The
Mystery
“People
who've had any genuine spiritual experience always know that they
don't know. They are utterly humbled before mystery. They are in awe
before the abyss of it all, in wonder at the eternity, and depth, and
Love which is incomprehensible to the mind.”
Richard
Rohr
In his book, Falling
Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, Richard Rohr
wrote, “Before the truth sets you free, it tends to make you
miserable.” I've found this to be true—more than once. The
enormity of the mystery, the universe and our place in it, causes,
for many of us, a crisis of faith. We go from certainty, to
uncertainty, to disbelief before we land at the bottom and find Love.
It is a puzzlement. I sometimes look at “Christian America,” and
wonder how it's possible that a religion based on love, forgiveness,
an open table, and healing for free has strayed so far from the
shepherd's path. Take the Republican candidate for Senator of
Alabama, as a prime example: this man, whose Christian faith and love
of the “Lord” has supposedly guided his whole life, stands on a
campaign stage and flings a handgun around to show how tough he is. Not
only do folks not see a conflict in these two images, but they
celebrated his victory in the run-off. It's a mystery to me.
But, I don't want to get
off on politics again. What I want to say is this: sometimes the
lessons are hard. Sometimes we are chastened and set straight, but in
the end, love is always the answer. Love and trust. We must trust
that whatever power holds the universe together, though we don't
understand it, can neither identify nor define it—that power is
benevolent. That is the one thing I can say with absolute certainty
I believe to be true. All the rest, all the gracious, generous,
compassionate and yet crazy, greedy, violent, and obscene behavior is
on us. We are the smartest, stupidest apes on planet Earth. But
universal love surrounds us and never waivers.
We can tap into that
universal benevolence if we choose. We can lay down our long (and
short) guns, beat our weapons into plowshares, and study war no more
if we want. What we will experience in doing that is also a great
mystery—a changed heart, a changed life with love beyond
understanding flowing through it. Sounds good to me. How about you?
In the Spirit,
Jane
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