Cultivating Wonder

Everyone is familiar with that old saying, “time heals all wounds.” The idea is that emotional, relational pain can lessen with time. It doesn’t always work, but the principle is sound.

The German band, “Wir Sind Helden” twisted the saying up a bit in their song: “Die Zeit heilt alle Wunder.” Replacing wounds with wonder, they explore the truth (or tragedy) that people lose the ability to marvel at the world as they grow older.

In “The Phantom Tollbooth,” Juster played with a similar idea in his city of Reality. It was a city full of people wanting to go places quickly and get things done. They were always too busy to stop and notice things, so that everything eventually became invisible.

It is a hard thing to do, it takes discipline actually, but I have attempted to practice, to cultivate Wonder. It is not a waste of time to examine flowers or bugs along the way. It is a worthwhile activity to ask why and try to figure things out. Spending patient time with small children is a good regular activity. I don’t want to live my life in such a way that I never encounter the New, the Unknown, or a puzzle I can’t yet solve.