tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post891101269258326797..comments2023-07-31T10:39:53.182-05:00Comments on The Blog of the American Chesterton Society: Retrieving the Sense of WonderNancy C. Brownhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06169395014931291729noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-78531152742222656862009-11-11T17:06:46.081-06:002009-11-11T17:06:46.081-06:00Does Chesterton have anything to say about gratitu...Does Chesterton have anything to say about gratitude?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-27281592861659271812009-08-01T20:35:41.728-05:002009-08-01T20:35:41.728-05:00I love the idea of a "a fierce pleasure in th...I love the idea of a "a fierce pleasure in things being themselves." I think, though, that sometimes a thing or a person can only be itself by going against type--and we can have a sense of wonder at a "womanly" man or a "manly" woman (or any person who doesn't fit expected roles, and who manages to be true to him- or herself despite all pressures to conform). This may not be "orthodox" Chestertonianism, but I wanted to say that Chesterton can inspire wonder even in those who don't subscribe to all aspects of this orthodoxy. After all, Chesterton is the man who wrote that "each small thing in the world ha[s] to fight against the world itself...so that each thing that obeys law may have the glory and isolation of the anarchist." (The Man Who Was Thursday, Chapter XV)I think this suggests that "things being themselves" doesn't always mean things being what they are "supposed" to be.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-13239618690744011002009-07-30T14:28:34.150-05:002009-07-30T14:28:34.150-05:00Being a mechanical engineer, I can assure you that...Being a mechanical engineer, I can assure you that I am fully appreciative of cars, but this time, the question of wonder took me another direction. Industrial designer William McDonough, in a lecture on sustainability, had this to say about trees:<br /><br />"Imagine this design problem: Design something that makes oxygen, sequesters carbon, fixes nitrogen, distills water, accrues solar energy as fuel, makes complex sugars and food, creates microclimates, provides habitats for hundreds of species, changes colors with the seasons and self-replicates. Well, why don't we knock that down, smash it flat, and write on it?"<br /><br />Personally, I just like to look at them. And climb them, of course.Michaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19678732.post-1277423181019242852009-07-30T12:11:00.154-05:002009-07-30T12:11:00.154-05:00Thank you, Dr. Thursday, for this brilliant and ti...Thank you, Dr. Thursday, for this brilliant and timely post.<br /><br />I've always had a rule in our house. No one can say "I'm bored." Perhaps it is because inside, I understand this concept better than I can articulate it.<br /><br />My hope is that at some point, my children stop and wonder (tee hee) why I made such a rule, and ponder its implications for life.<br /><br />I also like your mention that the world suffers from "wonder deficiency", and I've had the same thought about that as we grow older, we only find more and more to wonder at, not less.Nancy C. Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06169395014931291729noreply@blogger.com