Mystery

Reflections on being an earthling in a time of transformation

What is mystery?

Mystery is unknowing, incomprehensible, not understanding, being overwhelmed, being awestruck, being confronted by an enigma, by the impenetrable.

Some questions that propel us into mystery include: Why is there anything rather than nothing? How did we get here? What is the universe? What is consciousness? What is a human being? What is the meaning of meaning? What is language? Who or what was “I” before conception or birth? Why was I born into a particular family in a particular century? Who or what am I now? Why do certain things happen or not happen during a life? Who or what am I after I die? What is the purpose of human existence? Why can humans be so violent and greedy? What is my unique purpose?

One life event which surrounded and filled me with mystery was the death of my wife. We had been gratefully married for thirty-five years. We had worked together around the world in villages and slums helping people improve their lives. My wife was sixty when she died. I was fifty-eight. She had battled cancer for many years. Suddenly, she was not present as a living being. I was lost, alone, shattered, overwhelmed with grieving. What had happened to my life, my wife, the mother of our two children? Where was this brilliant, deeply caring person? How could she suddenly be absent in this life? Who was I?

She had become one with the endless mystery and that mystery had penetrated me. Yet, there was more mystery as her words and deeds were her continuation which could never be deleted from the flow of cause and effect of the universe.

Today marks the twentieth anniversary of her transformation, and of my transformation. Mystery. Love. Gratitude.

And for the past sixteen years, I have been blessed in a marriage with a most extraordinary woman who is a best selling author and a highly regarded Zen priest. How in the world did we ever find one another? Mystery. Love. Gratitude.

Encountering or experiencing mystery can feel unsettling, exhilarating, a termination, a closing off, impenetrable, threatening, awe inspiring, overwhelming, or beyond comprehension.

Many creation myths have offered explanations of the origins of the world, of life, of humanity. “God created heaven and earth, and, on the sixth day, humans.” What a mysterious story created by humans just a few thousand years ago.

Today, science gives us new narratives based on observations, presuppositions, experimentation, data, theories, and analysis. “The big bang initiated 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution, including 4.5 billion years of the evolution of planet Earth, 6 million years of hominid evolution, 300,000 years of homo sapiens evolution, 50,000 years of homo sapiens sapiens evolution, 5,000 years of creative and chaotic civilizations, and the last 100 years of a quadrupling of the human population, rapid technological advances and industrialization, globalization, and improved wellbeing, and at the same time human-caused extermination of other species and ecosystems from the burning of fossil fuels, rampant natural resource extraction, environmental degradation, consumerism, capitalism, and massive waste disposal.” What an astounding mystery confronts us!

What should we humans do now that we are faced with the likelihood of a massive dieback of our species, its possible extinction, and severe damage to the conditions for life on Earth? How do we transform human mindsets, behaviors, cultures, and systems radically, universally, and immediately to stop or slow down climate chaos, and species extinction and to care for all humans and all ecosystems as loyal earthlings? Who must we become? How do we dialogue with this mystery? Or is this mystery already pregnant with other possibilities?

When standing before or within mystery, we may feel small, humble, helpless, devastated, fearful, grateful, solid, powerful, or awestruck. For me, everything is penetrated by mystery and mystery is all in all. Our best responses to mystery, it seems to me, are humility, gratitude, and compassionate action to relieve the suffering of others and self.

You and I are the only ones who can do this. We appeared on Earth at this time of boom and bust, and it is we who can do what is needed. It is a supreme mystery that we are here for this purpose. We can trust the unfolding mystery.

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Upcoming episodes of Compassionate Conversations will include reflections on some of the following questions: What is the universe? planet Earth? consciousness? worldview? civilization? perception? understanding? interbeing? learning? artificial intelligence? impermanence? meaning? gratitude? love? trust? confusion? greed? life? animalhood? language? culture? sexuality? parenthood? happiness? old age? sickness? And death?

Thank you for participating in these conversations!