Do You "Wonder" What's Out There?

[Alie]

One of my favorite words is wonder, and tonight I found this from Lao Tzu:

What we look for, beyond seeing and call the unseen,
Listen for, beyond hearing and call the unheard,
Grasp for, beyond reaching and call the withheld,

Merge beyond understanding in a oneness,
Which does not merely give rise and give light,
Does not merely set and leave darkness,
But forever sends forth a succession of living things
As mysterious as the unbegotten existence to which they return.

That is why men have called them empty phenomena,
Meaningless images,
In a mirage with no face to meet, no back to follow.

Yet,
One who is anciently aware of existence, is master of every moment,
Feels no break since beyond time in the way life flows.

Existence is beyond the power of words

To define, terms may be used, but are none of them absolute.
In the beginning of heaven and earth, there were no words,
Words came out of the womb of matter;

And whether a man dispassionately sees to the core of life,
Or passionately sees the surface,
The core and the surface are essentially the same.
Words make them seem different only to express appearance.
If name be needed ... wonder names them both.

From wonder into wonder, existence opens.

--Lao Tzu (Translator: Witter Bynner)

[conk]

We are a breath away from all the wonders of the worlds. The wonder is us, but our conditioning betrays the discovery and fullest understanding.

[christian]

This sense of wonderment expressed by Lao Tzu in such a beautiful way is the precursor of humbleness, playfulness, curiousity, kindness, tolerance and eventually progress and evolution, I find.