Wonder of Wonders

The Catholic Thing

By Stephen P. White
But first a note: Be sure to tune in tonight - Thursday, September 19th at 8 PM Eastern - to EWTN for a new episode of the Papal Posse on 'The World Over.' TCT Editor-in-Chief Robert Royal and contributor Fr. Gerald E. Murray will join host Raymond Arroyo to discuss the Asian journey of Pope Francis, his comments about America's presidential candidates, religious universalism, as well as other developments in Rome and the U.S. Check your local listings for the channel in your area. Shows are usually available shortly after first airing on the EWTN YouTube channel.
Now for today's column...
Wonder is the beginning of philosophy. So thought Aristotle. St. Thomas Aquinas thought so, too, since wonder is a kind of desire for knowledge. This desire arises in us when we observe an effect of which the cause is either unknown to us or which surpasses our understanding. Descartes called wonder the "first passion," because it comes upon us unawares and before we know if the object of our wonder is beneficial to us or not.
Sometimes, in English, we speak of wonder in a milder way, as something akin to curiosity. One might wonder what a distant loved one is up to or wonder what is for dinner tonight. But we distinguish between wonder, as an act of pondering some hypothetical, and wonder in the sense of encountering something which lifts our minds and prompts us to ask how and why.
Wonder often comes upon us when we encounter something new and unexpected. But wonder usually involves something more than newness. It includes a recognition of some other quality beyond mere novelty; we all know the difference between wonder and surprise. Besides, we can experience wonder at things that are not really new to us. Any particularly beautiful sunset is liable to inspire wonder, not just the first sunset we ever see.
And some things can be a constant, unending source of wonder: God, for example. Gregory of Nyssa wrote, "the only name that signifies the divine nature is the wonder that arises ineffably in our souls concerning it." Something of the cause ends up in every effect, and so God's creatures, too, are wonderful. None more wonderful than man himself.
So we read in the Psalms:
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and stars that you set in place - What is man that you are mindful of him,and a son of man that you care for him?Yet you have made him little less than a god,crowned him with glory and honor. (8:3-5)
When we encounter wonder in Creation it naturally lifts our minds to wonder at the Creator. That we should be made with the capacity for wonder is itself a cause of wonder. One can see how this chain of astonishment and wonder might set even a pagan like Aristotle down a path toward asking fundamental questions about the nature of being itself. Why is there something rather than nothing? And whence did all this "something" come? That is something to wonder at indeed.
Children are more easily moved to wonder than adults, even if their aptitude for metaphysical investigation is usually somewhat less. Maybe it's because children are often looking up to see the faces of adults and, looking up, they can't help but notice the sky and the trees beyond, whereas adults are always looking down at the dirt or the pavement or their smartphones.
Perhaps wonder comes more easily to children because of their innocence. I find it telling that sin - our turning in toward ourselves and away from God - seems to dull our capacity to experience wonder.
Our Lord's admonition to "become like children" is usually taken to be an admonition to humility and trust in God. So it is. But I've always thought that a great part of being childlike - including the bits about trust and humility - is precisely to be found in a child's propensity for wonder.
Such wonder, the unaffected wonder of a child who marvels at the world and the one who made it, cannot but gush into a flood of gratitude. In our most child-like moments, all s...