It’s been awhile since my last entry about Wow-Fields. There’s a reason for that.
I’ve been stumped.
Yup – stumped.
The thing is that I want to describe the “nature” of Wow-Fields, but I found that I couldn’t make much headway. I intuit that the concept is valid; that there’s something really here to talk about, but I couldn’t get past “the fence” that separates one’s sense of things from the ability to articulate it; a common phenomenon when dealing with Wow-Fields.
I think I’ve crossed the fence.
The thing about Wow-Fields is that they don’t exist “in the raw.” You can’t separate a Wow-Field from the person enmeshed in it. It’s a direct, experience – much like the experience of chocolate or a yumgasm. (By the way – I didn’t invent that word. You can find it here.)
But neither are Wow-Fields merely subjective vapor wisps of nothing. A single, unique experience by one individual could be considered a wow-event, but if that’s all one has, then it’s not a Wow-Field – not even to the person hirself. (Note: I use the word “hir” to designate “him” and “her” as a single word. Ditto for “s/he.”)
An individual can, in principle, “have” hir own Wow-Fields that no one else can experience, sure enough. Consider this possible scenario.
Back when humans first began to claw their way out of the muck to become civilized (some still have yet to do so), they lived in very hot Africa. Over time, two things happened. First, the Earth cooled. (That, dear children, is because George Bush and Halliburton didn’t exist back then to warm things up, you see). And second, people migrated to northern climes where the temperature dipped a whole lot more frequently.
Now – imagine an adventurous Neanderthal, let’s call him “Thonk,” who looked out on the savannah and thought to himself, “Ugh.” Followed by, “Me want to see what’s behind that bush” (which sounded like “Uh-ugh-rrg”). And so Thonk ventured past the bush and saw another thing; then ventured some more and saw another thing and then another. Before long, it’s night time and he’s found critters to eat and the best tasting water anywhere (because he’s the only one there and no one is peeing in it). Thonk scratches himself and says, “Ughhhhh” which means “Hanged if I’m going back.” And so he continues on. Not understanding the concept of “north,” but going north just the same.
Eventually Thonk reaches what is now northern Germany, during the middle of autumn, just as the Little Ice Age is beginning. He sees something no one has ever seen before – he really is the first human ever to see it. And at this point, the only human to see it: Snow. And he grunts, “Urrrrgghhhh!” which is Neanderthal for “Wow!”
The snow comprises a wow-event. But the “German” winter provides him with surprise after surprise – with Urrrrgghhhh! after Urrrrgghhhh!. Thonk is the only person experiencing this Urrrrgghhhh! and repeatedly. This would form an individual Wow-Field as distinct from a social Wow-Field.
For this to be a social-level Wow-Field, there would have to be several Thonks and Thonkettes who experienced the “Germanic” winter in similar Urrrrgghhhhful ways. There are subtleties to this, but for now let’s leave it here. For a Wow-Field to emerge socially, lots of folks have to more or less spontaneously experience sufficient amazement to exclaim “Wow!” in a positive way.
