Wonder is an Emotion

wonder - to think or speculate curiously: to be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe 

"Wonder is the first of all the passions." Descartes

11.2010

All of my life I've had an over active mind, a constant flipping of images and thoughts .  As a child I hated being bored. Always open to new ideas I was great at inventing new games to play with friends.

One night at the age of six or seven we were at a party at some distant family members house in suburban Illinois.  It was a happy gathering filled with music, food, drinks and lots of people most of whom I didn't know.  At some point I grew bored of playing with the kids and wandered outside.  It was a warm night so I thought I'd search for lightning bugs.  I walked beyond the porch and lawn with no luck.  When I reached the sidewalk I realized it was too bright for lightning bugs tonight. I discovered the wonder of the bright full solitary moon.

Eventually the other kids found me outside.  They began pestering me to go back and play.  I wasn't interested I wanted to continue wondering at the moon and I wanted her all to myself .  Being one not to hold back I guess I was rude to them. One of them ran back to the house to persuade my Dad to come outside to get me.  I explained to him that these kids were dorks who didn't understand I was busy looking at the moon.  He smiled, he got it, he got me.  We walked further down the block away from the house and the people to contemplate in silence the wondrous full moon. 

I still get this sensation when I am near nature.  I am open but at the same time at peace.

It's the same when I am creating except then feel I'm part of the continuous flow of the universe not just an observer.



How often do you just . . . wonder?



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“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.” Albert Einstein

"Wonder is the feeling of the philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder." Plato

"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery." Anais Nin

"Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand." Neil Armstrong

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Synonyms: curiosity, cynosure, freak, marvel, miracle, nonpareil, oddity, phenomenon, portent, prodigy, rara avis, rarity, sensation, sight, spectacle, stunner, wonderment, ask oneself, be curious, be inquisitive, conjecture, disbelieve, inquire, meditate, puzzle, query, question, speculate, think