I’ve been thinking about wonder a lot lately. Ever since the hummingbird visited me a few weeks ago and I observed my mind trying to rationalize it away. Trying to make it a normal experience.
Every time I brush up against divinity my mind does that…tries to forget or make the experience as mundane as possible, I guess that is why my first impulse after such an experience is to share it with someone.

I just read chp 7 in WInd and the Willows, where Rat and Mole meet the Friend and Helper (Pan/Nature)…it is so well written and made me remember how I tend to explain away my experiences. Pan makes them forget the meeting so that it wouldn’t sour the rest of their lives, since nothing can compare to the bliss of being so close to the divine. I can relate but for me it isn’t anything other than my own mind trying to cope, trying to fit the experience into the “world as I know it” (as Charles de Lint says)
I think enlightenment and madness must go hand in hand

Pratchett talks about the wonder of life in a similar way, saying (among other things) that boredom is one of humanities most amazing coping mechanisms. In a world where flowers bloom and life in all it’s glory happens, the fact that we can get bored in the midst of it all IS amazing.
Why do our minds shut out the wonder?
I’ve had moments very similar to when Rat and Mole approached the island of Pan. Moments when everything seemed more real, more itself, than ever before. Those are the moments that I feel like I’ve reclaimed the child like wonder that I miss. They are mere moments though…but they sometimes seem like they could encompass a whole lifetime.
I couldn’t imagine being able to take a moment like that and live in it for the rest of my life. That must be what enlightenment is…that amazing bliss, wonder at life. At the center of it all is Love. This amazing deep abiding love that fills everything, humbles us all, and brings such joy that it’s impossible to express with words.
Wonder. Love. Joy. Bliss.
Four amazing powerful words for me to meditate on tonight.

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