Living in Wonder

For men were first led to study philosophy, as indeed they are today, by wonder.
(Aristotle, Metaphysics 982b, tr. A.E. Taylor)

For Aristotle, this kind of wonder was a feeling of being perplexed, a questioning that would lead to knowledge and wisdom. I like this kind of wonder, that causes questions and inquiry. It can lead to experiments, creativity and innovation. It can be the spark that generates great ideas, new ways of thinking and living.

More recently I have been taken with a different kind of wonder. The kind that makes you pause, sit up and say ‘Wow.’ The kind that is so often associated with children when they discover something new. Their eyes are transfixed; some kind of miracle has occurred and they delight in being part of this experience.

It has been one of those weeks that has found me grumbling about a variety of things. A friend of mine was out and about exploring new places in her local area. She said, ‘When you are looking for goodness you see it everywhere.’ When I read my friend’s thoughts it made me think, what am I looking for? It’s so much easier to grumble or complain, but what do I miss when I am focused on the negative?

Wonder is associated with childlikeness and perhaps seen as a bit naïve, but wonder can have a transformative effect. It allows us to be fully present – we are lost in the moment of awe and admiration. We allow ourselves to be fully there not worrying about the future or dwelling on the past.

Sitting in the shade in a friend’s garden, someone commented about the birds overhead. As we looked up, we saw birds of prey soaring above us. It was an opportunity to marvel at the gift of flight, freedom, the beauty of their wing spans and the majesty of their ascension. Our senses were captivated and our vision expanded. Wonder invites us to look beyond ourselves.

Most dictionary definitions include the word astonishment in their explanations. Whilst this is true, wonder can be broader than those sights that make us gasp. It can be noticing the detail of the everyday. Observing something new about an item that we have previously failed to see. It doesn’t have to be within nature, although that is an obvious place to look. I am enjoying particular lines in the novel I am reading. The images that are conjured up by just one line of well crafted words. I read them again. It brings enjoyment and inspiration.

The heat and sunshine call for us to slow down. It is the perfect opportunity to change perspective. To consider what we are looking for and how we are looking at what is before us. There is an invitation to look a little closer, a little deeper, for a little longer and embrace the now of wonder.

Look a little deeper

The other day I was looking through our bedroom window – this is not a natural place from which to observe as it is directly above the bed and it is only from the bed that you get a good view. It looks out onto our drive and the street. But if you look up and beyond our street there is a flag and beyond that are clouds of green from distant trees. We have lived here for over four years and I don’t think I have ever seen that flag or the trees in the distance before. It got me thinking about what else I miss because I am quick to look but don’t take time to observe.

Aristotle applauded the skill of observation. For him, what we can see, hear, taste, feel & smell are the concrete signs of truth around us. Plato’s view that our changing world could not be trusted because everything is in a state of flux did not make sense to Aristotle. Aristotle believed that it made more sense to trust in what could be observed rather than some imagined ideal state existing beyond our world. I’m not sure I fully agree with either of them but I am learning the benefit of greater observation. It is not just my sight that has been affected. I have changed my eating habits so that for a longer period of time I am fasting in the day. When I break my fast for the day, the experience of taste is heightened. Initially I wanted to wolf down anything and everything and I would waste time thinking about what food I was going to have. I am neither rushing nor being particularly mindful and slow when it comes to eating, but I am aware that there is a greater sense of enjoyment in those first bites. There is a greater sense of appreciation in the variety of food that I could eat. I no longer feel constrained by meals that are typical breakfasts or lunches and there is something very freeing in that.

The old adage ‘seeing is believing’ has been found wanting, but seeing, really looking, takes us closer to understanding which questions need asking. This is true in science. Observation leads to hypothesis leads to asking the right questions and experimenting to discover the answers. I wonder what questions and answers I have missed because I failed to really look. People are communicating with us all the time, sometimes it’s with their words but most of the time they are relying on us to look, to really see what needs asking rather than relying on the trite clichéd questions that often fall out of our mouths.

During the Easter weekend I spent some time flicking through the Guardian’s magazine series ‘Do Something’. One of the activities that jumped out at me was street photography. I thought that this would be a great way to put my desire for greater observation into focus! I decided that I would take photos of the same part of our high street at regular intervals in the day and observe the changes that occurred.

It was daunting holding up a camera to capture people in my chosen scene. No one asked what I was doing, and as the day progressed I felt more confident in my role as photographer, capturing moments, looking for the details.

We all have the ability to make discoveries through observation. They might not be world-changing scientific ones, but they might be ones that change our world and the people around us. Taking notice has increased my sense of wonder and appreciation.

Leisure

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.
No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.
No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.
No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.
No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.
A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

William Henry Davies