Finding A Name For This Series
What does it mean to wander in wonder?
Through this new series of reflective writing, I want to embrace my innate desire to explore. I want to follow the callings and questionings of my heart. I want to allow the fleeting, flickering embers of thoughts, feelings, and inspiration to spring to life from the fire that incites this one creative life. I want to invite connection. And in this process, I want to feel into one unanswerable question that always stirs me:
Where does
this trail lead??
I thought for a time about what I want to call this space which I hope will be a place of exploration, through which I invite collaboration, connection, and companionship on this adventure…
In thinking about that intention, one word came to mind: “wonder”.
This word, both something that exists outside of ourselves and something that we enact, to me, represents both passive and active experience in concert.
Is that what writing is?
Taking in someone’s writing is both active and passive:
we sit in stillness as we read, but the sparks and images that come to light in us are fiercely active.
Writing itself is both active and passive:
we sit with concepts as we write, but quickly act to capture insights before they flee.
Looking deeper into that word “wonder” and where it comes from led me to a surface level understanding of its evolution over the years:
WONDER
meaning marvelous thing, object of astonishment ; from the Old English word wundor
WUNDOR
meaning wonder, marvel, or miracle, amazement, astonishment, reverential fear, awe, curiosity ; from the Norse word Undr and Proto-West-Germanic word wundr
WUNDR / UNDR
meaning wonder, a scandal ; from the proto-germanic word wundrą ; from the Proto-Indo-European word wenh
WENH
meaning to wish for, desire, strive for, win, love
And, in a similar vein…
WURDA
meaning word or speech in Proto-Germanic.
I’m surprised by how far spiraling wormholes of curiosity like this can lead me, as I find alignment and deeper meaning at every stage. A simple curiosity led me through the onion skin layers of language to find concurrent meanings of a single word I use quite often…without any real regard to its origin.
Now, I know:
Wonder is how we humans have come to represent awe, frightful astonishment, curiosity, amazement, reverential fear, a scandal, a miracle, a thing of beauty, something that pulls us toward desire and striving, inspirations of love
And:
It is a concept deeply rooted in words and their expression.
This type of exploration seems fitting for this creative space - a community of writer and readership that I’m hoping to foster here.
And so, this series of writings (at least for the time being) will be called “Wonderings”. If you feel similarly called to a curious exploration of the world…
Thank you for setting off on this trail with me!
Let’s see where it leads…
What Inspired Me This Week:
An Excerpt from Louis L’Amour’s Poem,
“Out of The Ocean Depths Soundlessly Moving”:
. . .
Out of the purple
along the horizon,
Up from the endless
unchallenged beyond -
A call that comes whispering,
softly, enduring -
Of ways to go wandering,
seas so alluring.
Out of the ocean depths
soundlessly moving -
Up from my memories
disturbing and deep;
A spirit that urges me
restlessly onward,
A dreaming that haunts me
awake and asleep.
