Abstract

This study investigated the intrasubjective experience of wonder, and how, from this experience, adults derive meaning. Wonder was defined as "rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's experience, and effective far beyond anything previously known or anticipated." A phenomenological approach was utilized as it allows for a way to gain access to lived human experience. This approach involved recording participants in open-ended interviews and inquiring into their experiences of being in wonder. From transcribed texts, through a process of phenomenological reduction, themes pertinent to the wonder experience were uncovered. These themes were shown to contribute to the essential meaning of wonder. The experience of being in wonder invites numerous emotional states, including feelings of openness, connectedness and appreciation. It was found that by connecting with a perception in such an experience, feelings that followed added to a sense of one's connection to and care for the world at large. The results of this study extend the literature on openness and human potential