Life is a mystery. Beauty lies in the mystery. Sacredness lies in the mystery. Love lies in the mystery. Poetry lies in the mystery.
We look at a beautiful flower. We appreciate its color, its fragrance, the arrangement of the petals. Sweetness comes to our heart through the experience. Then our mind jumps in. We name it, we dissect it, we compare it, we think of what we can do with it. The moment we put the flower in a box that is familiar – the mystery is gone, beauty is gone, sacredness is gone. We may feel satisfied by identifying it, but we really lose so much in that process.
This happens in our relationships too. When we first meet someone and start to fall in love – there is mystery, there is imagination. As we spend more time together and become familiar with the person, it’s easy to lose that sense of mystery. We drag our past in, we start to analyze and dissect the relationship, and in that process, we waste time that could be spent in appreciation.
The nature of the mind is to flow towards what is familiar. We seek comfort in what is familiar. As we sit down to meditate, the mind’s tendency is to go to the to-do list, to the agenda, to the conversation we had. And we start dissecting again. When we stop, take a step back and take a deep breath, we can reconnect with the mystery that is within us. The whole universe is within us. There is so much mystery to explore.
When we are always seeing things through what is familiar, we limit ourselves. We limit our relationships with others. We limit the world around us. The day our mind begins to flow towards the mystery and finds joy in mystery, our heart opens and life becomes filled with wonder and appreciation.