As we continue the exploration of wonderment, I would like to share some ideas on how to regain this space in your soul and spirit.
Language the Blockage
“When you stopped being a child, you died a long time ago.”
Constantin Brâncuși (translated from Romanian to English)
For some people, the “how” begins with “why”. Why did it disappear in the first place? Was it just the steady erosion that affects most adults, or is there something still in the way? Fear? Disillusionment? Disappointment? Cynicism? Many of us just “grew up” and accepted the framework of being too mature or too old for those things anymore. We stop playing with dolls and trucks, but we are never too old, and should never consider ourselves too “mature” to experience wonder. I don’t care if you are 103, there is always something new to discover. There is some truth in the idea that Mary Poppins was about saving the adults, not the children. We have all experienced pain and the impressive weight of responsibility. But there is an important question to ask. Is the road to wonderment simply overgrown from lack of use, or are there fallen trees blocking the way?
See the Parts
Your brain comes equipped with a built-in gatekeeper called the thalamus. This little gadget plays an important role in making your sensory experience manageable. The thalamus filters input and assembles it. Instead of seeing thousands of leaves and twigs connected together by dozens of branches, you see a tree. Your thalamus lumps it all together and your brain processes one entity instead of all the individual parts. Imagine trying to cope with life if we saw every detail all the time.
The downside, or potential risk, is that both we and our thalami can get lazy. We stop looking. We stop taking the time to really see. We don’t stop to admire the individual petals of a flower. We just let the thalamus label it and we move on.
So, one of the things you can do to increase your wonderment is to intrude on the thalamus and break it out of some of its habits.
You can start by inviting God to show you areas where He wants you to see and savor the individual elements. Ask Him to give you a theme or an aspect of nature or the human community where you are going to LOOK for Him in the little things. The details. Make it a point of intimacy with Him to see things you would have normally passed by.
You can also make it a regular exercise. Every week, pick something in your environment that you are going to look at. It can be simple things: mailboxes, front doors, park benches, people’s shoes, umbrellas, noses, eyebrows, earrings. Just practice the art of breaking the groups into their pieces so that your mind and spirit can get a fresh look. Discovery (or rediscovery) can happen at any time and at any age!
And lastly, there may already be some areas of your design that bring your spirit to the front and override your thalamus. You become suddenly aware of your environment and the elements in it – almost as if someone had take the whole experience, separated it out and suspended it in the air.
This happens to me when I am on the water, especially when sitting in the bow of a speedboat. I can feel, sense, smell, and touch everything. The wind. The sound of the water. The smell of the air. The temperature. The sparkles on the water, the waves in front of us, the trees and rocks bordering the lake. Every sense of mine gets sharpened and takes in the input separately. Wonderment comes so easily in that context. I don’t even have to have anything in particular to amaze or astound me. It just is.
Another environment that does that to me is when I am in the Sequoia groves in California. It also happens when I am watching any kind of tightly synchronized dancing or aquatic routines. Or when I am around children. My thalamus takes a serious vacation then.
How about you? I think that this dynamic of overriding the thalamus is largely spirit driven, which means it is tailored to design. Where does your spirit come to the front? Out in a field of flowers? In the presence of intense human emotion? With your hands buried in the soil? On horseback? On the open road? I encourage you to do some exploring and take advantage of the resources you already have.
Identify the Open Doorways
Along the same theme as design-based methods of bypassing the thalamus are the design-based doorways into wonderment. These are doorways that God wired into your spirit from the beginning. You may need to go through some healing or give yourself permission first, but why not begin where the seeds have already been planted.
The experiences can vary widely. We would expect to find a lot of them in Scripture, but they can also be a transcendent expression in nature or the human community. One example for me from Scripture is very specific. Job 38:35. The lightning reporting to God. I can read that verse over and over again and it still fills me with wonder. My imagination is activated, and I can see these powerful forces of nature, standing at attention before Almighty God, saying, “Sir, yes Sir! Here we are, Sir!” Proverbs 8. The whole personification of Wisdom and her role in the creation of the universe has the effect of sharpening the dulled lines and colors of life and restoring their vibrancy. I find them in literature and movies – the creation of Narnia in The Magician’s Nephew or the gates of Argonath in Fellowship of the Ring. In my trips around the globe – Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, the undersea world in Cozumel, or the extraordinarily beautiful cathedrals, castles, and palaces in Europe. I can experience it in the unique essence of certain individuals and how they approach life with an immensity that is different from mine.
These are some of my design-based, pre-programmed open doorways to wonder. What are some of yours?
Make this journey one of intimacy with God, as you explore the special ways He made you to experience the wonder of His handiwork.
Beyond the Horizon 
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