Wonder

by Martin Collis, PhD

Illustration by Quint Buchholz

At Speakwell we like acronyms. M.E.L.L.O.W. is a formula for high level wellness that stands for Magic of the Mind, Exercise, Laughter, Love, Optimal Nutrition and Wonder. In previous issues we have looked at the first 5 dimensions of lifestyle artistry and now is the time for Wonder. (Isn’t it always?)

"This is an age of miracles and wonder." Paul Simon

Vision of Wellness Wonderboy. Martin's Grandson Toby.

"You can look at this world as though everything is a miracle, or as though nothing is a miracle." Albert Einstein

Einstein was right, wonder, like everything else, is in the eye of the beholder; we carry within us the wonders we sometimes seek outside ourselves. If I have had any success in this world it is because my sense of wonder would never leave me alone. I often think of myself as a ‘recovering Brit’, recovering from the ritual beatings at school, the frosty formality of home and having my dreams and thoughts labeled "sentimental rubbish." Wonder was reserved for the church where it was appropriate to be ‘lost in wonder, love and praise.’ There seemed to be an unwritten conspiracy to separate wonder from science, logic and reality. I was talking with my son Paul about this recently and he pointed me to Dickens’ ‘Hard Times.’

" 'I wonder, said Louisa. But Mr. Gradgrind interjected. 'Louisa, never wonder! Mathematics and science can answer all questions without stooping to the cultivation of sentiments and affections. Never wonder!' "

I know how Louisa felt, but magic and wonder refused to be suppressed. As Leonard Cohen wrote in ‘Beautiful Losers’ "Magic never faltered, magic always led, for magic is no instrument magic is the end." The lines between art and science and fact and fancy blur and become one. Again I go back to Einstein. "The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion, which stands at the cradle of art and science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder is as good as dead, a snuffed out candle."

Wonder is everywhere, but never so apparent as in the human spirit. One of the simplest ways to awaken a sense of wonder is to look at the achievements of extraordinary people.

Beethoven was a pain wracked, sickly man whose life was plunged into silence by his deafness in his early 30's. His autopsy revealed multiple kidney stones, a nodule covered liver, a swollen almost nonfunctional pancreas and 43 times above an acceptable level of lead. It is not surprising that at age 32 he wrote a suicide letter to his brothers. But he chose life and lived for another twenty years after his planned suicide. During this period he learned to block a lot of pain by creating his own neurological busy signals. Inside his head he created masterpieces so great, that for a while, the pain cold not enter. It brings tears of wonder to my eyes to think of this lonely, almost broken genius huddled over the piano sensing the vibrations of the notes by holding a stick between the piano and his ear. Near the end of his life he became the first person to integrate the human voice in symphonic form when he built his 9th Symphony around Schiller’s Ode to Joy. There can be few finer expressions of the triumph of the human spirit than this masterpiece in sound by a deaf man.

Extraordinary people are everywhere. Jean Dominique Bauby was totally paralyzed by a stroke at age 43. There was no longer a link between mind and spine. But by some neuronal quirk he retained control of is left eyelid and worked out a code so that he could communicate with people in code one letter at a time. Gradually letters became words, words became sentences and somehow he kept his sense of humor. ("If I’m going to drool I might as well drool on cashmere.") Finally the sentences became a book titled 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' which is one of our summer reading suggestions in this issue.

Then there's Renoir whose hands were so arthritic that his son would have to stuff the claws with rags and then wedge the paintbrush in place so that his father could paint.

Yesterday Lance Armstrong won his 3rd consecutive Tour de France. By any conventional logic there is no way this man should be dreaming about competing in, let alone winning, one of the most physically challenging sporting events in the world. Five years ago he was riddled with cancer in a testicle, his lungs and his brain. His body was decimated by disease and by chemo and radiation therapy. This highly conditioned athlete lost nearly 30lbs but somehow the fire of competition still burned. His cancer went into remission and he got back onto his bike. In his book ‘It’s Not About the Bike’ he writes, "Without belief we would be left with nothing but an overwhelming sense of doom every single day and it will beat you. I didn’t fully see, until the cancer, how we fight every day against the creeping negatives of the world, how we struggle daily against the slow lapping of cynicism. Dispiritedness and disillusion, these were the real perils of life, not some sudden illness. I knew now why people fear cancer: because it can become a slow and inevitable death, it is the very definition of cynicism and loss of spirit."

Earlier Armstrong writes, "I believed in belief for its own shining sake." As George Orwell told us. "No bomb that ever burst, shatters the crystal spirit."

I often close my presentations with the story of Claudia Kolb. In the late 60’s while studying for my Ph.D. at Stanford University I was an assistant coach at the world famous Santa Clara Swim Club where I was privileged to watch the unfolding of the Claudia Kolb story.

Claudia’s achievements made such an impact on me that I commemorated them in a song. We had many great swimmers in the club including Mark Spitz but it is Claudia’s story that inspires me most when I think back to my days as a California coach.

Claudia

It was just 50 meters of pale blue water
It was cool in the California heat
And the golden swimmers laid their soaking towels on the pool deck
To keep themselves from blistering their feet
And yet another station wagon parked in the parking lot
And yet another kid had come to swim
To swim for the champion club Santa Clara
Where everybody seemed to win
She asked for a trial and the coach with a smile
Said he’d be glad to see what she could do
But as he watched that little 12 year old attack the water
It was obvious she hadn’t got a clue.
She wasn’t very strong she did everything wrong
Just another kid he’d have to turn away.
But she explained that she’d failed in a bunch of other sports
So the coach said if she worked hard she could stay.
So she came to practice and found out very quickly
There was not a single kid that she could beat
Her suit rubbed hot shoulders and the chlorine blurred her vision
She was last when they put her in a meet
But the coach he was wise and he felt he’d realize
That she’d found another sport she could not do
So he helped her when he could, but told her mother perhaps she should
Look around a bit, find something new.

Chorus

Because she never made the finals
And she never got a ribbon for her wall
She never won a medal or a trophy or a T-shirt
She never won anything at all.

So the season ended and we said goodbye to Claudia
And a chapter came to its appointed end
She hadn’t mastered swimming, she could never think of winning
But at least she felt the coaches were her friends
But on the first day of next season for some masochistic reason
Claudia was standing there again
She swam 2 hours every morning and 2 hours every evening
With discomfort coming awfully close to pain
So when we held a banquet at he closing of the season
Just to give the Olympians their due
We bought a Dolphin trophy for the kid who tried the hardest
And we bought it with one person in view
Mark Spitz and Donny Schollander were scooping up all the silverware
And then we asked for Claudia by name
Oh I’ve never seen such happiness, and tears and total radiance
And I don't care if I never do again

Repeat Chorus

If that was all the story it would still have been worth telling
Because no-one loses when they do their best
But there is a little post-script that may be of some interest
So quickly I shall let you know the rest
Her body changed perceptibly as she approached maturity
And quietly co-ordination came
And when you add co-ordination to total dedication
Then the record books would shortly know her name
After the first 2 years the rest of it came easy
We just sat back and watched the tale unfold
In the individual medleys up in Mexico City
Claudia won 2 Olympic golds
So to all you people sitting there with your expertise and your savior faire
Be careful to hold on to your dreams
For there’s many hurts and many scars when you reach for your appointed stars
But they’re not always as far as first they seem

Claudia wins gold!

She won 2 Olympic finals
And she won a stack of ribbons for her wall
She won a bunch of medals and some trophies and some T-shirts
But the Dolphin trophy meant the most of all.

Click to hear the Claudia song (claudia.mp3 - 9MB)

Click here to purchase this song and others which are on
the newly released CD 'Beaten Tracks.'

I’ll leave some of the final words to the mystical William Blake, whose sense of wonder was so acute people thought him to be mad.

To see the world in a grain of sand
And Heaven in a wild flower
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.

It is interesting that it was grains of sand that were key ingredients in the evolution of modern computers, giving us Silicon Valley and a revolution in communication. It makes you wonder.