The Simplicity of Wonder

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The Simplicity of Wonder

by Alice Gardner

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One of the things that our minds do all the time is to decide what is important enough for us to notice and what is not. If we didn't discriminate with our perception, we would get overwhelmed with too much information, so our minds are habituated to helpfully sort the wheat from the chaff, so that we notice what it important to us and not the rest.

The trouble with the whole system is that mind (if its running the show) thinks what really matters is anything that is a threat, and what doesn't matter are the things that don't change. Things that change and move and have drama get our attention, while the simple unmoving true nature of the people and things around us are not deemed to be worthy of our attention. Mind is just trying to be helpful, but without the influence of our true Self, no wonder we are having a hard time staying calm!

If we can notice this process at work we are well on our way to opening our perception out of its habitual narrowness. We can now intentionally put a portion of our attention on that which doesn't change, even while mind is being riled up about something. We are then open to the incredible peace that radiates from the world that is really here, behind all the thinking.

Wonder is the best word that I can think of to describe the way to apprehend the world behind thought—the world as it is before we think about it. To meet the world with wonder is to become like little children. This is the way an innocent child will perceive things for the first time. With the eyes of wonder we see without preconceived ideas that would cause us to no longer notice what is there (and only relate to the labels that we give things). We don't pretend that we know all about what we see. We just see. We just feel. We just know and are known directly and simply.

This is an experience of utter simplicity. It is an experience of just being Here and whatever we are perceiving being Here too. As we look around, we meet the world just as it is, without labeling it, comparing it, or deciding whether we like it the way it is or not. We meet the simple cup we drink from, the computer in front of us, or the tree outside our window with the wonder of being open to what they are, to what is there and simply being there with them. We meet our own selves the same way. We let it all be here with us, just as it is, and we allow the thought-based world that had shrouded it from our view to become the thing that is barely worthy of our notice.

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© 2008 Alice Gardner

awakepublishing.com

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With Love and Light

Tami

WWW.HEALINGSOFTHEHEART.COM