Mystic Musings: Lent 2/26
“What I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled—
To cast aside the weight of facts
and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.
I want to believe I am looking into the white fire of a great mystery.”
Mary Oliver, excerpt from The Ponds
Photo by National Cancer Institute @nci
I am truly thankful for science. As a person who experienced a mild heart attack in 2020, I am deeply grateful that a heart that was only operating at about 40% of its capacity was restored to full capacity with a minor 1/4” incision in my wrist and the insertion of three stents at the end of a snaking probe. A hundred years ago, I likely would have been dead. So, don’t get me wrong! Science is a modern medical marvel!
But the world of facts and empirical data only take us so far. Science is a god when it comes to objective data, but falls terribly short when it comes to capturing subjective experience.
The sunset that bowed to me and honored my presence. Ampelakia, Greece, 2014
I remember over a decade ago when I was cycling in Greece and I got myself caught in a nasty and windy rainstorm. I had planned to ride to the Aegean Sea on the east coast of Greece about thirty kilometers away, but a canyon lay between me and the coast and with the weather I would not have been able to safely negotiate the almost non-existent shoulders with cars, trucks and buses passing me. My only option was to cycle up a mountain a thousand feet above me to a hotel in the small village of Ampelakia. Halfway up the mountain I rounded one of the many switchbacks to the view of a fire-red sun going down. I stopped my bike, took in the glory and then bowed toward the sunset and said, “You are beautiful.” You can imagine my surprise when the sun immediately responded, also bowed to me and then said, “And you, Brian, are also beautiful.”
“What I want in my life is to be willing to be dazzled—to cast aside the weight of facts and maybe even to float a little above this difficult world.” Mary Oliver
Sit quietly. Take a few deep breaths. With each breath try to let your conscious mind fall silent and listen to the messages from your body. Ponder these questions:
Have you ever had an experience that was not provable, yet you knew was absolutely rue?
Where does love come from? Goodness? Beauty? Awe?
What do you do to facilitate the experience of love, goodness, beauty and awe?
What activities put you in touch with the deeper mystery of life? Staring into a fire? Sitting by the ocean? Holding a baby?