RECLAIMING WONDER TO EXPERIENCE THE GOOD, THE TRUE, THE BEAUTIFUL

 

 

While I was researching about seeing a “living pterosaur,” I encountered the mind set of “if you can’t prove it, then it doesn’t exist.” The stated view of reality of modern life does not include “living pterosaurs,” hence the scare quotes. Modern society also gives a stink eye to belief in multiple Gods and any other “supernatural” Beings.

 

My conclusion is that many people today are detached from the world they live in. Various reasons are given for this alienation. Since the world of modernity is inhuman, people are expected to be machines. Consider the metric system in which every measurement is divided by ten. In contrast, the English system is governed by the human body. An English foot is based on the human foot.

 

Because people see themselves as organic machines, they have become enslaved by the modern culture. Overworked, exhausted and overstimulated, people seek relief in addictions or in machines (like TVs). They have forgotten how to be human beings and remain human doings.

 

The rise of secularism combined with the practice of rationality and the scientific method caused widespread disbelief in the transcendent and the immanent. Nowadays, people do not expect magic to happen. They fail to see the dragon outside their door or the elf standing by their fence. By being rationalists, people have lost the capacity for the unexpected. Meanwhile, a person filled with wonder will see magic everywhere such a dragon sunning themselves on a mountain.

 

The Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor in “A Secular Age,” explained how this disenchantment happened. First belief that the natural world “testified to divine purpose and action” was discouraged. Then God (the Gods) was eliminated as a part of society. This also included the entire cosmic family. Now, people are convinced that the Lesser Spirits such as the Lars have no effect on anything.

 

Yard signs with slogans of “In this house, we believe…” dot lawns. (Most are simplistic platitudes and trite tautologies). One slogan stands out – “Science is real.” What is not understood is that science depends on the theory of the uniformity of nature. Moreover, the scientific method is a philosophy and theory. It assumes a homogeneous universe: the laws of nature have to be the same always and everywhere. By definition, science shifts with each paradigm change from Newtonian physics to quantum physics.

 

Charles Taylor wrote in “A Secular Age,” “we move from an enchanted world, inhabited by spirits and forces, to a disenchanted one; but perhaps more important, we have moved from a world which is encompassed withing certain bounds and static to one which is vast, feels infinite, and is in the midst of an evolution spread over aeons.” In this new world, people have no relationships and no framework.

 

People long for beauty and awe. The modern world is hollow with substitutes such as virtual reality and smart phones. As William Wordsworth, the English poet wrote,

The world is too much with us; late and soon,

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;—

Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!

 

Wonder depends on regarding the universe as a heterogeneous cosmos. For those filled with wonder, the world is not flattened nor empty. I realized that when pondering what I saw which was a “living pterosaur.” These cryptids are not supposed to exist these days. The rational mind says that I was mistaken in what I saw. The wondering mind say “Wow!”

 

How does a person become enchanted with their world? First just stop. Take a holy pause for five minutes. Lay down the urge to do and the need to be distracted. Sit still. Think of the pause as sacred rest. Resist the culture of busyness.

 

Christine Valters Paintner in “The Soul’s Slow Ripening,” suggests going outside into the landscape and walking. This connects people with the earth. The landscape remembers and provides places of thresholds where “we can experience the nearness of heaven and earth to each other.” Then she notes “when we awaken to the holy shimmering in each flower, tree, and bird, we suddenly discover that we are woven into a vast community.” This gives people a framework for relations in the vast world that is described by Charles Taylor.