selah & the development of our sixth sense

"the sense of wonder, that is our sixth sense, and it is the natural religious sense."
                               -d.h. lawrence
      
        for a couple minutes i could not find my brother, he was right behind us and i had no idea where he went. my friend nick and i called for his name but to no avail. as i began to trudge into the woods a little deeper nick became concerned since my brother paul didn't know his way in, or out, of the unknown, and to us, uncharted woods. after backtracking, and yelling into the woods we finally all met up in a valley that was descending into deeper woods and even deeper snow this last weekend in vail, colorado.
      the clearing looked like a cross between an ansel adams photograph and stepping onto the movie set of the chronicles of narnia. everything surrounding us was painted in a a bleached white and all the trees simultaneously looked like dogwoods, each spaced just perfectly as if it were planned and designed around the three of us. as we sat there taking in the site and breathing in as deep as we possibly could we began to discuss the reality of amazement that passes us by as humans.
      i concluded that for our generation i believe technology and science has replaced the "sense of wonder" in our generation. we are more fascinated by the mechanics or conveniences of the latest and greatest more than a peerless cloud formations or the mystery of the inter workings of our own bodies. plato & aristotle once believed that "philosophy begins in wonder," and even Kant echoed the sediment on wonder when he said "two things fill the mind with ever new and increasing admiration and awe: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me."
       i believe every day of our lives we need to selah (jewish word meaning to pause and reflect) on the world around us; at some points it feels like we fill our lives with so much "to do" that we never stop and listen to what is happening around us. we are so busy planting the garden, weeding, pruning, and picking the flowers that we never take the time to reflect on the astonishing process of birth from the ground, the amazing colors in which we are experiencing in front of our faces, or the smell that illuminates the vicinity from around the plant themselves. 1961 nobel peace prize winner dag hammarskjold once said "we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason."  astonishing.
        early this morning i set out to wash the salt off my truck from the long trip from colorado to florida (i got stuck in the blizzard that hit denver and kansas so hard this past weekend). when i asked my 4 year old niece if she would like to help she jumped up and down, and squealed in normal hayden fashion, at the simple fact she could hang out with her uncle, be of some help, and possibly (hopefully) get soaked. i had to laugh because washing a car seemed like such a mundane task to me but to hayden this could possibly be the highlight of her young day. in more ways in our lives we need to approach each day as a child, we need to look through each and every moment as if it were the first time we have had the experience, the joy, the love, the admiration, of each and every moment we are alive.

"unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven"
                                    -Jesus Christ