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PAUSE TO WONDER: My sense of god is my sense of wonder about the universe

Last updated: March 26th, 2019

You may have recently seen a news clip of a three-year-old boy hearing his daddy’s voice for the first time. Born with no auditory nerves, he’d just had a microchip surgically embedded in his brain. The poignant moment when his eyes go wide, his hands fly to his face, his head swivels to his dad, has been shown on every major news outlet. I love that expression! That clip was aired again and again because it touches something universal: the innocence of wonder, the miracle of life. Most of us enjoy being around babies; we delight in their state of wonder as they go about discovering life in every moment.

Are we too sophisticated to have these moments? Are we so jaded or cynical that we can’t experience the miracle of being alive and the wonder of any moment? If we really think about it, there is magic present. We meet in a spiritual dimension filled with magic. Einstein wasn’t too sophisticated to imagine himself riding on a beam of light. He was able to look at universal reality and see things that had been present all along, a much larger picture than most of us see. Here are some of his words: “He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed… My sense of god is my sense of wonder about the universe.”

 I think that light and wonder go together. I recently saw an hour-long interview with a contemporary artist named James Turrell. Last summer three prominent museums featured the work of this artist, devoting 92,000 square feet of exhibition space to his work. I had never heard of him. His invitation to viewers is to experience light, but not on canvas. The Guggenheim rotunda was turned into “an enormous volume filled with shifting artificial and natural light, one of the most dramatic transformations of the museum ever conceived.” In the interview Turrell said, “Growing up Quaker, I was told to nurture the light within. I am very interested in experiments where we now suspect that light knows when we’re looking. It has different behaviour when we’re looking through a diffraction grating than when we are not. That imbues it with consciousness.” People who attend these exhibits will be invited, as Einstein put it, “to pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe.”

I’ve noticed the YouTube videos that go viral, viewed by millions, often depict images of wonder. We pass around photos of stunning natural beauty from all corners of the planet and beyond; we watch adorable babies from any species; we witness compassion as unlikely sidekicks help their pals. My favourite was Jack the goat, for years providing the “eyes” for Charlie, a 40-year-old blind horse, as he led him through his daily rounds on the ranch where they lived. Millions have watched, teary-eyed, as the grown lion named Christian rushed out of the wild in Africa, responding to a call from the humans who raised him as a cub. We’ve beheld elephants answering some silent call of the heart, separate herds trekking for hours to gather and honour the passing of a man known for his rescue and rehabilitation efforts for elephants. Why do we love to share these? They convey dimensions of life experience we recognize as facets of the one light within all created being.

A local friend of mine teaching at Colorado State University has been awarded the Tyler Prize—the highest international award in environmental science. She’s regarded as the most influential soil biologist for her study of soil ecology, and collaborates with research teams all around the world. For twenty-five years she has led a team (her fellow “wormherders) to Antarctica to observe nematodes at work in the soil, ingenious chemists apparently. Hearing her speak about her work I’ve been touched by her delight and love for these microscopic creatures, for their profound contribution to our existence. On her blog is an image with the caption: “Here’s a beautiful female Scottnema lindsayae to hold you over until next time!” She sheds light on their story with passion, work fuelled by wonder.

We don’t need moments of blinding epiphany, as Einstein had, to engage with what I would call everyday wonder. I deliberately walk most mornings to encounter a deer holding my gaze along the trail; the joyous chaos of birds greeting the day; the light dancing through the russet mane of a horse I love to watch. As we engage with people and situations in our lives, we shine the one light of creation and intensify the emerging light all around. A wondrous job!

Learn how to practice paying attention more in MINDFULNESS PRACTICE TIPS: Integrating presence into daily life>>

[su_panel background=”#f2f2f2″ color=”#000000″ border=”0px none #ffffff” shadow=”0px 0px 0px #ffffff”]Kristy Clark worked in public education and was a national speaker and consultant in the field of gifted and talented education and creative thinking. She was president of an international nonprofit organization, Renaissance Educational Associates, which emphasized the wholeness and maturity of educators themselves. After a second career in real estate, she now lives in Fort Collins and volunteers in a variety of organizations.

Photo by Tobi from Pexels