I wonder: what is the good of wonder?
Happy Friday!
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a discussion between authors Casper Henderson and Roman Krznaric, on the subject of Casper's new book: A New Map of Wonders. That's "wonders" as in the Seven Wonders of the World.
The stuff that makes us go Wow. The stuff that, in the experiencing, gives us unconstrained joy and an ineffable understanding of the Universe and our place therein.
From Casper's recent Guardian article Awe inspiring: do moments of wonder make us nicer people? -
"What we wonder at changes according to circumstances, age and culture. It may be something as apparently banal as the sounds from a rainstick.
It may be the fact that, every second, billions of neutrinos (subatomic particles) from the sun are streaming through your body at almost the speed of light, and do so even at night when the sun is on the other side of the Earth and the neutrinos are passing straight through the Earth first."
Wow.
For me, wonder hides in these moments of mindfulness, not always easily accessed, but always accessible. My little trip to Scotland last week was full of such moments, lying exposed on the surface of experience, like nuggets of gold littering the ground during a Californian gold rush. Sometimes we don't even have to dig.
It seems a stupid question, but why do we and why should we seek out wonder? Sometimes the urge surges like a rising tide and we have no choice but to climb the highest hill to wonder at the cloud horizon over the waves, or up to the twelfth floor to watch the microscopic, bacterial people shifting far below.
But why? There is growing body of research on the benefits of wonder (or more specifically awe: Awe Expands People’s Perception of Time, Alters Decision Making, and Enhances Well-Being) to humans. But I had a remarkable experience last week, after two days of walking in the wilderness: a good night's sleep.
The wonder and awe of the past two days gave me a sense of relaxation that I don't think I've felt for years, and certainly not for months. I awoke feeling calm, rested, optimistic, happy and brimming with life. Does anyone else ever wake up feeling like this? Is this normal? Can this be normal, please?
Of course, that was just one good night's sleep; perhaps wonder had nothing to do with it. But it's damn well worth trying again.
INPUT
Five'll make you get down, yeah.
BOOK / TALK: A New Map of Wonders by Casper Henderson. The talk took place at the magical Libreria off Brick Lane in London.
THERAPY: Wilderness Therapy is a thing. I need more.
THEATRE: Oslo by JT Rogers: an ultimately optimistic drama of the secret 1993 Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations (Review, More depressing reality check)
ROCKS: Old Harry Rocks, Dorset. (See above photographs)
PLANT: So called moss balls. Huge fan.
OUTPUT
Fortune favours the Dave.
Tomsleibhe, Isle of Mull (November)
Meditations on Meditations: Praise & Service, Core Beliefs, Adversity, Love, Change, Retreat, Indignation (October, November)
"No one ever died while breathing". Psychedelic Breathwork with Alchemy of Breath (October)
The Most Living: Synopsis (October)
COMING UP...
RADIO: Foiled is being rebroadcast next Friday at 18h30. I'm sure I'll remind you again next week ;)
THEATRE: Post-Brexit theatre festival Voilà is back with a devastating line up of drama and comedy from around Europe. Crossing the Line looks good (tomorrow).
NOVEL: I submit the opening 3000 words of my novel-in-progress to Curtis Brown Creative next week. It'll be kindly torn apart the week after. Wish me luck!
RUN: Gosport Half Marathon is on Sunday. I haven't run more than 6k in about 6 weeks due to feeble knees, but I've paid for entry and I'm damn well getting my medal even if I have to crawl around on my hands and knees.
MORE THEATRE: The whole Foiled crew are going to see Richie (the glorious David Oakes) in 'sexy dark comedy' Venus in Fur tonight. Can't wait!
Casper Henderson is a fellow admirer of Stoic philosophy. In a tweet, he told me, "I think there's a huge amount to learn from Stoicism, and I think a stance of wonder can help in the cultivation (not entirely successful in my case) of at least two Stoic virtues: wisdom and temperance, and maybe all four."
I couldn't agree more. So, appropriately, here's a random Stoic Meditation from MARGE:
Always look at the whole of a thing. Find out what it is that makes its impression on you, then open it up and dissect it into cause, matter, purpose, and the length of time before it must end. (Meditations 12:18)
Be wonderful!
- dc
p.s. Life To The Lees: Cycling Around Britain is still merrily asale.
p.p.s. Oooh... You can forward this email to a friend!
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