To me, it seems like one of the most basic emotions and perspectives on life that ties everything together is this sense of wonder.
What is this universe that we’re in? What is this experience of having life? this is amazing.
I just can’t believe that this whole thing exists.
And we can look into the science and imagine, try to find some kind of patterns and understand why certain things work in certain ways in the universe, but nothing in science comes close to touching the basic question of why does anything exist at all? It seems like this emotion, this reaction to being alive in the universe, is something that is there for us at all times.
It is available to us.
At any time, we can simply remember the amazingness of the fact that anything exists at all, for anybody in the universe, for this whole thing.
And for us personally, how amazing it is that we personally get a chance to exist for this time.
I mean, if we could really remember that at any moment, just call that memory to mind and really feel what it means: there’s nothing automatic and assumed about the fact that we exist at all.
It’s just amazing that we get a chance to exist.
I mean, if we really thought about that, it seems like it really puts so many things into perspective, that all the little concerns that seem to bother us, make us curse our luck, and all the difficulties that we have in life, it’s all so small compared to the simple fact of life itself.
And yet, how often do you hear people talking about this basic thing, do you hear people saying, you know, you say “Hey, how are you?” “I am just so amazed to be alive.
How are you doing?” “Wow, me too.
I’m just so- isn’t it amazing? I’m in awe and wonder at the universe.” I have never heard anybody say that in quite that way.
Just seems like something that’s taken for granted.
And isn’t that the way with everything, that when we take something for granted we no longer feel it anymore? I mean, I remember learning that the air pressure that is pushing on us at all times is about 15 pounds per square inch.
So I just imagine one square inch of my skin, and it’s receiving 15 pounds of force on it through the air.
I don’t feel that.
I don’t really feel the air at all, unless there’s a breeze.
But it’s because we’ve been feeling that our whole lives.
That is simply normal for us.
If that air was taken away, we would certainly immediately and disastrously feel what it’s like to not have 15 pounds per square inch of pressure applied to us at all times.
We would literally boil off.
And yet, how much do we really think about the air pressure that is applied to us? This is just simply taken as a given.
It’s assumed that this is the way things are, and then we carry on with our day, dealing with the more relevant matters of things that are actually affecting us that we can change, things that are variable, things that are hitting us at this moment, things that are changing.
The things that are fundamentally true for all time: they just fade into the background.
They just become automatic.
And it seems to be the same when it comes to the fact of existence itself.
Nothing could be more background, automatic, assumed, permanent, default, something that we don’t need to think about it all, than just the fact that anything exists at all.
It’s just something that seems always destined to be in the background.
So maybe it takes using our imagination to imagine: what if nothing existed? What if all these things that I assume to be automatic, in the background: what if they weren’t there? What would it be like to go from having nothing at all to suddenly waking up to this existence? It seems like it would lead to an overwhelming feeling of wonder and amazement at “Wow, what is going on?” It’s like a background feeling that’s there at all times, and yet we’re kind of numb to it, because it’s so much in the background as something that’s automatic and assumed.
We’re numb to it.
But it seems like it’s there to be accessed at any time.
If we can simply call it to mind and imagine what it would be like if it wasn’t there, that kind of reminds us of wow, this thing, this existence of the universe and of my life itself: if I didn’t just assume that it was automatic, it would be the most amazing thing I could possibly imagine.
And I find it something that is very helpful to remember, to really bring perspective to my life.
I can pull myself out of concern for little details, the things that we practically have to work on when we’re figuring things out, doing work, getting things done, solving problems, making decisions.
But ultimately, we can pull ourselves up out of the details and simply remember: wow, this is life.
Isn’t this amazing? I am in wonder at having this opportunity to live in whatever this is.
#wonderfullife #wonder #awe