Wonder

(Image by @orthodox.praxis on Instagram)

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Mankind yearns for beauty. He is in constant search of the beauty found in the universe; to enjoy the taste of honey, to see the uncovered stretch of night sky, to know the bounties of creation in both thought and experience. And yet, even when he attains the object he desires, lasting satisfaction eludes him. He longs not only for an object, but for the spontaneous instant of delight and admiration, the joyous surprise that there is, after all, something genuinely beautiful and good in the world. He longs to experience wonder.

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Mans capacity for wonder cannot be explained by modern naturalism. It has no pragmatic end, no clear utility, and sometimes, no obvious feature in the object admired, yet the desire to experience even a passing sense of wonder remains overwhelming. St Maximus writes, "Unless that which is ultimately desirable is possessed, nothing else is of such a nature as to bring to rest what is being driven by desire." All movement of man is due to an incessant need to perceive and participate in that which is ultimately desirable. If one seeks unlimited satisfaction in the material world alone, he will be continually frustrated, made numb by the abuse of his senses and, in trading the pursuit of beauty for frivolous pleasure, will burn with a purposeless and undiminished desire forever.

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It is this same insatiable longing for wonder that hints at a necessarily infinite and dynamic satisfaction, one that can only find contentment in a God of overflowing abundance. He that fills all things with His favor offers to us a gradual satisfaction through the material world, all beauty flowing from the opening of His hand. The transcendent beauty of God condescends toward us and overflows creation, that man may, as the Confessor writes, "love and cleave to the God through the beautiful things He created." If a man seeks first God, all of creation is shown to reveal His beauty in ever new and profound ways, leading man to feast at the table of the Lord and glorify Him forever. Only then does man's desire find satisfaction and his ceaseless movement find rest in the infinite beauty of God.