Desde el “pasmo” al “asombro”. Nascita, meraviglia e stupore in María Zambrano

This paper aims to deepen the theme of wonder in Maria Zam brano’s thought by describing the process that leads from pasmo — a term that the female philosopher uses to indicate the original impression in front of something unprecedented — to asombro, the authentic amaze ment that finds in the paradigm of Birth its most adequate expression. This conception allows us to bring the Birth event to the center of atten tion, and, at the same time, its wonder, in contrast to an entire philosoph ical tradition that has granted a clear privilege to the horizon of Death. From this perspective, it will be investigated here the genesis of initial astonishment, which is not to be sought here in the question that gives rise to the answer that much philosophy has labored to seek, but rather in the reverse process, that is, in the presence of the answer already in experience. The wisdom that we wish to bring to light here doesn’t seek answers but rather can open itself to a transcendental dimension thanks to a faithful adherence to reality. The process that leads from pasmo — the simple ini tial admiration — to asombro — the authentic wonder — must therefore be sought in the capacity to make oneself empty in order to welcome the “other/Other”, giving rise to an authentic amazement that finds its most adequate paradigm in Birth. Faced with simple admiration for reality, two attitudes are, in fact, possible: reducing the unprecedented and homolo gating it with reason alone to the sphere of the already known, or opening oneself to the unheard of, the only attitude capable of arousing authentic wonder. The ascension from pasmo to asombro will then be possible only after having penetrated inside reality itself, through a wisdom that goes beyond the confines of abstract philosophical categories to feed on a wis dom that has not severed its link with reality. In the amazement of being alive, in the feeling of profound gratitude that originates from the recogni tion of our original condition that is not only mortal, but also, and above all, natal, man will be able to rediscover wonder, an essential capacity to all authentic knowledge