It’s not an accident of language that wonder means to be filled with awe, as in, “She wondered at the beauty of the Grand Canyon,” but also to be puzzled, even unsettled, as in, “I wonder if that noise coming from outside our tent is an animal.” My sense of wonder also exists within that spectrum from awe to confusion, sometimes tipping over to despair, especially when I wonder at the incomprehensibly expansive universe, life on earth, and our place within it all. 17th-century mathematician, philosopher, and Christian Blaise Pascale felt the same: “The eternal silence of these infinite spaces terrifies me.”