Wonder, the Sublime, and Blue Flower Power
Updated: Oct 8
Let’s start this one with a bear. An imaginary bear actually, because we never saw him. But he was very real in my daughter’s mind. He lived in our garden and would come out in the evening after we left. This meant that we had to get things ready for him. According to my daughter, he had a route that he would follow, which included going past this one big tree by the stream. So she would have to get his garden ready for him when he stopped by.
The Vegetable Garden
We would spend literally 30 minutes piling up little sticks (carrots) and stones (grapes) for the bear. It was a whole “vegetable garden” that we would leave for him so he had something to eat. And the next time we went to the garden we would start over or add more vegetables.
This is what I would call wonder. The world is suddenly larger than a tree with some sticks and stones beneath it.
The philosopher Jesse Prinz says that wonder may be one of our most important emotions. It's about curiosity, creativity, learning, and ultimately joy. Wonder makes us pay attention. We get lost in the moment.
Children do this instinctively.
But the Romantics distinguished between this type of wonder and the sublime.
Wonder expands your sense of possibility, like the bear under the tree. “Tell me more.”
But the sublime takes it beyond what you think is possible. It’s like the difference between seeing a firefly and seeing the Milky Way. The sublime shrinks you and challenges your understanding of the world.
Immanuel Kant saw them as connected experiences:
Wonder draws you in. The sublime overwhelms you.
Both matter.
Wonder is what leads to more questions. It drives science and discovery, love. Art. We revel in it—the new stories that emerge from ordinary circumstances.
As Chesterton put it:
"The world will never starve for want of wonders, but for want of wonder."
And the sublime, that humbles us. It puts us inside something larger than ourselves and reminds us that there are aspects of our existence that we don’t even have a clue about.
A Bike Ride
Here’s a personal anecdote. Many years ago I did a bike ride through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I remember finding the trailhead and starting off into the woods. It was exciting to be on my way. That was the wonder. Many hours later I ended up getting very lost on the logging trails and ended up at an overlook. Huge mountain peaks as far as the eye could see. The scene stopped me cold. That was the sublime. The trail had invited me, sparked questions, explore. But then the view of that mountain had stopped me cold. I’m just this little speck in this impossibly large canvas.
And then comes the Blue Flower.
That’s what keeps me (us) walking.
But it all starts with wonder because wonder is the spark.
