takeshi21

WONDERMENT

He who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe is as good as dead; his eyes are closed. - Albert Einstein

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle. - Thich Nhat Hanh

Each morning, regardless of the weather, irrespective of my mood, and despite any hangover I may be nursing, my dog Chavez requires that I take him for a walk. Some days he is more insistent than others, but, nonetheless it is a task that must be done. Its a minor aggravation compared to finding (literally) dog shit in my apartment. But his needs have become my opportunity to explore my world and the wonderment waiting to be discovered.

My world, just like your world, is overflowing with secrets that beg to be found. Sometimes wonderment takes on the acrid smell of balsamic vinegar being heated and reduced into a sweet and savory sauce. Sometimes wonderment takes the shape of friends who reveal the whereabouts of the best sangrias in the city. Sometimes wonderment is expressed as the glee of a child who learned from you how to give high-fives for the very first time. Sometimes wonderment takes the form of Cardinal Roger Mahoney sprinkling holy water onto the head of a displeased Chavez at the Blessing of the Animals.

Whatever shape it takes, this wonderment is the very stuff that makes today worth living. Without it, we have only the staid, the played out, the trite, the clich, the boring, the mundane, and the lackluster. Without this wonderment, life consists only of the marginal sustenance of the body, an endless repetition of waking, eating, grooming, working, and sleeping, with sex occasionally mixed into and sometimes breaking through the monotony.

How can anyone be bored in a world filled with such endless possibilities? Bewilderment is an everyday phenomenon when the world is viewed as a child. We condition ourselves as adults to filter our surroundings of everything save for the delusional treasures of personal influence and affluence. Children have no such filters. They have no way to discern what is important and what is trivial, other than eating, sleeping and a pair of soiled drawers. To a child the world is wonderment, an endless parade of people, places, events and things being experienced for the very first time.

Boredom and ennui are products of laziness. Weve become so accustomed to having sensations plugged directly into our brains that weve forgotten that discovery is a process that requires effort. Weve become so accustomed to the television that weve forgotten how to read. Weve become so accustomed to processed food on our palette that weve forgotten how to cook. Weve become so accustomed to freeways that weve forgotten how to walk. Weve become so accustomed to transient relationships that weve forgotten how to love.

I also make a conscious effort not to be cynical or jaded. It is far too easy to fall into the trap that weve seen it all, know it all, and can live above it all. This is simply not true. As far as I am concerned, cynical and jaded are words as vulgar as fuck or cunt. These expressions are born of people who live fearfully in a world that is out of their control. What the cynical and jaded fail to accept is that the universe is an ever-changing place that requires we first discover, and then bend and flex and adapt to the new paradigms that are shaped each day.

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When I listen, the air buzzes with the sound of birds singing and dogs barking, the wind blowing through trees, of dishes being washed and unseen children yelping playfully in distance. When I look, unidentified plants stretch their arms to me, offering up sensual fruits covered in phalanxes of prickly nettles; I see cats each day but I rarely notice the same one twice. When I smell, the aroma of last nights jasmine and this mornings dew fills my nostrils.

This morning my adventure consisted of four distinct events. First, I discovered a discarded wooden box that was once used to hold two bottles of wine. After I sand off the mildew, it will make a lovely spice rack. Second, I spied a plump piece of loquat fruit that I plucked and gave away as a gift. Third, I hastily pulled Chavez away from a young skunk that was rummaging about in the bushes just off the road. And fourth, I finally saw the Burly Bear who lives in a house along the path I travel. His yard is decorated with a large iron sculpture of a bear that is covered in ivy. The bumper sticker on his truck depicts a grizzled man holding a cup of coffee. And outside his house flies a rainbow flag. He was both more slender and more balding than I expected, but he wore the full beard that I imagined.

I smiled good morning to him and he smiled good morning back.