Namaste. Wonder in me greets wonder in you.

Georgia O'Keefe says, “no one ever sees a flower, really. It's so small it takes time. We don't have time. To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time.”

Let’s take some time to wonder together.

Do you ever wonder at the wonder of life?
Do you wonder why there is something in the universe rather than nothing; a great empty void?
Do you wonder why you exist with your unique combination of flesh and cell, and not someone else?
Do you wonder if you are dreaming, or awake?
Do you wonder why you have a will to live and love?
Do you ever wonder at the intricate forces combining to create a single snow flake?
Do you ever look at where the water seems to touch the sky, before disappearing in a massive waterfall and just wonder?
Do you ever wonder if there is an end to discovery or if there will always be more?
Do you ever wonder why you wonder- why you seek beauty you can’t even define?
Do you ever wonder who is the “I” who is doing the wondering? Who is it, who watches through your eyes, listens with your ears, and feels with your hands? Who notices all this, and is aware of all this wondering?

You don’t have to answer all the questions. Just love the wonder and that will fill your life with joy.
You don’t have to name all the mysteries. Just love the experience and that will fill your life with meaning and beauty.
You don’t have to solve the problems of the world. Just love the world, and that will make all the difference.

Wonder and Humility

One of the dangers of a sermon on wonder is that wonder is a completely subjective experience. What can I say about your personal experience of wonder? It’s like the time I walked into a bookstore and asked the assistant where the “self help” section is. She answered without hesitation, ‘If I told you that, it would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”

How can I tell you about wonder? Wouldn’t that be defeating the purpose? Each of us finds wonder in different places? Maybe I can point you to the wonder that is all around you? One of the benefits of wonder is that it keeps you grounded. It gives you a sense of humility and openness. These are some of things that I wonder about-

What would a chair look like if your knees bent the other way?
I wonder about the first person who looked at a cow and said, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?"
What was going through the mind of the first person who said, "See that chicken there....I'm going to make omelet out of the next thing that comes out of its backside."
When it rains, why don't sheep shrink?
How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't grow in it?
If nothing ever sticks to teflon, how do they make teflon stick to the pan?

There is one thing I always wondered about when I was a kid; the castaways on Gilligan's Island built huts and generators, they even made a radio out of a coconut. Why couldn't they fix a hole in a boat?

These are some of life’s big questions. Questions that can’t be answered or don’t need to be answered are good for your soul. They keep you in a state of openness and humility.

Science, Religion and Curiosity

Is religion for you something that arrived with a blueprint; a tradition, a set of beliefs or commandments, a revelation from God that you inherit? Or is religion an emerging experience? For me, it’s the latter.

A few years back the United Church of Christ ran an advertising campaign with the slogan, “Never place a period where God intended a comma.” It included the image of a comma. It’s really another way of saying, “there’s always more.”

The poet Isaiah described God as an emerging force. He said, “Behold, I am about to do a new thing: Now it springs forth. Do you not perceive it?” What a nice statement of curiosity!

Both science and religion demand a healthy dose of curiosity, a trust that there is always more; more to learn, more to question, more to perceive.

Last night, Meg and I were dining with good friends. We were reminiscing about our marriage, and some of the ups and downs of our 18 years together. There was a time about seven years into the marriage, when it felt like a period had been placed, marking the end of our relationship. We got stuck. We could see no way forward. What saved us began as curiosity. We wondered if there could be more, and behold a new thing emerged. We learnt something from that crisis. It has never ceased to amaze me ever since how we have recreated our relationship, and it always begins with curiosity. Curiosity draws us back together. Wonder propels us forward, into a wide eyed wonder at a love that can survive the greatest odds.

I’m not a scientist, but I can only imagine that curiosity has driven scientists to seek the “more” in nature, the new thing emerging.

When you feel stuck in your spiritual life, you feel stale, remember that there are no blueprints for spirituality. A new thing is always emerging if you would only perceive it. Miracles are all around you, awaiting your attention. They are the moments that take your breath away.

Tibetan teacher Chogyam Trumpa said, “When you see ordinary situations with extraordinary insight, it is like discovering a jewel in rubbish.”

Moving From Curiosity to Wonder

There’s a distinction between curiosity and wonder. Curiosity is flighty, always on the move. Curiosity is tentative and uncommitted. Wonder has nowhere to go and nowhere more perfect to be. Curiosity moves from one question to another. Wonder can barely takes its eyes off the moment, and needs nothing more than awareness.

The analogy that comes to mind is the curiosity that doesn’t kill the cat. The cat will sniff at your feet with curiosity. If it doesn’t like the reaction, it will move on to the next person. But once a cat commits to a lap, it is pure wonder. For the cat anyway. The cat sniffs in curiosity, but once it makes a commitment, it is lost in the lap of wonder.

Curiosity draws people to recreate a relationship. Wonder leaves two people locked in loving gaze for years. Curiosity gives you a new perspective on your spiritual path. Wonder leaves you in awe of life, knowing that there is always more and yet there is no need for more.
Curiosity needs to seek out the unbelievable. Wonder finds everything miraculous. Curiosity seeks the extraordinary. Wonder finds everything extraordinary. Curiosity craves answers. Wonder is happy to allow questions to remain unanswered.

Curiosity deals in pieces of truth, breaking them down and studying them in detail. Wonder revels in how the pieces form a greater whole.

Healthy science and healthy religion need both curiosity and wonder.

What could I offer you in terms of clues as to how to nurture wonder in your life? Maybe to beware of labels, that can detract from the experience of wonder.

Moving Beyond Labels

I remember walking with my son when he was about 2. He looked up and saw something flying in the sky. He said to me, ”What’s that Dada?” I looked up and replied, “That’s a bird.” He said the word after me, “Bird.” It felt like a nice teaching moment. Suddenly another bird flew overhead. My son said again, “What’s that Dada?” I sighed inwardly, “This is going to be a long walk. This kid is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Didn’t I just say…..?” After gathering some patience I said, “That’s a bird.” I looked at my son’s face and he looked so disappointed and confused. How could they both be birds? They look totally different. The only thing they have in common is that they are both soaring over our heads. My label had smothered some of his wonder.

Labels have a habit of putting periods on an inquiry. Suddenly this creature is not an awesome, majestic flying wonder. It’s a bird. Done. Period.

I had missed the key word in my son’s sentence- “that”. Do you know that the Hebrew Bible describes what we now call “God” with the word “that”. The goal for the Hebrews was to stand in awe of a reality that could never be labeled, categorized or fully defined. That’s wonder. It could never be compared to anything adequately or completely seen with physical sight. It was an inner experience. Wonder always begins as an inner experience.

Attempt to experience life with fewer labels. I know that labels are necessary for communication, but my son was on to something. At least try and delay the labeling until your appetite for wonder has been partially fed.

Metaphor is also helpful. The next time you see a single snowflake, imagine it as a triumph of architecture. Neither the pyramids of Egypt nor the Cathedrals of Europe can rival this miracle in shape, in symmetry, in splendor! Instead of putting a period on the experience by labeling it a snowflake, keep the wonder alive by opening up new connections and adventures in your mind.

Labels often do a good job of feeding the ego. The ego loves to be able to control and name things. It feels very important and predictable. But labels don’t always do a good job of feeding the appetite for wonder.

Your Appetite for Wonder

Human beings have an evolutionary appetite for wonder. Wonder is one of the primary evolutionary emotions. It isn’t like fear or anger, which elicit a fight or flight response. Wonder doesn’t have much short term evolutionary benefit. It has a longer term adaptive effect. It enables you to stay open to the emerging future, awake to possibility, alive to the reality that there is always more. Wonder invites you into a future that is grander and more peaceful than any reality you have known.

You have an appetite for wonder, and it needs to be fed. Richard Dawkins and others would agree with this and say that the appetite for wonder should be fed in science and not in religion. I beg to differ. As long as religion dwells in an open future with no need for a divine blue print that defies the laws of nature, it can feed the appetite for wonder. As long as spirituality dwells in experience and not dogma, it can feed the appetite for wonder. As long as the rituals and stories and practices of religion remain open to the new thing that is always emerging, then it can feed the appetite for wonder.

Wonder Begins on the Inside

Let me end with a fun story that captures the experience of wonder. A small boy was obsessed with his new drums. He played all day and loved every moment of it. He would not be quiet, no matter what anyone else said or did. As you can imagine, this created quite a problem for neighbors. Various people were called in by neighbors and asked to do something about the child.

The first adviser told the boy that he would ruin his eardrums if he continued to make so much noise. This reasoning was unconvincing to the child. He didn’t care about the future. The second told him that drum beating was a sacred activity and should be carried out only on special occasions. He didn’t buy that either. The third offered the neighbors plugs for their ears; the fourth gave the boy a book; the fifth gave the neighbors books that described a method of controlling anger. Like all placebos, each of these remedies worked for a short while, but none worked for very long. Eventually, a wise person looked at the situation, handed the boy a hammer and chisel, and said, "I wonder what is INSIDE the drum?"

Nice problem solving. Wonder can do that, as it breaks down your assumptions and expectations about how life should be playing out.

Every situation in your life is an opportunity to feed your appetite for wonder, no matter how ordinary. Practice taking the opportunity to notice your own experience of life, freed from labels and categories. Spend plenty of time, wondering what’s happening inside, and you will be like a diner in a restaurant where wonder flows freely in an endless smorgasbord of ordinary, sensual delight.