Radical Amazement and the Power of Wow

Radical Amazement is allowing ourselves to lose all control; to be stripped of our ironic defenses and critical fences and let ourselves be swallowed up and feasted on by the gods of Holy Fuck! It is only then that we can experience the Power of Wow.

You and I need to rehabilitate our own ability to be amazed and awed. And I say “rehabilitate” because awe and amazement were our birth rite as children, and we were born full of both! But the news media in general, and recent generations of tech products in particular, have en-jaded us.

There’s a guru who described it well. He said it’s like people who go out on a clear night searching for an expected meteor shower. And there they are, waiting for the shower, hoping to get a good view. And while they’re watching for it, and waiting, they’re missing Creation’s majesty – the blue mask of day melted away to reveal the night time sky: a literal eternity of splendor and infinite space right over their heads, in all its transcendent glory.

So they get back home. Someone asks, “So how was it? Did you see the meteor shower?”

“Yeah, it was ok.”

But they missed the world.

Radical Amazement is allowing ourselves to break down! Sufis and Evangelical Christians and Zen students and Hasidic Jews all know what I’m talking about: Being wowed by the glory of All. (As in: “Heaven’s Gonna Burn Your Eyes” – by Thievery Corporation -- http://www.last.fm/music/Thievery+Corporation/_/Heaven%27s+Gonna+Burn+Yo...). You’ve got to submit. Surrender. I know a woman who went to Hawaii and visited what is known as “The Grand Canyon of Hawaii” on Kauai (pictured above). “Yeah, it was nice,” she said.

Nice? If you ever saw this place you’d agree with me that this gal was less than present to life. You gotta allow yourself to be ripped from your home and seduced by aliens! Demised. Annihilated.

And let me say one thing about technology. Oh I find it fun and fascinating too. But how much more do we need of what takes us every day another step away from the natural world? Our ancestors groked the earth and were awed; we download Google Earth and think it’s awesome. We’re far more interested in what’s been built upon a street than in what lies beneathe it. We are not amazed at creation, but at what we create. We are awestruck by ourselves instead of It All.

The Power of Wow can transfix and transform you in an instant. All you got to do is arrive…all the way…here. Slow down and drown in the Now. Get your ass out of the way to let the love flow through till it owns you and shakes you free of all else.

Like right now, if you like.

People drive racecars or climb sheer cliffs; meditate or take powerful drugs, just to slow down time enough to totally arrive in the moment and come to, if only for a few heartbeats at a time. They do it to awaken from the slumber of the sleepwalking trance most of us spend most of our time in.

Try this a moment: Sit up comfortably there in front of your screen, take a deep breath, and drop your attention down into your body, and just notice what you notice.

…and another deep breath.

What are you aware of? The room you’re in. The feel of the air on your skin. What’s around you? Are there thoughts in your head?

And what are you aware of now?

What sounds do you notice? The colors in your view? The taste in your mouth?

And what are you aware of now?

(Actually, what I’m aware of is that writing this helps to remind me to stop and do what I’m asking you to do).

Are there any sensations in your body that you notice? Be aware of what they feel like. Is there an emotion you’re experiencing (perhaps subtlely)?

And what are you aware of now?

So much is happening!

The Power of Wow can redesign your worldview in the time it takes to say “Oh..!!!”

…and now?

It can rearrange your priorities and give you some perspective on your problems. It can pluck you up out of the dreck of your day for the Larger View, and drop you back down again into your life and make you laugh till you wake up.

…and now?