TurquoiseB: > A Sense Of Wonder... > The process of meditation has as it's centralized hypothesis implementing a way to understand and correlate human consciousness with the 'Ultimate Reality', or in Turq's words, to see the 'Wonder' of reality, as an Absolute.
Those who experience the Wonder of reality, transcend the field of the mundane, and go beyond the gross experience of ordinary sense enjoyment. Note that the designation of 'Wonder', 'Ultimate Reality' or 'Absolute' is somewhat of a misnomer - it's a common practice of philosophers to postulate a hypothesis, in order to avoid the fallcy of the 'regressus ad infinitum'. Phrases like 'Wonder' and 'Absolute' are straw-men erected by philosophers in order to avoid a 'regressus ad infinitum'. An Absolute is presented in an argument as a placeholder for a 'First Cause'. Without a hypothesis, we'd be doing nothing more than indulging in endless circular logic. So, the sense of Wonder is the Transcendental. But, meditation is not the cause of the Wonder - the Absolute was already there. Meditation simply provides the ideal opportunity for experiencing the Wonder of the Absolute. > Some, like Van the Man, take the sense of wonder > they feel about life and turn it into an appreciation > for their personal notion of God. Others, like myself, > stop at wonder. The sense of wonder, for us, is *enough*. > > As a representative of the latter predilection, one of > the things I've never been able to understand about > religionists and those who favor a more dogmatic view > of spirituality is the sense of *certainty* they tend > to impose on wonder, somehow feeling that it's either > appropriate, or does justice to that which inspires > wonder. > > Some people are so certain that they "know" how the > universe works, that God exists, how good and bad are > defined, what the mechanics of karma are, what "sin" > is, etc. They actually seem to find solace and a sense > of comfort in that certainty. They fight fuckin' *wars* > over that certainty. > > Me, I'm not certain of much of anything. Every time I > start to be, all I have to do is look around and jump- > start my sense of wonder. All the sense of certainty > flies out the window, to be replaced by the more (IMO) > healthy sense of wonder. > > Others look around at the same things I'm looking at > and find not wonder, but confirmation of the things > they are so certain about. Go figure. Their call, and > their right, and I wish them well with that approach. > But will their certainty increase their joy and apprec- > iation of life, or rob them of it by replacing wonder > with stasis and complacency, because they already > "know" how everything works? I wonder. >
