The state of wonder….is itself a higher form of knowing than the explanations one subsequently seeks in the absence of that state…. If one steps out on a starry night and observes one’s inner state, one asks if one could hate or be overwhelmed by envy or resentment. … Is it not true that no man or woman has ever committed a crime while in a state of wonder? – Jacob Needleman
The reason we cannot seem to find ourselves in a state of wonder anymore is that we must lose ourselves to be in a state of wonder. The gateway into wonder has no room for the self, which is precisely what makes walking through it so wondrous.
Think back to a time to a moment when you were awestruck. Captivated. Swept away by wonder. In that moment – time ceases to exist. There is no past. No future. No desire. No ego. Anxiety does not exist here, because there is no you to feel it. The only thing that exists is the captivating subject of your attention that pulls you completely out of yourself. You are incapable of judging it. Evaluating it. Reducing it. All those forms of analysis require you to perform them. And in wonder, there is no you.
How can there be no you? No self? If there’s no you, then who is the observer? Who is the entity caught up in wonder if not you?
The answer is a paradox. The entity caught up in wonder is you. The real you. It is your naked soul, free of the ego and all of its entrapments. It is the being you long to be. That you were intended to be. That you are if you will just shed everything that attaches itself to you. To find yourself, you must lose yourself.
To be and not to be. That is the answer.
The question is how? How do we shed ourselves to enter through the gates of wonder and live in this state of being?
How can we marvel if we do not know how?
We follow the one who does.
Source Scripture
You Look Marvelous: John 5:19-30
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Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras
There is eloquence in the tongueless wind, and a melody in the flowing brooks and the rustling of the reeds beside them, which by their inconceivable relation to something within the soul, awaken the spirits to a dance of breathless rapture, and bring tears of mysterious tenderness to the eyes. Percy Bysshe Shelley
The subject on which you choose to focus gives birth to the predicate that composes each sentence of your life’s narrative.
Focus on the oft-overlooked treasures pulsing in nature and your soul may stir, leaving you rapt and composing the poetry of the ages.
Focus on the money not present in your bank account and your ego will be in agitation, producing frustration within and self-centered wrecklessness without.
The subject of our focus is our choice. Which means the predicate we live is our choice as well.
Today – we will focus on the hidden treasures all around us that offer themselves as the subject of our focus. To find them, we just need to dig.
Source Scripture
Treasuring: Luke 2:8-20
Connect
Twitter: @AwestruckPod
Email: info@awestruckpodcast.com
Extras