The Wonder at What Is Really There

Tuesday afternoon John Piper gave a biographical message on C. S. Lewis. Piper mentioned one primary reason why Lewis has been so helpful to him, and eight specific reasons. One of the reasons was "The Wakening of Wonder at What Is Really There." Piper said:

Lewis gave me, and continues to give me, an intense sense of the astonishing “realness? of things. He had the ability to see and feel what most of us see and do not see. He had what Alan Jacobs called “omnivorous attentiveness.” ⁴⁰ I love that phrase. What this has done for me is hard to communicate. To wake up in the morning and to be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the warmth of the sun’s rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the coldness of the wooden floor, the wetness of the water in the sink, the sheer being of things (quiddity as he called it). And not just to be aware but to wonder. To be amazed that the water is wet. It did not have to be wet. If there were no such thing as water, and one day some one showed it to you, you would simply be astonished.

Piper also mentioned that Lewis got this kind of wonder from G. K Chesterton. Indeed, Chesterton is full of childlike delight in existence. Nothing is too mundane for Chesterton to capture the poetic beauty of being.

If you have every been helped, or been interested, in this sentiment that Piper says has helped him, I would encourage you to read Chesterton. You could start with either Tremendous Trifles (listen to the audio book here for free), or Manalive .

 I would argue that Lewis also got this from George MacDonald. Read one of his faerie tales to learn how to see the world this way.