Why we are Mysteries Within Mysteries
Source: pinwords.com via James on Pinterest
I was recently making a dent in my sofa after doing some cleaning and tidying. I felt I’d earned it. I let my body go like a sail with air through it, and just relaxed. I was tempted to turn the radio or TV on. But for some reason I didn’t. I just stopped.
I listened to the voices inside my head. You know, the voices we all have but choose to ignore. The random thoughts. The reflections.
And as listened, realised there was so much more in there than empty space or jumbled thoughts.
My mind was playing pictures, images, words, thoughts. I could see them all happening at once, like a movie playing in the infinite cinema of my imagination. Thoughts I was ashamed of, concerns, ideas, responsibilities…my mind was full and it was playing them like a montage to me, so quickly I barely had time to acknowledge them all.
In the silence I could hear the sounds of the world. Cars driving down the road. People in their everyday conversations as they walked past my flat. Single and multiple birds chirping their unique and instantly forgotten songs.
People and animals all journeying on their own stories.
And somehow, the world seemed both bigger and smaller. As I thought on the vastness of my own mind, and how much information and almost infinite depth it has, the outside world seemed small.
But as I heard all the noises of the outside world, of people living their stories, I suddenly felt very small. Like I was merely one more stories in billions of stories all happening at once, and only occasionally intertwining – some people’s more than others.
Yet within this vastness of creation, there is the vastness of each individual.
The endless mystery of the human mind and soul. The untold, unseen depths to each individual.
And as I reflected on these, I saw an divine perspective. How the story of our lives is merely one in 6 billion going on in this world, and how this world is only one part of an endlessly expanding universe with mysteries and stories yet unseen.
This story is part of yet another, larger story. The story of time itself. Time, the great unraveller of mysteries, the one who outlasts all of us mortals.
And of course, all of these mysteries and stories are all part of one bigger story. The greatest mystery of all. The one who wrote all these stories and intertwined them majestically before time, before creation itself. The mystery we can never hope to understand, comprehend, experience or know completely.
The story of God.
Time, the universe, the earth and our souls.
Mysteries within mysteries. Stories within stories.
Going on endlessly, even as we sit at home having our dinner. Going onwards relentlessly even as we sleep. So little is in our control in many ways. But in others, so much.
Everything is a mystery. Yet so often we want to control it all. (you can tweet that here)
With knowledge. Religion. Even our imagination.
But none of these are adequate. Time and creation themselves are beyond our understanding. We can never know all things.
Which is not to say we should stop trying. We are created with this divine longing to explore, to learn, to grow, to understand more.
We should always be indulging this longing. Learning. Growing. Understanding. Going deeper.
The beauty of this divine longing is it can never truly be satisfied.
Maybe truly fearing God is simply about recognising at once we are an infinite, mysterious soul…but also acknowledging we are also part of stories and mysteries which are far beyond us and we can never hope to fully explain or understand.
Relationship with God is to indulge this longing. Yearning to know more the the mystery and be immersed more in the story.
Don’t you?
I love that with all of the miiions of lives being played out, God knows exactly where I am and with perfect timing weaves them into my life, sometimes for my benefit and other times to advance His plans for someone else.
Thanks Onisha, really appreciate your comment – glad the post resonated with you! 🙂
James –
Yes…? Hope to hear your comment soon..! 🙂
James – I’ll try again! I love this — “Mysteries within mysteries. Stories within stories.” This post is so powerful. It seems to float and go deep at the same time. Thank you so much for sharing and connecting. …Barb 🙂 PTL
Thanks for your comment Barbara – really glad the post spoke to you 🙂
This is an absolutely beautiful post.
Sarah, that really means a lot – thank you so much. 🙂
42. that’s all i’m saying.
42? Not sure I get your meaning here….(sorry!)
With such hectic lives where we don’t really stop to appreciate what’s around us and just be …. we tend to get sucked into this and that and stressed about all that we’ve taken on. This post sorta makes you stop and wonder “how can I pause during the day and just enjoy.” not doing anything, just sitting and enjoying the rest of life speed on.
Really lovely post! Keep up the great work!
Absolutely agree here Devani, we often don’t stop and just be. Glad this post spoke to you and resonated with you – thanks for commenting!
And that part of us that longs for more will not be satisfied till we step over into the next life. The one where we can look him in the eyes and say, “Thank you.” Today on my walk I noticed the robins, the wonderful trees, the chirping birds, and all of this was just a thought on his mind.
Thanks for this comment Anne, appreciate it – great to hear your reflection about noticing robins, trees and birds. Just awesome.
Excellent. Well expressed, as usual. Being still is difficult in this loud, demanding, fast-pace world of ours. I freaked when I didn’t have my laptop for a weekend. I’m beginning to think I’ll have to get knocked out cold before I can slow down enough to take a deep breath, close my eyes, and just listen.
Thanks Elise, really appreciate your encouragement & support. Glad the post resonated with you. Thanks again 🙂
I often like to simply stop in my day and appreciate my surroundings… it makes me feel connected when so much of our work lives are “online” and not truly “connected” to living beings…
Sounds awesome! Thanks for commenting Luann.
Recently we’ve had a mockingbird in our neighborhood. At first I was miffed at the creature, because he was a bit nocturnal, and kept me up all night with every sound known to man… But somehow he has acclimated to our time zone or whatever… and now in the wee hours of the morning when there is nothing much going on, and I’m in bed, struggling to get back to sleep (that hour when your body starts to wake up, but you really don’t want to), I listen for my mockingbird, because he makes our neighborhood sound tropical… I’ve found great comfort and peace in simply sitting (or lying) with that sound combined with the car alarm off in the distance, or the cars driving away, and any number of any other sounds… It’s amazing how much of life we miss by simply never being still…
Wow, thanks for sharing this with is Lisa Jey – a beautiful story. We do miss so much don’t we? Thanks for your comment.
Sometimes life is stopping to look up. A friend of mine who was a fly fishing guide shared a story with me. While he was guiding a client on the river head down working on the next fly. He kept his head down and continued to work. His client finally asked “do you ever look up and see the beautiful place you work in. ” Frank told me from that day on he looked up and was thankful of where he worked and enjoyed the beauty of this place.
Sometimes we need to look up,slow down ,hear and see that which is around us. It’s good to do such things.
Great comment Troy, absolutely love this metaphor. Thanks for sharing this with us!
James, I do agree that it is good to stop and listen, to ponder the mysteries within the mysteries. In fact, when I stop and listen to God and His creation, I realize how small my world is and yet I feel such a part of His infinite universes, which I hope to explore someday. I believe we are so much more than what we understand now. That is why, we are told in 1 Corinthians 13 that someday we will understand when we are face to face. I hope it does not sound strange that I long for that day, because then I will truly be Home.
Do you think there are people who do not ponder the mysteries, that they are simply too literal? For, I do not ever remember not being aware of the mystery I do not understand, yet I sometimes feel so connected to it I almost do.
In fact, I am fairly certain that C.S. Lewis did. That may not be a part of the conversation, but I had to mention that.
Great comment Deborah – I honestly don’t want to think of a world or a God without mystery. If there is no room for mystery in our faith, or with God, then it’s not God we’re really worshipping. There has to be mystery with God, plain and simple. I think Lewis appreciated the sense of mystery, certainly I get a sense of his wonder through his writing. But I get your point completely. There is so much mystery.
Maybe there are people who don’t ponder the mystery – or don’t want to, because they like certainty, a faith and a God they can control. But to have true intimacy with the divine, to go deeper, to understand more, we must embrace mystery and the unknown about God, and almost be certain there is mystery, unknown, unseen and uncontrollable to the divine. I think the desire or the inclination might be in all of us – but maybe many of us ignore it, or close ourselves off from it, or maybe don’t let ourselves be aware of it.
It’s an interesting topic for sure. Thanks for this comment and these interesting thoughts.
Wow James….just WOW! A mind-blowing and beautiful piece. Thank you for writing it.
A belated thank you for this encouraging comment – you have no idea how much you encourage me, and how much it’s valued.
Your welcome friend.
🙂