Clueless

I increasingly notice the things that I think I understand but really have no clue about.

Science has done so much for us but the biggest downside is thinking that it explains everything. I often talk about this with the kids, that we are fooled into thinking that because we have words like conception, and gestation, and cells, and DNA and on and on that we “understand” where new life comes from. Looking at them and falling into the trap of thinking that it had anything to do with it I realise that I have literally NO CLUE as to how things really work. I have all the words but no real understanding.

The same is true as I look out of my, rather grubby, window this morning at the sun rising over the horizon. I know about photons, and energy, and molecules and on and on… but I have NO CLUE as to what is really happening before my very eyes as life awakens under the gentle blush of that remote star.

I am coming to the conclusion that the greatest casualty of the scientific world view is wonder, the ability to be truly humbled by the wonderfulness of this planet and our life on it. Wonder is not some reverence for an imaginary beardy guy in the sky but it is a celebration of not knowing, of being part of something so much bigger than our small self, and of allowing what is to be simply bloody amazing.