Some theoretical physicists are now suggesting that there was no big bang, no beginning point of time, and that the age of the universe is infinite. We do not know if this is true. Did our universe have a beginning, about 13.8 billion years ago, or is it eternal? Will it reach an end, or go on forever? We do not know.
We have the experiences of our brief flicker of life; white snows of winters, lush verdant summers; we love, and what we have loved passes away from us; we get and we spend; we struggle and we rest; moments of laughter come, and moments of tears -- all of this within a fleeting life within a context of mystery so profound we cannot even say if it began a very, very long time ago, or never had a beginning at all.
Knowledge is power and power is for doing, and when we set aside doing to enter the space of simply being -- of cherishing what is for what it is rather than its usefulness -- then we have entered the way of not knowing, the way of simple openness to what arises without explaining or categorizing; the way of infinite curiosity, ever unfolding; the space of presence; the space of prayer.
Dear Great Unknown, we are unknowing travelers, sometimes far from home. We journey, explore, enjoy, and hurt. We do harm and seek the joy of harming less. This day holds the “bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty.” It also holds terrible pain and loss and death.
May we use what we know for the sake of love and life, understanding that what we know is never final, always provisional, always, dear Great Unknown, within a context of utterly unknowable mystery.
No comments:
Post a Comment