Namaste. My eyes soak in the wonder that surrounds me. I look and all I see is beauty. If God is love, then all I see is God and all I feel is love. Where you may see wrinkles, all I see are the patterned lines of experience.  Where you see a few extra pounds, all I see is abundant life. Where you see tears of regret, all I see are moist moments of compassion. Where you see failure, all I see are wonderful opportunities in disguise.  I am lost in wonder at the sight of divine miracles all around me.
 
How wonderful! Do you recognize the wonder?
 
You know the old saying. “Jews don’t recognize Jesus. Protestants don’t recognize the Pope. And Baptists don’t recognize each other in Hooters.” Well, I want to add, “Cynics don’t recognize beauty, even when it is sometimes right under our noses.” As those who have fought so hard for the right to think critically, and find liberation from the co-dependent Gods and doctrines of the past, it’s easy to become cynical. A certain amount of cynicism is a healthy thing, as long as it doesn’t blind you to the beauty that surrounds you.
 
The revelation of God is wonder, not judgment. The only true response is silence, not certainty.
Sacred text is poetry and story, not commandment.
Religion is experience, not dogma.
 
I want to inspire you to recognize beauty in new and surprising places, to be filled up with wonder like a jug that has love spilling over the edges. Then I want to show you how wonder is the perfect invitation to action.

The Size and Scope of Wonder

Last week, I began exploring wonder. There are so many examples of wonder. I read a great essay on the connection between wonder and giant IMAX theatres. Seeing an IMAX film elicits many of the same responses as real life moments of wonder. The film makers have paid attention to what moves people in real life.
 
Long and crystal clear shots allow the viewer time to train in on images and sense the wonder. Honing in on detail with enormous clarity evokes the wonder of reality. The image becomes believable. Sweeping but steady camera movement creates a sense of stillness for the viewer. Abrupt contrasts between lingering sweeping shots evoke an element of surprise. The far flung frame edges are beyond the peripheral vision of the viewer, evoking a sense that there’s always more than meets the eye.
 
A person watching an IMAX film will likely have all the same bodily reactions as a person lost in natural wonder. There is a widening of the eyes, a dropped jaw, erect and still posture. All these bodily reactions indicate attention. Breathing and heart rate slow, indicating a sense of alertness. Science would tell us that the brain shuts off its processing systems, so that it can all be taken in without falling back into too much analyzing.  We are hard wired for wonder.
 
Wonder has evolutionary significance. Wonder is an emotion that causes us to delve more deeply and fully into an experience, as opposed to emotions such as fear and shame that make us avoid experience. The avoidance emotions serve a function of survival, but emotions like joy and wonder serve to direct our attention towards an experience. This enables us to adapt to circumstances and find a fresh perspective.
 
Wonder is a full body experience. Consider the sounds of wonder-  “O” and “Ah” and  “WOW” and “Ooh”. The eyes of wonder make shapes to match the sounds like sign language. The eyebrows of wonder raise like stage curtains to reveal the full extent of the widened eyes. Ears stand to attention like the National Guard, ensuring nothing gets between you and the experience. The face of wonder reflects the experience of wonder, so that anyone looking on will get their own moment of wonder as if seeing the experience in a mirror.
 
IMAX offers all the hallmarks of a beautiful natural moment of wonder. You have had many in your own life.

Is Wonder Passive Indulgence?

The connection to IMAX made me wonder. Is wonder indulgent; unnecessary extravagance? In the context of the various crises and challenges of our world right now, is wonder an extravagance? If you live your whole life in wonder, and never feel the call to action, yes. It may also be dangerous for your health.
 
There is a Sufi parable called “The Compassionate Jug”.

In a hot, dusty, and dark hovel lies a man in agony. He is parched and desperate. His condition is made worse by his inability to reach water to quench his thirst. A jug on a shelf on the other side of the room sees his plight and, moved by intense compassion, manages to shift itself to within arms reach of the suffering man. In his thrashing about, the man discovers the jug. In that moment, he is wonderstruck that something so unexpected and kind would happen. He has a burst of adrenalin and sits himself up. He raises the jug to his lips, only to find that it is empty of water. He can’t believe it. He feels he is being teased. In his frustration and anger he throws it against the wall and it breaks into pieces.
 
Wonder is not in itself action. Wonder is receptive. It doesn’t need action. Wonder doesn’t demand or expect anything. It is sufficient unto itself. However wonder is an invitation to action. The jug of wonder is crying out to be filled with a life of compassion. So my theme today is hearing the call of wonder as an invitation to action and compassion.
 
Keep the jug analogy alive a little longer. In Romans 5 Paul says, “God’s love was poured into our hearts.” I find that quite a beautiful expression of wonder. Let me translate those words into a progressive framework. God is the love, God is the pouring and God is the heart. God is the relationship between them all, and God is the wonder of the experience.
 
I’m not sure there is much difference between love and wonder. Maybe love is wonder directed at an object or a person. You can’t grasp love and wonder. Love and wonder grasp you, take you by surprise, turn you upside down, melt away any harshness. You can try and avoid them with cynicism or rational thought., but when you least expect it they will grab your attention like the first crack of lightning in a storm. May you be blessed with moments of love and wonder that take your breath away, and fill your heart with compassion.
 
If you have a heart full of love, then pour your love out like a jug of compassion.

Wonder Creates I-Thou Relationships

Wonder invites a natural expression of love, rather than a contrived altruism. You don’t have to change the world. Just love the world, and that will make all the difference. Learn to see the world through eyes of wonder, with a heart full of love, and that will make all the difference.
 
There is a beautiful extract in J. D. Salinger’s 1954 short story, Teddy. Teddy is a ten year old with enormous spiritual insight, and he is having a conversation with an adult on a cruise ship. This is Teddy’s insight.
 
"I was six when I saw that everything was God, and my hair stood up, and all," Teddy said.  "It was on a Sunday, I remember.  My sister was a tiny child then, and she was drinking her milk, and all of a sudden I saw that she was God and the milk was God.  I mean, all she was doing was pouring God into God, if you know what I mean.”
 
Isn’t that beautiful? God pouring God into God. Wonder is like that. Once you have been touched by wonder, you begin to see everything around you with new eyes. You feel more connected. You feel more compassionate. You feel like you are participating in something huge and grand, and so much larger than any individual ego. The boundaries between you and the rest of life begin to dissolve.
 
20th century German theologian Martin Buber described this as moving from an I-it encounter to an I-Thou relationship.
 
Most of our relationships are I-it. We fight as if we are pounding an inanimate object with no feelings. It’s like the famous conversation when Lady Astor said to Winston Churchill-
 
"Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink."
Churchill replied, "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink the poison."
 
An ‘It” is out there, like a God in the sky, or a person whose life is not related to yours. A “thou” is someone intimately related to you, like a God that is experienced within and between. An I-thou relationship blurs the lines between self and other. I-thou is Jesus deeply moved by the suffering of those he encountered. I-thou is a recognition that all lives are connected and interdependent.
 
I-it is often a relationship of usefulness. People are objects. Relationships are a means to an end; like a marriage of convenience or an act of charity that is really a guilt offering.
I-thou is a relationship of wonder and reverence. You recognize the intrinsic worth of the other person.
 
This sense of unity that comes from a relationship of wonder is amazing motivation for action.

Wonder and Intrinsic Motivation

We all want to live a life that outlasts us. We want to make a difference for the world now and for future generations. The question is, “where does the motivation for such a life come from?”
It comes from an experience of wonder.
 
I saw a beautiful movie last week. It was called The Visitor. The lead character is Walter, a widower who is lost in grief, just barely alive. His life has lost any wonder. He carries out a dull, lifeless routine. The only thing keeping him alive is his shallow breath. When he travels to an apartment he owns but hasn’t been to in years, he discovers that squatters have moved in. They are undocumented immigrants, visitors to America and his apartment. When Walter gets over the disruption and inconvenience to his routine, he surprises himself by inviting them (wanting them) to stay with him until they get settled somewhere else.
 
Walter very quickly moves from seeing the couple as an “it” to a “thou”. He strikes up a beautiful relationship with the Syrian man, Tarek. Tarek is a free spirited drummer. Walter comes home one day to find Tarek playing drums with his pants off; his own expression of freedom and creativity. Over time Walter becomes struck by wonder; at the drums, the freedom, the friendship. Slowly Walter learns to drum, even taking off his pants to play drums when no one is around. The relationship of wonder creates new life for Walter, without him even realizing it.
 
When Tarek is arrested as an illegal immigrant, Walter becomes Tarek’s advocate. Walter becomes the visitor, regularly seeing Tarek in the detention centre. The visitor visits the visitor, and the lines are blurred as to who is helping who. Walter’s wonder created an intrinsic motivation to advocate for Tarek. There is a powerful scene when Walter loses his patience with the authorities. It reminded me of a mother protecting her own. Walter wasn’t offering charity. He was advocating for one who was part of him- wonder had created an I-thou relationship. Action was natural, not contrived. In the process, Walter got his life back.
 
When you are lost in wonder, you can’t tell who’s the visitor and who’s being visited, who’s the helper and who’s being helped. All are related.

Wonder and Effortless Action

Wonder is intimately related to action. It is effortless action, because it doesn’t have a lot of ego attached. It is life loving life.
 
If you are lost in wonder at the sight of a coral reef, its complexity and beauty, you are very unlikely to throw an empty water bottle in it. If you are entranced by the size of the universe, you are less likely to think you are the centre of the world, or that the universe exists to satisfy human needs.  If you are lost in the rapture of a young child learning life’s lessons, you are more likely to be compassionate to that child. If you are in awe of a friend or partner who is clearly doing the best they can in that moment, you will feel only compassion and respect. Wonder is life loving life.
 
Namaste. When wonder in me greets wonder in you, there is only one of us.