One Act of Wonder
“Creativity may be the ultimate act of faith.” Beatrice Bruteau
“Never once did I ask [God] for success or wisdom or power or fame. I asked for wonder and [God] gave it to me.” Abraham Joshua Heschel
The practice of Wonder is not saying, “Everything is beautiful” when it’s not. It’s holding space for the opportunity to be present in a moment of being alive, and for a brief moment, allowing ourselves to know that no matter what, our one precious life is a gift. In this time, cultivating a practice of Wonder is one way to move into self care and stay connected to others. A practice of awareness that cultivates self agency. What I choose to give my attention to matters because it expands. I’m committed to being sober and aware of the world, but in a way that cultivates wholeness, not re-activeness.
Elizabeth Ivy Hawkins holds an MFA in Painting. She is a Professor of Creativity & Innovation and holds faculty positions at The Creativity & Innovation Honors Institute at Cornerstone University and Grand Valley State University in Visual & Media Arts. Recently, she was accepted as a student in the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation. Her art has been exhibited regionally and nationally, including the former Rouge Space in New York and the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art. Her story Where I Fell in Love was published on The Story Gathering Podcast. Her writing has appeared in Ruminate Magazine, Off the Page, and most recently, she painted as the protagonist Wren Crawford in the book Remember Me, by Sharon Garlough Brown, published on InterVarsity Press.
The poet Rilke said, “Let everything happen to you. Beauty and Terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.”
For me, Wonder is a practice of contemplatively facing the conflicts between how reality is and how I wish it could be. I’ve noticed when I practice focusing on a bigger field, a wider frame, which many call nondual thinking or “contemplation” it leads me to Wonder. It leads me to pursue truth of a deep inner purpose, which has a certain feeling to it. To listen and trust the whispers, the nudges. The scandalous affirmation of the real movement, the next right step I need to take. Trusting that something inside knows where to go, and what action to take when I get there, even if I cannot articulate it in words.