After expressing his thoughts about explanation (The Inward Morning Commentary 1952-08-30), henry bugbee returns to discussing wonder as he did before (The Inward Morning Commentary 1952-08-29). Wonder, he says, occurs during presence. This presence allows us to experience “an intimation of reality” that cannot be understood through explanation alone.
The presence that exudes wonder then makes us realize that our minds are naturally wanderers, dependent and inclined to thinking and explanation. Based on personal experience, Meditation makes us realize we do not control the influx of our thoughts. Our mind just walks around, jumps around from one thought to another. It is not difficult to realize this; one almost realizes it the moment meditation begins.
Bugbee calls this inclination of our minds to wander a manifestation of its homeless nature. We are exiles. We can deny this nature or we can embrace it and patiently wait for “that which can make us at home in this condition.”
Is wonder that thing which makes us experience it, that which makes us at home? I believe so. As he said in The Inward Morning Commentary 1952-08-29, an “ultimate occasion for incorrigible wonder” begins when explanation becomes irrelevant, as is the case with Aristotle’s unmoved mover. Therefore, wonder is what makes the mind rest. In some way, it does what meditation does but in a more natural and spontaneous manner, unlike meditation that requires discipline.
Bugbee ends his entry by connecting wonder with what he calls the “openness on the part of a person in his entirety.” He says that if wonder should be treated not just a prompt for reflection but also as a source of fundamental truth, a notion he introduced in The Inward Morning Commentary 1952-08-29, it has to involve this openness.
This openness is more than openness of the mind for it occurs spontaneously. Although Bugbee is not very explicit about what this openness is, he does compares it with the words “rigidity,” “contraction,” and “deadness of spirit,” words easily associated with analytic philosophy. This helps us understand that, perhaps, what Bugbee refers to as openness is openness to one’s choice of form and disposition when philosophizing. Bugbee wants the philospher to be free, to let wonder captivate him and let it lead him to where it needs to go. He confidently suggests that if this openness is a prerequisite to philosophical truth, then failure to embody it in one’s philosophizing should be considered equivalent to committing logical contradictions.
References
Bugbee, H. (1999). The Inward Morning: A Philosophical Exploration in Journal Form. The University of Georgia Press