I think part of the reason why we feel so sad is that we're too far away from raw, numinous experiences. Like you know that post with a picture of the unpolluted night sky where people are reacting in terrified awe not realizing that's what the stars really look like?
I think it's like. You need vivid experiences that can't be easily repeated. You need elemental things. I don't mean this in a crunchy hippie just-try-yoga way I mean this in a way that's like...we're inside all the time and most things we experience are scheduled ahead of time. When there are sidewalks, we follow them, and there's always some boring place to go. You need things that no one has any control over and that no one can sell for money.
You need to be outside in a storm and see lightning strike very close to you. You need to meet a wild creature and have to stand very still and almost not even breathe and watch before it vanishes. You need to be alone somewhere very big. You need to go to a place because it looks interesting and be at the wrong place at the wrong time. You need to climb over a fence instead of going in by the gate. You need to hear the exploding sound of a huge flock of birds flying. You need to watch live theater performed by kids on a low budget. You need to be lost somewhere. You need to be barefoot somewhere. You need to sing with other people who are singing. You need to get soaking wet with all of your clothes on and come inside shivering.
In university I had a list of "Wow moments"; things that had made me double-take and pause and feel something. I started with only a couple, but it got easier. Some days I would write three or four items, and they became so simple to find or make for myself.
"Seeing tiny bubbles floating in tea" or "having a piece of cake" became "eating waffles in the dark during a thunderstorm" and "being caught in a surprise downpour with a friend but laughing while you walk anyway".
I have a list now. I can hold it in my hands and add to it whenever I like, and it's made those moments more real for me. All I need to do is start looking again and I'll find them, and it's the same for everyone else. You don't have to begin by getting lost in a forest; you can start by just swinging a branch in your hand and feeling the satisfying weight of it. You'll find those pleasures with practice.
If you need a place to start, go on a walk with no phone. It works, I promise.
Seconding the thing about going on a walk with no phone.
Not to sound like a boomer or something but I think having phones around impairs our ability to experience these moments because when we see something amazing our instinct is "I've got to take a picture."
But the act of taking a picture dissociates you from the experience of the thing in the moment. It takes your attention away, to reach for a camera.
Also, I think having the photo means you don't impress the memory into yourself as much. Because a photo is like having a memory, so you don't feel that you need to grab and hang onto that memory, right? Except that a photo only captures what the thing looked like. It doesn't capture how you felt, what was happening in your body as you experienced awe. The sensations and smells.
I think it's important to be intentional about not taking photos of wondrous things sometimes. This is why I took no photos of the solar eclipse in 2017. I knew the photo would be nothing like what it was really like. So I just stood there and looked. It was like seeing God.
As valid and cool as all this is, was i supposed to find out that a flock of birds flying make an exploding sound from a tumblr post or was someone else planning on telling me?
It's kind of a "FWKOOOOOOOM!!" Almost ocean waves, but sharper and more booming.
