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Conditions for experiencing wonder
I'm really happy with the revised outline I made today for my materials on wonder. I hope I'll get time to work on it again soon. Although I'm not one for publicly posting a lot of my own thoughts on works in progress, I'd like to share something from R. Hepburn's essay, which is maybe the most thorough on the topic. Along with listing a great many types of situations in which one might experience wonder, Hepburn describes some of the conditions that are necessary for being receptive to the experience:
Recognizing an intrinsic value in the phenomenon (otherwise it may be interpreted instead with dread or as an absurdity).
Not shielding oneself from the experience through irony, cynicism, or indifference.
Not filtering the experience through a dread at the human predicament (that is, an apprehensive awareness of mortality).
Being receptive to acknowledging Otherness.
Not having an exploitive, utilitarian attitude.
What else? I spent an hour digging up a rose bush, we just watched the Beavers lose a close game to Stanford, and I barbecued some tasty hotdogs. I finally harvested my first three tomatoes of the summer, and they were really juicy. Also, I finally started started some of my usual sort of summer reading. This one's about a bicycle trip through India and Sri Lanka, on the path of the heroes in the Ramayana. Just exactly the kind of thing I like to read in the summer!
What else? I spent an hour digging up a rose bush, we just watched the Beavers lose a close game to Stanford, and I barbecued some tasty hotdogs. I finally harvested my first three tomatoes of the summer, and they were really juicy. Also, I finally started started some of my usual sort of summer reading. This one's about a bicycle trip through India and Sri Lanka, on the path of the heroes in the Ramayana. Just exactly the kind of thing I like to read in the summer!