“Great Mystery”

In the mailbox this Moon Day morning.

“The Great Mystery” used to trouble me. My school's ideological extension of the commercial, capitalist, competitive culture left me thinking and feeling that there was a “must” underlying and driving my love of knowing. Like the “Rockinghorse Winner” there had to be more to know and the more I knew, the more I began to realize the impossibility of comprehending all of Creation's bits, pieces and parts. I began to feel vulnerable, at risk of what I did not know.

Developing a posture of “knowing,” I emulated my parents' ever-ready opinionating, informed or not, always freely given to my constant liberal inquiry. All graduate school did for me was open my eyes to the necessity of vulnerability — to transparency as a “certified learner”— in a universe beyond knowing “in toto.”

Slowly it has dawned on me that “The Great Mystery” is called by that phrase because It Is, is, Truly, a great mystery. It is the Source from which we came, in which life continually unfolds, evolves and is sustained in each magnificent moment-to-moment of “not knowing.” “Not knowing” can be an open, inquisitive, and humble state of mind. Full of possibilities – there’s a lot to explore – learning for its own sake becomes a celebrative joy. The Great Mystery's embrace has led me to embrace “The Great Mystery.”