The Wonder of It All

As I mentioned, I'm reading through a book by R.L. Dabney, The Practical Philosophy. He offers a perspective on the ordinary, the things we take for granted in life and rarely think about. In this section, he discusses the nature of wonder and curiosity, and how that functions in this life and what it may look like when Christ's kingdom comes in its fullness.

Wonder is the great awakener of the attention, and attention is the condition of clear knowledge. Curiosity is evidently placed in our spirits as the stimulus to inquiry, the spur to wholesome and useful mental activities. The benevolence of the Creator is also seen in His making the stimulus not an importunate [annoyance], but a pleasant one. Wonder is the source of a great fund of innocent enjoyment, which is as healthful for the mind as the pure air is for the lungs. Doubtless one of the great pleasures of Heaven will be wonder. The happy occupation of immortality will be the exercise of curiosity in exploring the marvels there presented to our knowledge. It may be at first glance supposed that, as novelty in objects is the condition of our wonder, one result of the acquisition of knowledge will be to diminish our capabilities for wonder; that, as we learn more and more, there will remain fewer and fewer objects capable of administering to our curiosity. This may afford us a very good probable argument to show that this finite life and world of ours do not constitute the whole of man's destiny. The wonders of terrestrial nature have novelty enough to employ our curiosity at least during our threescore years and ten. When we pass into a wider sphere, we shall have for studies the whole universe, which is practically illimitable, and the perfection and ways of the Infinite Maker and Ruler. The appetite is immortal, but the banquet spread before it is inexhaustible.

Does not this analysis of this feeling tell us by Nature's loudest voice that we are all designed to see this knowledge? Here is the proper scope of our being. Ignorance is our greatest opprobrium next to vice, and next to the pursuit of virtue the pursuit of true knowledge is the chief honor and blessing of our nature.

Dabney's observations remind me of C.S. Lewis's Space Trilogy with its sense of exploration and wonder.

Some people have asked, "Won't we get bored in heaven just singing and praising God all day?" Well, no. I don't think we would get bored doing that, but I also thing that when his kingdom comes in its fullness, we will be doing more. Learning all the time. We will still be exploring, perhaps flying to other planets and solar systems ("Let's go to Mars today!"). From Earth, we can only see a tiny fraction of the world that God created. Some day, we'll be able to explore it all and everyday, it will fill us with wonder.