Sense of Wonder
Duration: 4 hours
Target Audience: Anyone who is interested in science, life, joy, nature and the cosmos
Brief:
Sense of wonder is a feeling of awakening or awe triggered by an expansion of one’s awareness of what is possible or by confrontation with the vastness of space and time, or by any of nature’s creations, or by earthly beauties. Albert Einstein said, “There are two ways to live your life: One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is. I believe in the later.” Recent biomimetics revolution has multiplied this sense of wonder many fold. A lotus offered a solution to a problem for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). A bambardier beetle help designers to build better combustion chambers. The flukes of whale fins led to better windmills and turbines. There are thousands of examples. Sense of wonder is at the heart of scientific achievement. Again to quote Einstein, "He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead his eyes are closed." Einstein, besides his famous
E = mc 2 also gave another simple equation to understand ego.
Ego = 1/Knowledge
The less the knowledge, more the ego, and vice versa. When we are filled with a sense of wonder, ego almost disappears. Sense wonder is a balanced blend of heart (love) and mind (intelligence). We must watch a gurgling steam, dancing flowers, listen to the wind, observe the stars, study the birds. George Eliot said, ”we do not expect people to be deeply moved by what is not unusual…if we had taken a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrels heartbeat and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of the silence”. Here is a small literary piece that impressed my heart much:
E = mc 2 also gave another simple equation to understand ego.
Ego = 1/Knowledge
The less the knowledge, more the ego, and vice versa. When we are filled with a sense of wonder, ego almost disappears. Sense wonder is a balanced blend of heart (love) and mind (intelligence). We must watch a gurgling steam, dancing flowers, listen to the wind, observe the stars, study the birds. George Eliot said, ”we do not expect people to be deeply moved by what is not unusual…if we had taken a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrels heartbeat and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of the silence”. Here is a small literary piece that impressed my heart much:
Miracles Galore
By Tejinder Narang
Witness the multiplicity and enormity of apparent miracles: the earth does not sink into the sea, the sun does not burn the earth, the sky stands above the earth sans pillars, and the air carries water (as moisture).
All stars and planets are in perfect configuration, maintaining a distance—not colliding. All earthly bodies remain under the spell of gravity without pull and pain. Seasons, rains, days and nights come and go without our prayers. Seed smitten inside the fruit for that very tree is a riddle in itself.
How does a cow produce milk from fodder? From dust sprout grains stocked with digestible minerals and vitamins to sustain life. Hardware and software of digestion and nutrition from an ant to an elephant, which cannot be replicated, work in perfect coordination.
How does fire, as the latent energy, hide inside wood? How does unexploded energy of crude oil lie embedded peacefully in deep recesses of mother earth? Man itself is the greatest mystery. Every breath is a miracle.
The heart beats constantly in unawareness. Human thought travels and imagines faster than the speed of light.
Likewise, "life"—the cycle of birth, growth, decline and death—is a humbling experience.
Each moment and every phenomenon appears as reality but, in fact, is an illusion. We are surrounded by happenings of constant change in unawareness.
Their supply is so abundant that we fail to grasp and appreciate them. Introspection and appreciation is lacking.
Man has to be simply grateful for the infinite mysteries that support our existence. "Having eyes, ye see not" was truly pronounced by Jesus.
All stars and planets are in perfect configuration, maintaining a distance—not colliding. All earthly bodies remain under the spell of gravity without pull and pain. Seasons, rains, days and nights come and go without our prayers. Seed smitten inside the fruit for that very tree is a riddle in itself.
How does a cow produce milk from fodder? From dust sprout grains stocked with digestible minerals and vitamins to sustain life. Hardware and software of digestion and nutrition from an ant to an elephant, which cannot be replicated, work in perfect coordination.
How does fire, as the latent energy, hide inside wood? How does unexploded energy of crude oil lie embedded peacefully in deep recesses of mother earth? Man itself is the greatest mystery. Every breath is a miracle.
The heart beats constantly in unawareness. Human thought travels and imagines faster than the speed of light.
Likewise, "life"—the cycle of birth, growth, decline and death—is a humbling experience.
Each moment and every phenomenon appears as reality but, in fact, is an illusion. We are surrounded by happenings of constant change in unawareness.
Their supply is so abundant that we fail to grasp and appreciate them. Introspection and appreciation is lacking.
Man has to be simply grateful for the infinite mysteries that support our existence. "Having eyes, ye see not" was truly pronounced by Jesus.
Outline of Lecture
- Basics of mind
- Basics of heart
- Wonders in nature
- Purpose of life
- Conclusion
