The plan is simple: as a family we will hike together as many weekends as mother nature permits each time discovering a new Texas state park. Our boys are four and five, and the trails were calling after a long holiday cooped up in the house. The benefits are spectacular when considered: we get to be together, we get to be outside, we get fresh air and exercise, and we find together the one thing that is harder and harder to come by: wonder. Our dear friend and curator at the museum reintroduced me to wonder as we began planning a series of new exhibitions. Descartes, a sixteenth-century philosopher wrote on wonder:
Wonder is a sudden surprise of the soul that brings it to focus on things that strike it as unusual and extraordinary.
It is caused
(1) by an impression in the brain, which represents the object as unusual and therefore worthy of special consideration; andby an impression in the brain, which represents the object as unusual and therefore worthy of special consideration; and
(2) a movement of the spirits, which the impression disposes •to flow strongly to the impression’s place in the brain so as to strengthen and preserve it there, and also •to flow into the muscles controlling the sense organs so as to keep them focussed on the object of the wonder.
Wonder makes the heart beat faster, puts question marks at the end of sentences, and most importantly, gets a family caught in the chaos of our busy lives talking...to each other. Let Nature be our teacher. Ever since I found this quote by William Wordsworth while writing for the Lotus Lens last year, I’ve kept it a mantra close to my heart. What would it mean to our family to surrender, and let Nature be our Teacher? First we needed a plan.
Wonder is a sudden surprise of the soul that brings it to focus on things that strike it as unusual and extraordinary.
It is caused
(1) by an impression in the brain, which represents the object as unusual and therefore worthy of special consideration; andby an impression in the brain, which represents the object as unusual and therefore worthy of special consideration; and
(2) a movement of the spirits, which the impression disposes •to flow strongly to the impression’s place in the brain so as to strengthen and preserve it there, and also •to flow into the muscles controlling the sense organs so as to keep them focussed on the object of the wonder.
Wonder makes the heart beat faster, puts question marks at the end of sentences, and most importantly, gets a family caught in the chaos of our busy lives talking...to each other. Let Nature be our teacher. Ever since I found this quote by William Wordsworth while writing for the Lotus Lens last year, I’ve kept it a mantra close to my heart. What would it mean to our family to surrender, and let Nature be our Teacher? First we needed a plan.
From wise ones around me in the last year I knew that in order for this to happen with commitment, it would need to be everyone's priority. We’ve set aside every Saturday or Sunday, in health and good weather, a day to explore a state park in our region. Until we run out, it will be one we’ve not seen before: placing each of us on a fair playing field of wonder. All new, all waiting to be dis-covered.
Scott and I built our friendship in this mode of spontaneous wonder. Our honeymoon was generally unplanned: two weeks of beautiful hikes, getting lost and getting found again. We placed folding deck chairs in the middle of the Frio river, sipped our beers and watched the sun set. We stumbled across a pitch-black highway in Lajitas, Texas under an eclipse and the expanse of the infinitely-visible Milky Way. We drove for miles and miles of Texas without a care in the world.
Two baby boys arrived and life got...a little more complicated. But now that they're older we've become more nimble (and brave) and the trails are calling. Since the first of January we've explored Eisenhower State Park and Lake Ray Roberts State Park. I'll take you there in the next blog posts...both are wonder-full and in very different ways. This weekend's destination has not yet been set...but there is still lots of time!
Be well! Amy
