The Magical Mystery Tour
Uncertainty and mystery are beating at the heart of the universe.
-The Miracle Collectors
It's hard to know how to respond in a world that continues to bring up stark and crushing realities. We can give of our resources, or choose to put our head in the sand, or, perhaps, shift our focus to the mystery ever present amidst the madness, as Katie writes about in this month's blog. Gratitude for what's in front of us also helps – fall colors, apple cider, or a few ghosts and goblins of small stature and great enthusiasm.
Collecting Miracle Moments One Story at a Time.
Joan and Katie
Mystery encompasses the whole of our universe, from the makeup of dark energy and the existence of trillions of galaxies to the root system of trees on earth that communicates vital information for protection and survival to their surrounding tree community. There is mystery surrounding the big existential questions: why are we here? do we live on? where is God (if, indeed, there is a God) at a time like this? Yes, we all have our hypothesis or gut feelings or faith, but mystery remains. There is little certainty. And that’s a good thing because mystery allows us to wonder as we stare into the heavens on a clear, moonless night, to catch our breath in our throat in the presence of rare beauty, or perhaps to give us a sliver of hope in a very dark time.
Last month on the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 a stunning double rainbow graced the skyline of Manhattan. I’ve never seen a rainbow in Manhattan and missed this one, but it was captured by many and widely circulated on the news. I am partial to rainbows as signs since my youngest grandson, who I affectionately call Finnian Rainbow, somehow survived a harrowing medical emergency shortly after he was born; the mysterious appearance of two rainbows spaced weeks apart gave us hope. Of course, there is nothing miraculous about rainbows, per se, the miracle is in the timing and the meaning we attribute to an experience that can be so very personal. I’d like to think that more than a few Manhattanites were moved by the mysterious timing of what they saw on 9/11/23. As Albert Einstein noted, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious…Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead and his eyes are dimmed.” Mystery is an integral part of our lives, especially if we seek out the unfathomable, or debate the hard questions.
Shakespeare said it a bit differently when he wrote in Hamlet, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in our philosophy.” Hamlet was speaking to his friend about the existence of a ghost. Rather fitting given it’s Halloween around the corner and ghosts are hanging from neighborhood trees. The point being, there is hidden mystery even in the foundational corners of our lives – in the nature of space, time, and reality itself. And, who knows, perhaps if we were to uncover the truth behind life’s greatest mysteries, the answers would be beyond our wildest dreams. (Katie)