This wonder—this awe that you experience in a time of quiet contemplation—it is not unique to the human being alone.

Every creature of the universe experiences wonder, a sense that there is something greater, something beyond its grasp, from which it derives life.

And with that sense of wonder each thing receives life. Without that wonder, there is no life. For that wonder is the very foundation of all that is.

Why was the universe created this way?

Because without wonder, the Creator would be forever an alien to His creation.

But when there is wonder, once our work is done, the creation itself will say, “I recognize this. This is the sense of wonder within me.”

Torah Ohr 41d; Torat Menachem 5745, vol. 3, p. 1686; and many other places.