Against the desire for domination (proper to adults, who hope to achieve everything through their effort and work) is the admiration of children. Each and every one of us, at some time in our lives, adopts the attitude of one who opens his eyes to the world and is filled with admiration
According to Aristotle, philosophy (the love of wisdom) was born of admiration, when men realized that reality has logos, meaning, reason. Reality itself is admirable because it is not a chaos, but rather a cosmos; that is to say, an ordered arrangement of beings who follow the laws of reason.
Admiration is the expression of a contemplative posture with regard to recognizing the mystery of the greatness of man and of all of reality. As with aesthetic contemplation, the feeling of awe implies stepping out of oneself and surrendering to reality. Many realities (if not all) may arouse our admiration; we may feel it when regarding a star-filled sky, the beauty of a smile, the complexity of the human eye, or the wickedness of a vengeful act…
To admire, seeing, hearing and feeling are not enough… Man must abandon his routine, transcend his superficial myopia and allow reality and the mystery to speak to him.
(Cf. http://recursostic.educacion.es/bachillerato/proyectofilosofia/web/A1-2a)
