The Power of Wonder

Imagine waking up and smelling fresh coffee for the first time. Or how about seeing an elephant or manta ray for the very first time. How did you feel when your heart was first broken?

My sons have yet to go through all these emotions, and it’s something I’m hoping to experience with them. It has given me the chance to view wonder all over again. In the new world of instagratification, we become used to the new far too quickly and cynical with the not so old, and it seems to be moving quicker than ever before.

So how do we combat ourselves against the speed of new technology against our own understanding of humanity, and our own heart and mind? The separation between science and humanity looms, and it’s spoken far more eloquently by the Dalai Lama.

"Perhaps the most important point is to ensure that science never becomes divorced from the basic human feeling of empathy with our fellow human beings. Just as one’s finger can function only in relation to the palm, so scientists must remain aware of their connectivity to society at large. Science is vitally important, but it is only one finger of the hand of humanity, and it’s greatest potential can be actualised only so long as we are careful to remember this”

Dalai Lama - The universe in a single atom

When either Seb or Miles eventually breaks up with their first love, I hope his emotions won’t be reduced to the simple act of firing neurones, the assumption that we're so consumed with scientific materialism that psychology can be reduced to biology, biology to chemistry, and chemistry to physics, or that his feelings won’t be tweeted to the masses. He, like I, will go through the pain of losing someone important in his life, and hopefully, he will be the better for it.

I’m humbled to have the opportunity to slow down a little and with my sons, experience every new first as they do, with awe, raw emotion and innocent wonder.

To be mindful that although technologies and science are powerful tools, they should be guided first by our hearts and mind, and not the other way round.

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