The
Unimaginable
“Keep
some room in your heart for the unimaginable.”
Mary
Oliver
So here
we are—winding down another year. Last year this time we were celebrating the
end of 2020 with the belief that the new year would be so much better. Well, it
wasn’t. So now we’re tiptoeing round 2022’s beginning and trying not to jinx
it. The truth is, we make predictions because we can’t bear to admit that we
don’t know what will happen next. Unless you are a soothsayer, or a clairvoyant
time traveler, what comes next is shrouded in fog. Our option—the only one we
have—is to dwell within the mystery.
We didn’t
invent that. It has always been true—we dwell within the mystery of creation. We
are purposely kept in the dark so that we can make free choices and based upon
those choices our future reveals itself. Fate wants us to simply be open
to what comes next, but we are set upon navigating our own ship. Art Van Der
Leevw wrote, “The mystery of life is not a problem to be solved, but a
reality to be experienced.” So, we must wait and see.
It’s good to know your sacred place—the one that calms you and helps you come to ground in the face of the unknown. If you re anything like me, you find solace in the natural world. Rachel Carson said, “Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.” Being out in nature, and away from screens, will help to calm you. I had an argument last week with someone who insisted that zoom is as good as or better than face to face engagement—it is not. I don’t think technology is “the devil,” but I do think it gives us a false sense of connection. Being present is more than just being able to see someone’s face and hear their voice. It also involves our more discrete sensory pathways—smell and touch. It’s like visiting someone in prison—you can see them and hear them, but there’s a sheet of heavy glass between you. We identify the people we love more by scent than sound or sight. For that, we must be face to face.
And, finally, accept that
you, too, are part of the mystery. We humans are the embodiment of the great mystery,
and that is to be celebrated. “Keep alive the fact that a mystery has come
into existence and that a physical being serves as a house for this mystery.” (John
Paul Caponigro) Right here, two days after Christmas, and more than two
thousand years after the birth of Jesus, we are still here, still living and
loving and carrying the weight of human evolution on our shoulders. We don’t
know where we are going, or what will happen next, but we do know we’re
going there together. In the words of Ram Dass, “We’re all just walking each
other home.”
In the Spirit,
Jane
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