Biology of Wonder_ Aliveness, Feeling and the Metamorphosis of Science ( PDFDrive.com )

where I was kneeling. It seemed as if some mysterious effervescence
sparkled out, some enigmatic ingredient of life that I did not understand.
I lay down on my belly and crept closer to the water. When I pushed
my arms forward beyond the muddy waterline the liquid enveloped my
wrists with icy force. An abrupt movement inside the pond made me
pause. Mud rose from the bottom and slowly sank back. I stared through
the water.
Then I saw the animal. Nearly unnoticeably, it took off from the
muddy bottom and went up in the water like a slender elongated
balloon, stabilizing its course with its four plump legs and straight tail.
With its snout it pierced the surface and sent a flat wave over the pond.
It gasped for air — and sank back. I saw that its lower side shone bright
orange. A serrated comb was waving on its back and on its tail, like on a
fairy-tale dragon.
My heart leapt. The depth of nature had suddenly opened, here on an
unadventurous school day in late winter, in the twilight of the northern
German plains. The creature before me silently drifted through the
water, rising so slowly as to be nearly standing still. I discovered a
second animal, than another one. They came upward and inhaled some
air, then fell back into their floating state. Through the water I saw their
eyes, which gazed through me but which nonetheless sucked me into
them. In these magic crystal balls, life was trembling. The longer I stared
into the liquid space before me the more strongly it expanded until
finally it seemed to me that in the silent stare of the animals, the water
itself was looking at me.
After a long while I got myself together, stood up and cut myself
loose from the animals’ gaze. Some days later I bought an amphibian
guidebook. The animals were newts, Triturus vulgaris, and the dragon’s
comb on their backs belonged to their spring wedding dress. I could not
know then that I would never see them here again.
INWARDNESS WE CAN TOUCH
I was a child then. Or rather, I was at the age when I was supposed to
slowly morph out of my childhood. But I was slow. The others changed
drastically. They started to ask their parents for small mopeds. Soon I
was meeting them with their scraggly arms and helmets that seemed far
too big for their meager bodies as they darted along on their brand new