Fourteen theses to rescue wonder from the zeitgeist.
1. To discuss a thing, contemplate a thing, or enjoy a thing—either by tasting, hearing, or seeing—is not necessarily to wonder at that thing. This is true even when the thing being discussed or enjoyed is very good. Very few acts of thought or perception constitute wonder.
2. Wonder cannot be scheduled, appointed, commodified, coerced, or sold. Unlike wisdom, wonder cannot even be offered to another. Wonder cannot be forced any more than contrition may be forced; however, adopting the posture of contrition often leads to genuine contrition.
3. Wonder is a subliminal response to the perception of transcendence; for this reason, no man may decide to wonder. Nonetheless, we can create situations favorable to wonder. Our actions may bid wonder. While certain things are more apt to induce wonder than others, a mote of dust rightly understood may bring about the deepest wonder. Likewise, the doctrine of the Trinity or Caravaggio’s The Seven Acts of Mercy may inspire no wonder at all.
4. A man may wish to experience wonder but be incapable of doing so.
5. Many people adopt the posture of wonder without actually experiencing wonder; wonder is often pantomimed.
6. The experience of wonder implies virtue; anyone who claims to experience wonder is also declaring, “I have done something virtuous”; people who often talk about their own virtuous actions are usually boors.
7. The pleasure offered by wonder is like the pleasure of any virtue; virtue paradoxically offers a foretaste of the same pleasure it defers for later.
8. Hence, wonder requires a long attention span; prolonged exposure to scrolling media, blockbuster entertainment, and screens in general makes wonder increasingly difficult, if not impossible.
9. Like love, like friendship, like Chanel handbags, wonder is often faked. Like fake love, fake wonder is destructive to the soul in ways that often take years to manifest.
10. Unlike curiosity, wonder is never satisfied; in this life, all wonder is necessarily unfulfilled; like hunger or thirst, wonder is quite vexing.
11. One may enjoy a wonderful thing without experiencing wonder; impatient people often take pleasure from things when they could have pursued wonder. Receiving pleasure from a thing often puts an end to the soul’s search for wonder.
12. Most people who experience wonder do not know to call it “wonder.”
13. Wonder necessarily involves self-forgetfulness; in wonder, Peter walked on water; wonder should not be confused with the revelations that occur later, once wonder has ended, and the experience of wonder is being contemplated from a cool distance.
14. Wonder arrives in silence; people who talk a lot rarely experience wonder; the fact a man is able to speak accurately about wonder does not imply he regularly experiences wonder. The author of these theses is not necessarily implying that he has ever experienced wonder.
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There are still faint glimmers of civilization left in this barbaric slaughterhouse that was once known as humanity. 