Reality remains remarkable even after vocabulary makes it sound familiar.

Names domesticate. Once something is called photosynthesis, or gravity, or memory, the word takes the place of the phenomenon and the mind stops looking. But the word is a handle, not an explanation, and behind every familiar term is a process that would astonish you if you actually looked at it. The vocabulary is what makes the world seem ordinary.

Take a term you use without thinking and ask what is actually happening underneath it. Read a little. The gap between how routine the word sounds and how strange the process is tends to be enormous, and it is available with almost any word you choose.