox
Look at the ordinary in a new way. Expand your knowledge. Explore what you take for granted. Get dirty. Mud-puddle dirty. It will infuse your life with energy and purpose. And always look for beauty.
“The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass, it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.” ~ Henry Miller
When was the last time you floated a leaf in a mud puddle? Or got down on your hands and knees to follow the trail of ants into the woods? Most likely it was either when you were a kid or when you were with kids. To see the world through a child’s eyes and to question beyond the fragments of our understanding is the beginning of wonder.
What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.” ~ G.K. Chesterton”
Cultivate a discovery mindset
Wonder situates us in the world. It gives us a chance to breathe deeply without the constriction of self.
Curiosity is open. There’s no judgement or opinions.
We use wonder in the most ordinary way daily.
I wonder:
- Where my keys are.
- Will s/he call.
- What the weather will be like tomorrow.
These wonder[ings] are all open to discover.
Of course they don’t evoke awe-inspiring emotions. Often it’s anything but. The point is that they are questions open to exploration and discovery rather than a pre-formulated answer. We just need to apply the concept in a more deliberate way.
Conversely, when we think we know enough – a door shuts. Unless we purposefully keep it open and use it as a portal for further exploration.
Wonder is one side of a mobius loop
Did you know that many conveyor belts, like the luggage conveyors in airports, are mobius loops? Conveyor belts last longer if they have a mobius loop because both sides share the load.
Wonder and curiosity are inextricably linked like a mobius loop.
Wonder keeps curiosity from wearing thin. We’re compelled to ask questions and to look outside ourselves for solutions.
Curiosity, in turn, keeps wonder alive. As we learn and discover and train ourselves to see the world around us, as a child does, the more awe-inspiring it becomes.
“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom the emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand wrapped in awe, is as good as dead —his eyes are closed. The insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive forms—this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.” ~ Albert Einstein
Wonder has many benefits
What follows is subjective. It’s the effect that awe has on me.
- Can’t be bored and curious at the same time
- Or curious and depressed, or angry
- It inspires hope
- Gets me out of myself
- Helps me live in the moment
- Makes me feel alive
- Awakens curiosity
- Inspires imagination and creativity
- Motivates me to explore our world
- To look closely
- And look beyond the obvious and the known
- Evokes a sense of freedom
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour
~ William Blake from Auguries of Innocence
Experience moments of wonder every day
- Dance in the shadows of the unknowable.
- Explore the inexplicable.
- Follow threads of understanding regardless of how small they are.
- Take found objects and create something new.
Wonder is one of my most treasured emotions. Besides love. And often the two are entwined.
“And when the wonder has gone out of a man he is dead… When all comes to all, the most precious element in life is wonder. Love is a great emotion, and power is power, but both love and power are based on wonder. Love without wonder is a sensational affair, and power without wonder is mere force and compulsion.” ~ D. H. Lawrence
Simple things bring joy.
Like the play of sunlight and shadow in the forest. It’s fleeting and perhaps that’s why it never fails to take my breath away. But also because I know it will return. Unexpectedly and slightly different but the anticipation of that moment infuses me with joy.
“He who wonders discovers that this in itself is wonder.” ~ M. C. Escher
“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” ~ Emerson
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~ Priscilla
P.S. I’d love to hear your experiences with wonder. Leave a comment below!