Wonder—Again
When spring arrives we see buds on tree branches swelling into leaves. The sharp blades of daffodils erupt into gleaming trumpets. Delicate snowdrops spangle the forest floor. We cannot help but wonder. Once again, spring delights us as when we were children witnessing this marvel.
American author and social philosopher Michael Gurian reminds us that, “We may lose a lot of our childhood wonder as we move through adulthood and middle age, but as we age we have a chance to live in wonder again (and freshly, maturely) as never before.”
As I read this passage one word jumped off the page into my heart—maturely. Even though Gurian put the word in parenthesis, as if it were unimportant, a parenthetical thought, it spoke loudly to me. We are no longer children, or adolescents, or even adults. We are elders, holding the mature wisdom of wonder.
We feel amazed when we see something beautiful or remarkable. Our wisdom reminds us that this beauty, like our lives, are ephemeral. The daffodils will fade and the now-greening leaves will fall. That knowledge, that wisdom, however does not prevent us from opening our hearts to the striking brilliance of the yellow flowers against the green, the delicacy of the tiny white blossoms amid the leaf mould of last winter.
We wonder at the brilliance of a sunrise or sunset. We wonder at the growth of children, whether related to us or not. We wonder at the cycle of our many years. We come to these things freshly, each year. Our wisdom tells us to hold them in gratitude. We see them in the moment, in the now, in wonder. We know the Earth will circle the sun again tomorrow. We don’t know if we will see it.
We know, and wonder at, our own fragility. This is an aspect of the wisdom we bring to our wonderment, making it even more precious, more poignant. We are deeply affected by our own knowledge and our interior resonance with the unfolding of each day.
As Gurian also tells us we wonder “as never before”. Our mature, elder wonder is not the wonder of a child or young person encountering something new. No, our wonder is in encountering again something astounding. When we hold each moment in wonder we live an astounding life, full of joy and astonishment. In the face of the world’s situation, this is no easy task. It takes the experience of an elder to live in wonderment—again and again.
If you would like to have weekly inspiration and support, please find here a link to “Ageing with Awareness: 52 Weekly Contemplations for a Year of Inspiration.”