In the beginning, there is only one philosophy of life. For all authentic philosophy begins in wonder. All three of the founders of philosophy, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, said that philosophy begins in wonder. But there are three kinds of wonder:
- Wonder begins in surprise. This is wonder in the emotions. We go on to questioning wonder, which is the second kind of wonder, only when something surprises us or strikes us — when the seas of our emotions are troubled by something thrown into them unexpectedly from outside: a stone, an angel, or Moses — something that parts our inner Red Sea, which is our heart. Our “why” (wonder #2, questioning wonder) is provoked by our “wow” (wonder #1, emotional wonder). I do not wonder why another student comes through my classroom door, but I do wonder why a gorilla comes through.
- This second kind of wonder — questioning — is wonder in the intellect, guided by the will (the “will to truth”, which is far from automatic). When we are surprised, we then wonder about the what and the why of the surprise. We wonder (# 2) about the wonder (#1).
- Wonder is consummated in contemplative awe. This is wonder in the deepest heart. We marvel at the truths we have understood: at the design of a mosquito under a microscope, of the order of the physical universe under the mental microscope of a mathematician, and above all at ourselves, at our good and at our evil, under the moral microscope of conscience and that most dangerous and wonderful of spiritual adventures, absolute honesty.
Philosophy not only begins in wonder (#1), it also proceeds by means of wonder (#2) and ends in wonder (#3).
This book is about the third kind of wonder. Answer #2: When you think about it logically, there are two and only two philosophies of life. For either there are or there are not doors in the walls of the world. Either there is Nothing or Something outside Plato’s Cave.
That sounds very abstract and philosophical. Let me make it very concrete.
Two people are walking down a street together. There is an old stone wall on their left, too high to see over. As they approach an intersection, the sidewalk and the wall curve around to their left. As they approach the curve, the first walker is absolutely certain that when they turn the corner they will not see an angel walking through the wall. The second walker is not.
Which walker are you?
Which would you like to be?
A wall is a limit. A door in a wall is a way of overcoming that limit, a way out of the place confined by the walls. The walls here symbolize the physical universe. The doors symbolize escapes from that limit, “morenesses”, transcendences. The point of this book is that there are many doors through the walls of the world, many Jacob’s Ladders through the sky.
