Wonder is the reason we seek to know any reality whatsoever. (Nicholas of Cusa)
Nicholas of Cusa (1400-1464 CE) was a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church who served in Greece. Because of the prominence of the Greek Eastern Orthodox Church in that part of the world, Nicholas was in the minority of Catholic ministers in this land of ancient philosophy, science, and the arts. Predating and anticipating the Renaissance, he was also an impressive scientist and mathematician. The late physicist David Bohm (1917-1992 CE) has been called one of the most significant theoretical physicists of the 20th century. Bohm, who contributed ideas to quantum theory, neuropsychology, and philosophy, claimed that he was more indebted to Nicholas of Cusa than he was to Einstein.
Nicholas of Cusa realized that behind every search for truth is the lure of wonder. Wonder opens our eyes, minds, and hearts to deeper and greater knowledge and experience. Wonder invites us to dream and imagine a better world, a better self, and a better future. Wonder is what keeps us young, vibrant, and creative. And wonder is what allows the jaded “grown up” in each of us to rediscover the “playful child” which alone can enter the Kingdom of God (which itself is God’s great wonderment for creation). In the twentieth-century, theologians, philosophers, and artists mourned the lack of wonder in our materialistic, greedy, and oppressive world. I will not detail their insights into this dearth of wonder in our modern and post-modern world. Two of the best works I’ve read which speak to this tragic loss and how we can recover the ability to wonder are Tomorrow’s Child by Brazilian theologian and philosopher Rubem Alves and The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. In this series of article, I want to look at some of the culprits which are robbing us and our children of the priceless gifts and blessings of wonder.
- Fear: Psychologists tell us that we can live our lives out of a vision shaped by fear or a vision shaped by love, but we cannot live out of both visions. The author of I John was 1900 years ahead of psychologists when he wrote, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love. We love because God first loved us. If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for he who does not love his sister or brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother and sister also.” (I John 4:18-21)
Modern science tells us that when we are ruled by fear, the sympathetic part of our autonomic nervous system dominates, the results of which are the familiar fight, flight, or flee responses.
Modern science tells us that when we are ruled by fear, the sympathetic part of our autonomic nervous system dominates, the results of which are the familiar fight, flight, or flee responses. Whenever that happens, our reptilian brain takes over and limits our ability to reason, much less to wonder. (On the other hand, our parasympathetic system which can bring relaxation and serenity allows for empathy, healing, love, joy, and reason.) Those who have surrendered to a vision of fear have no capacity or energy to love or to wonder. Their conscious and subconscious minds, bodies, and emotions are all focused on what they fear. And as John said, we cannot love what we fear. We cannot transcend ourselves if we are afraid. And wonder, which is a transcendent experience, becomes impossible for us as we try to scratch out a living oblivious to the beautiful and mysterious universe surrounding us.
The path from fear to love is trust. Healthy and healing religion is always based on a fundamental trust in the goodness, faithfulness, and unconditional love of God. Matthew 6:22-34 (a passage every contemporary Christian should learn by heart) reveals the basic assumption behind Jesus’ entire message regarding the Kingdom of God. Authentic discipleship and deep joy are grounded in a trust which frees us from fear and anxiety. The spiritual bankruptcy in our modern world finds its origin and motivation in this fundamental lack of trust in the goodness of life and the deep peace which comes from a grounding in perfect love. In such a restricting and destructive environment, there is little possibility for wonder. Wonder allows for an awareness of being connected to God, creation, each other, and our deepest selves. The awareness and experience of such a connection is the necessary condition for love to exist. Love without wonder is impossible.
- Certainty: One of the greatest enemies to wonder, spiritual growth, and empathy is certainty. So many in the Christian tradition define faith in terms of certainty. Fundamentalism in any form demands a rigid and fearful insistence on certainty. Questioning, doubting, and investigation are not allowed. “Truth” must be nailed down and firmly grounded in the foolish assumption that authentic faith can be encapsulated in doctrines, dogmas, and beliefs which allow for no expansion, much less transformation. Certainty has no need for creativity. In fact, certainty fears creativity as much as it fears unconditional love. It’s important to realize that such fundamentalism is not confined to religion. For example, those espousing scientific positivism and materialism can be as closeminded and stubborn in their assumptions as any religious fanatic pounding his pulpit and clutching his ten-pound Bible. However, this article deals with the dangers of religious certainty.
Wonder requires an openness, a vulnerability, a surrender, a letting go, a humility, a risk, and a trust that a deeper treasure may be found at the end of such a seemingly perilous journey.
I remember from my seminary days a professor referring to a preacher who wrote the following words in the margins of his sermon: “Point weak; holler louder!” I suggest that within all religious fundamentalists is the devastating fear that they may be wrong. They have built a “house of cards” theology, and if a single card from their elaborate and convoluted belief system is removed, the whole edifice will fall down. It takes a lot of energy, commitment, intentional blindness, and fury to maintain certainty in religion. The magnitude of such efforts and the fear which drives those efforts can never allow for wonder. Wonder requires an openness, a vulnerability, a surrender, a letting go, a humility, a risk, and a trust that a deeper treasure may be found at the end of such a seemingly perilous journey. All those who have ever taken that journey have done so because somehow their minds and hearts have been stretched to a breaking point. They can no longer cling tightly to what they now know is an inadequate and suffocating expression of ultimate truth and authentic life. They can never honestly return to a faith which they now realize can never allow for their joy and full potential.
In response to this intellectual and spiritual crisis, they have three options: (1) They may simply abandon any attempt to discover deeper truths and more profound experiences of trust in a God who is infinitely bigger than their inherited or self-made faith. In other words, they simply give up on having any faith in God. (2) They may live a lie as they continue to profess a faith they have painfully learned is simply no longer valid. However, living such a lie becomes exhausting and results in a moribund spiritual life. (3) As they open themselves to the possibility that their God has been too small, they begin to experience a more liberating, joyful, and loving God—a God who is waiting for them to embrace what was always intended to be a journey with endless horizons, discoveries, and growth. The acceptance of such a journey takes time for most of us. It is indeed a pilgrim’s progress and is not without risks, difficulties, and detours. But the journey is not only worth the effort; it is the only way to the type of existence intended for beings created in God’s own image. And the path of that journey is discovered and travelled through wonder which allows for the receptivity required for the transformation we so deeply need.
People who think they have God, the world, and life all figured out have no need for wonder. And the price they pay for that certainty is a truncated existence. I cannot help but think that a God of endless horizons—a God whose Being is an Infinite Ocean of Love, Life, and Light—a God who, in the words of Mechtild of Magdeburg, wants to be our “Playmate” as She shares her deepest bliss and joy—I cannot help but think that such a God must weep over the tragic waste of such an existence. But I also trust that this God of stubborn and relentless grace will find ways to pull these shriveled souls out of the hells they have created and, at long last, bring them home to an embrace and freedom they never dreamed possible. However, I grieve that they and we must wait for their inclusion in a Beloved Community which can only be complete when “God is all in all.” And in all humility, I must heed my own propensity to a certainty which can wither my capacity for wonder, joy, and Surprise (which is another name for God).
