The two great crises, and the well-springs of yearning and wonder

In human life, there are two great crises that we all experience, and we take their formative roles upon us- and the psyche of loss that they bring about- for granted precisely because they are universal. These two crises are birth- the loss of the physical parallel to Eden that is the womb (as indicated by Carl Sagan in Broca’s Brain, if I remember correctly)- and the loss of innocence, the loss of the state of mind that is Eden's other parallel. Between the two, we have a sense of yearning, of loss, of not being at peace or whole, that is the unconscious undercurrent of much of our lives. We are rarely aware of it, but this sense of missing something, of being incomplete, is the motivation behind many of our reflections, expressions, beliefs, and yearnings. It is also the source of wonder, which is the fundamental impulse behind philosophical thought and religious feeling alike. It is hard to look at the world through new eyes if they have not lost an older view, an older way of seeing.