Amaze, amaze, amaze

“That was amazing!” This description is overused. People use it to describe everything from a meal they cooked to a rock concert. Were they amazed, or are they hyping the experience in order to post about it on social media?

Amazement is described as "overwhelming surprise or astonishment.” I may be cynical, but I do not experience a reflexive, jaw-dropping experience on a daily basis, compared to the number of times I hear about it. Besides, what may amaze one person may be humdrum to another.

What if something is completely new, out of the ordinary and delivers an intake of breath or a spontaneous “wow”? We don’t often go that far out of our zones of familiarity to have those experiences. I am “late to the party” to talk about this. Nevertheless, I give a vote of “amazing” to the film adaptation of the book, “Project: Hail Mary,” by the filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, based on the book by Andy Weir, which is a sci-fi experience and much more. I was coaxed into watching it by my sister-in-law, who is more open to seeing more diverse films than I am. I am indebted to her for giving me the joy of this experience.

Compared to true fans, I have only watched it twice and am currently listening to the audiobook, which fills in a lot of details that the movie could not possibly convey. For instance, the audiobook is 15 hours long! The director’s cut of the movie is 4 hours long, and the version presented in theaters is 2 hours and 36 minutes.

The stars are Ryan Gosling as Dr. Ryland Grace and an alien he meets and names “Rocky.”

If you are at all a sci-fi geek, there is plenty here to feed your enthusiasm. For me, the appeal of the film lies in the story of how these two beings from different worlds learn to communicate and work together to solve enormous problems in order to save the worlds they love. They put the greater good far above their own concerns and sacrifice everything for others. The challenges before them call out their unique abilities. As they work together, they learn to appreciate each other and form a problem-solving team and an unbreakable bond.

(Credit: garforarts)

I get ahead of myself. Back to describing “amazing.” Once Dr. Grace, referred to as “Grace” and Rocky figure out a way to translate their languages for each other using computers, they go about discovering what the other knows and can do. Rocky is completely enamored of Earth technologies and of the daily life of a human in space. As he learns about things we take for granted, he says, “Amaze, amaze, amaze!” When he is excited, he says everything three times.

In our fast-paced, hyper-connected world, we overlook the amazement in the ordinary. We do not take enough time to notice or pay attention to the details of beauty around us in nature or in each other. In fact, because we are not practiced at this, we are losing the ability to adequately concentrate. This is a great loss.

I often rely on the words of a poet who always took time to notice. She fine-tuned her ability to pay attention. I speak of Mary Oliver.

In her book of poems, “Evidence,” she wrote:

Let me keep my distance, always from those who think they have all the answers.

Let me keep company always with those who say, “Look!”

and laugh in astonishment and bow their heads.

And here is an excerpt from her poem, “Messenger,” from her book, “Thirst.”

 My work is loving the world….

Let me keep my mind on what matters,

which is mostly standing still and learning to be astonished.

And lastly, here is a quote I go back to time and again. Surprisingly, the poem is about death.

This is from “When Death Comes.”

When it is over, I want to say:

All my life, I was a bride married to amazement.

I was a bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.

Whether or not you see the movie or watch it multiple times, whether or not you are a sci-fi fan,

or a lover of poetry:

• I hope you take time to hone your ability to notice, pay attention and observe the world around you and the diversity of people in it.
• I hope you count yourself among those who appreciate difference, rather than fear it.
• I hope you will take the risk of being open and curious.
• I hope you can suspend judgment long enough to realize you don’t know what you don’t know.

There is so much to see, to know and to do. And when you pause to observe, I hope you are “… amaze, amaze, amaze.”