VISUAL MEDITATION - "To the Wonder"
- Paul G. Chandler
- 1 minute ago
- 6 min read
Nicholas Roerich, Winter Solstice and Cultivating Wonder
By Paul G. Chandler - December 25, 2025:
"The object of the…spiritual life is to dig for this sunrise of wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton
On a recent flight across the Atlantic from Senegal to the US, I read an article on the spiritual journey of the singer-musician Sting, whom I have long admired. The article ended with Sting reflecting on his life: “What drives me more than anything is curiosity…It’s an eternal journey…It’s a constant source of curiosity and search. And wonder.”
Sting’s words resonate deeply with the spirit of sacred wonder during this season. Today is the Winter Solstice, the start of the astronomical winter. It is the shortest day of the year, which also means it has the longest night. It is the moment when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted the farthest away from the sun. Metaphorically, I like to imagine that our planet, the very ground on which we live, move and have our being, is leaning backwards, overwhelmed with awe at the Universe created by the Divine Artist.
The longest night of our year is a special opportunity to more clearly see the stars and planets in the skies surrounding us. I am reminded of an awe-inspiring night I spent in the Sahara Desert, north of the little town of Timbuktu, Mali. The stars above us flooded the skies, overwhelming the darkness. As we sat in the soft sand looking up, it felt as if the sky had reversed itself and was now a celestial canvas of bright yellow, with a few dark spots scattered throughout. An emotional silence fell upon us as we sat in wonder at the awe-inspiring mystery of it all.
At this time of year, I am reminded of the mystical paintings of the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich (1874-1947), such as Star of the Hero (pictured above) and Bridge of Glory (pictured below). They both embody to me a state of sacred wonder as they radiate an otherworldly sense of mystical awe.
An absolutely fascinating individual, Roerich’s multi-faced career entailed being an artist, spiritual teacher, educator, archaeologist, explorer, and a peacemaker who was nominated numerous times for the Nobel Peace Prize. Most of his paintings portray ethereal landscapes, with a special focus on mountains. An as exceptional figure in 20th century art, Roerich’s paintings fall into the broader genre of Symbolism; art seeking to communicate a realm of spiritual meaning beyond than what is depicted in them. He was a spiritual visionary referred to as “Master of the Mountains,” as the majestic Himalayas captured his soul’s imagination. Aware of their longstanding history of spiritual significance, he explored them on numerous spiritual pilgrimages and expeditions. Hence, his luminous mountain paintings, with only a limited human presence in them, express the union he experienced at the top of the world between the inner and outer realities of human existence. His inspiration to paint mountains was the spiritual connection that he experienced with the cosmos.
His work was known for its richness of color. In 1961, when the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to see planet Earth from outer space, he wrote in his journal of seeing “an indescribable palette of colors, just like the canvases of the artist Nicholas Roerich.”
Roerich wrote, “The light of art will ignite innumerable hearts with a new love” - a statement which very much reflects his own spiritual journey. The more he journeyed around the world, the more he came to see the common spiritual dimension within humanity — what he called the “thread” that joined all people’s existence in a divine harmony. Art, for Roerich, was fundamentally an expression of shared humanity. As he so beautifully expressed, “Beneath the sign of beauty, we all walk joyfully.”
Roerich’s art this season can serve as a call to welcome the increased presence of wonder into our lives: an “awakeness” that enables us to live most fully in the present. It is about cultivating a sense of wonder, where the eyes of our souls continually run up the sunbeam toward the sun. It is a welcoming of an “unexpected presence.” One of my heroes, Dag Hammarskjold, the late Secretary General of the United Nations and a deeply spiritually-oriented person, wrote in his personal diary: “…we die on the day when our lives cease to be illumined by the steady Radiance…of a wonder the source of which is beyond all reason.”
A beautiful aspect of being around my three grandchildren is experiencing how they live with a complete sense of wonder, truly amazed at all of life. I recall the words of the early 20th century English writer G.K. Chesterton when reflecting back on how formative his early life was to him: “What was wonderful about childhood is that anything in it was a wonder. It was not merely a world full of miracles; it was a miraculous world.” Chesterton went on to write, “The object of the…spiritual life is to dig for this sunrise of wonder.”
In the spiritual tradition that I grew up in, wonder is at the heart of this season. Whether it be the wonder of a newborn baby or of an extraordinary star in the sky, we are encouraged to cultivate a spirit of wonder. This naturally requires allowing our eyes “to see” as perhaps we haven’t seen before. It means attuning all our senses - sight, sound, smell, touch and taste – to perceive this wonder. Joan Chittister, the well-known author on contemplative spirituality, writes: “It can take a lifetime to really see flowers, feel wood, learn the sky, walk a path and hear what all these things are saying to us about life, about our own growth, about the spirit in the clay of us. But once mindfulness comes, life changes entirely.”
As was Roerich’s experience, nothing speaks more loudly of wonder than the beauty and magnificence of nature. Like Roerich in his early years, many tend to assume sacred wonder is most found in religious spaces and contexts. While this may happen at times, it can be is a limiting view of the Divine Artist. It is like saying that sand is to be primarily found in sandboxes. Wonder cannot be confined like a genie in a lamp.
Wonder can be found in the most ordinary things, coming upon us from anywhere at any time. We can glimpse wonder in the moment a butterfly settles on a flower, or when a red cardinal poses itself against the whiteness of a winter snow. It can be felt in the way the silky white Saharan sand, near to where I grew up, slowly sinks under your feet. It can heard the ocean’s rhythmic waves, or experienced when lighting a campfire in the darkness, or in picking wildflowers.
It can be in hearing the traces of transcendence in Mozart or in the otherworldly sound of the Icelandic band Sigur Rós. It can be in glimpsing the Inaccessible in the last great paintings of van Gogh, or in reading one of Dostoevsky’s magnificent novels. However and whenever it comes, all can be footpaths to the sublime experience of standing at the feet of wonder.
Of course, most profoundly, wonder is seen in and through our fellow human beings. I find myself this season thinking more of the wonder of true friendship, and the wonder of love, kindness, gentleness, forgiveness, new beginnings, humility, grace, generosity, courage, and selflessness.
Wonder is accessible everywhere, coming to us in every imaginable way. All that is required of us is to be alert and to welcome its coming among us. At this time of the year, we are encouraged to open wide the windows of our souls in order to experience a sacred wonder most fully. Reflecting on this season, the words of the artist-poet Jan L. Richardson, offering us profound wisdom toward experiencing this sacred wonder:
“….. there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before…what is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you… So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.” (Night Visions)