Читаем Awe полностью

My answer is this: it’s a system. I realize “system” doesn’t have the mystery of “numinous,” or wild-eyed excess of “transparent eyeball,” never mind the poetic beauty of “cashmere blanket of sound” or the metaphorical depth of “composting religion.” In almost every realm of inquiry, though, from the study of the cell to formal analyses of dance, music, ritual, and art; to studies of religion, prisons, politics, and intellectual movements; to studies of our brains that make sense of these things, people turn to the idea of systems to make sense of the deep structures of the wonders of life. Systems thinking, it’s worth noting, is at the heart of an Indigenous science now thousands of years old. It is an old, big idea. It may be our species’ big epiphany.

Systems are entities of interrelated elements working together to achieve some purpose. When we look at life through this systems lens, we perceive things in terms of relations rather than separate objects. In feeling inspired at a political march, we may take note of how our calls of protest and fists thrust into the air are linked to those of others and synchronized with the words of a speaker. In noting how a song might bring us the chills, we sense how the notes relate to one another in dynamic, unfolding patterns.

In thinking in this way we perceive patterns of interdependent relationships. Here it is worth quoting Darwin: “these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent upon each other.” Various forms of life, we are now learning, from the DNA in our cells to the individuals in our communities, are perpetually engaged in mutual influence, interdependent collaboration, and cooperation. In looking at the flow of people crossing a street, or the movements of five teammates on a court, or the interplay of color, line, form, and texture in a painting, or in marveling at life in an ecosystem, we holistically perceive how the parts of the whole are working together toward achieving some end.

In systems thinking, we note how phenomena are processes that evolve and unfold. Life is change. Our communities are always evolving. Nature is about growth, change, death, and decay. Music and art are continually transforming, in the changes they stir in our minds and bodies. Our spiritual beliefs and practices are continually decaying, distilling, and growing.

Our default mind gravitates to the certain and predictable—fixed, reliable essences in the world. Awe arises when we perceive change. When we sense a sunset changing from oranges to deep purplish blues, how clouds transform as they move across the horizon, how a knee-high two-year-old one day is speaking to you in sentences when only a moment ago they were babbling and cooing, how a nonviolent salt march can transform history. And in the recognition that that which is born and grows also ages and dies.

Finally, through a systems lens, phenomena, both living and created, are animated by qualities that unite their disparate elements according to a unifying purpose. This might be the moral beauty of someone whose life brings you to tears. Or the rhythm of music that synchronizes us with others in dance. Or beliefs about the human soul. Or the vying for life in nature that gives rise to the endless forms most beautiful that are the world’s species. Or the feeling of awe expressed in art.

We sense the animating quality of a system holistically, in intuition, image, and metaphor—Steve Kerr’s golden wave of light, Yumi Kendall’s cashmere blanket of sound, Reverend Jen Bailey’s composting religion, Yuria Celidwen’s poetic account of the consciousness of nearly dying. And Charles Darwin’s tangled bank, which, along with the tree, would become his central metaphor in his writings, uniting his observations into his understanding of the evolution of living forms. Awe enables us to see the systems underlying the wonders of life and locate ourselves in relation to them.

Wonders of Systems

The eight wonders of life are themselves systems. Acts of moral beauty instantiate our ethical systems. Forms of moving in unison like dance, everyday ritual, and basketball are systems of movement animated by ideas, and unite people in collective effervescence. The natural world is made up of interlocking systems, from the cells of our bodies to gardens, forests, oceans, and mountains. Music, art, film, and architecture are systems of creation that deploy their symbols and modes of representation to express the big ideas of identity and culture. Religion is a system of belief, rituals, symbols, images, music, stories, and ceremonies that bring people together in community. Life is a system, its animating quality following dynamics of growth and decay. The idea of a system is a system, an abstract set of propositions that organizes observations and explanations into a coherent whole.