Third Sunday of Advent
The roots of ultimate insights are found … on the level of wonder and radical amazement, in the depth of awe, in our sensitivity to the mystery.
—Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man
Richard Rohr teaches that awe is a foundational spiritual experience that keeps us open to the mystery of God:
I believe the basic, primal, foundational spiritual intuition is a moment of awe and wonder. We say, “God, that’s beautiful!” Why do we so often say “God!” when we have such moments? I think it’s a recognition that this is a godly moment. We are somehow aware that something is just too good, too right, too much, too timely. When awe and wonder are absent from our life, we build our religion on laws and rituals, trying to manufacture some moment of awe. It works occasionally, I guess.
I think people who live their lives open to awe and wonder have a much greater chance of meeting the Holy than someone who goes to church but doesn’t live in an open way. We almost domesticate the Holy by making it so commonplace. That’s what I fear happens with the way we ritualize worship. I see people come to church day after day unprepared for anything new or different. Even if something new or different happens, they fit it into their old boxes. Their stance seems to be, “I will not be awestruck.” I don’t think we get very far with such resistance to the new, the Real, and the amazing. That’s probably why God allows most of our great relationships to begin with a kind of infatuation with another person—and I don’t just mean sexual infatuation, but any deep admiration or appreciation. It allows us to take our place as a student and learner. If we never do that, nothing new will happen. [1]
I think Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn understood this when he wrote, “The Western system in its present state of spiritual exhaustion does not look attractive.” [2] It’s a telling judgment. The Western mind almost refuses to be in awe anymore. It’s only aware of what is wrong, and seemingly incapable of rejoicing in what is still good and true and beautiful. The surest way out of that trap is through a new imagination and new cosmology, often created by positive God-experience. Education, problem-solving, and rigid ideology are ultimately inadequate by themselves to create cosmic hope and meaning. Only great religion can do that, which is probably why Jesus spent so much of his ministry trying to reform religion.
Healthy religion, which always makes space for Mystery, gives us a foundational sense of awe. It re-enchants an otherwise empty universe. It gives people a universal reverence toward all things. Only with such reverence do we find confidence and coherence. Only then does the world become a safe home. Then we can see the reflection of the divine image in the human, in the animal, in the entire natural world—which has now become inherently “supernatural.” [3]
References:
[1] Adapted from Richard Rohr with Paul Swanson and Brie Stoner,” Another Name for Every Thing, podcast, season 3, ep. 10, “The Practice of Awe and Wonder,” April 25, 2020. Available in MP3 audio download.
[2] Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “Harvard Address,” in The Solzhenitsyn Reader: New and Essential Writings, 1947–2005, ed. Edward E. Ericson, Jr. and Daniel J. Mahoney (ISI Books, 2006), 569.
[3] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder (Franciscan Media, 2020), 65.
Image Credit and inspiration: Mieke Campbell, untitled (detail), 2021, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. The child’s wide-eyed wonder mirrors a heart open to awe: seeing the sacred glimmer even in the most ordinary of moments.
Story from Our Community:
The path of joy starts with awe and surrender. The more I learn about science, the more I stand in awe. The wonder of creation makes me feel small and allows me to surrender to its greatness and its beautiful simplicity. Above all, I feel honored to be a part of this world and, by God’s grace, a part of the kingdom of heaven. It’s a wonder beyond words.
—Gerrit B.
