We are talking about wonder. What is wonder, my friends?
A sense of awe.
A state between knowing and not knowing.
Finding something to question and explore.
An expectation of delight about discovery.
All of these are true.
The needs of the body are readily at hand for us to consider. The consequences of ignoring those needs are also readily understood when the effects of deprivation set in. Much is said about the mind as a function of the brain, and yet little or nothing is done even from this materialistic point of view to address the needs of the mind. If you accept mind as an emergent quality of the brain, then the needs of the mind are bodily needs, no less important than food or water or shelter. So what is this world that a mind should starve so? Do you feel your mental needs are met?
Interesting that it has become more of a struggle then the material. With increasing material wealth it seems we have arrived at a state of pronounced mental poverty. Everything in your life is expected to be subordinated to the money making process.
There is a prejudice about “spiritual people”. So called logical ones see them as childish or even mad and not to be taken seriously. I do not share my learning’s here with everyone for that reason. They would not be welcoming to it. That is unfortunately sound judgement, friend.
Yes, even philosophically oriented people can freak out if you mention magic or even divination. Yet these supposed philosophers wonder.
I guess because no one can see inside another persons mind, so we don’t trust what can’t be obviously seen. We don’t want to be tricked or made a fool of. Many topics of wonder are taboo in the age of reason.
All forms of wonder are based on an instinctive assumption. Actually, a small set of assumptions. The first and foremost being that there is something that can actually be experienced and understood. All philosophy has any value only if you accept this first assumption.
The second aspect of wonder is the understanding that there is an order or a way of things that both includes and transcends human experience. Taoism is fundamentally based on the second assumption.
Human habits of mind have had an astounding impact on our world. They have reshaped even some of the most primal aspects of the natural world to new and weirder forms with both the benefits and the often steep costs. To quote a lyric from one of Sting’s songs, “I never saw no miracle of science, that didn’t go from a blessing to a curse.” Another that also relates and from the same song, “I never saw no military solution, that didn’t always end up with something worse.”
Wonder is not a human habit of mind. It’s the default state of mind. It’s the childs mind or the beginners mind, and though people think that wonder and knowledge are somehow mutually exclusive, there is no living knowledge without wonder. They call that being “educated”.
Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.
Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~