The Mystery

The Mystery

When faced with all the turmoil and conflict we see,

Surrounded by angry people, and the rhetoric of fear,

It is easy to get lost in despair, or caught in the frenzy

Of the mob, the flow of what just seems inevitable, us

And them, the divisions and rifts growing, breaking

The foundation on which all we know has been built,

But therein lies the rub, the knowing, the inevitable.

The truth is that what surrounds us is simply what has

Always surrounded us, mystery, so it is nothing new.

It joins all humans together, that in each moment lies

The combination of knowledge and mystery. We look

Back and we have learned much, through experience,

Memory, and conversation, and so have come to form

A basis for the decisions of the present, and we have

Confidence in the choices we make today, resting on

Knowledge we formed yesterday, but then tomorrow

Remains ever in the realm of mystery. How to face

The mystery of tomorrow is always the real challenge

Of our existence. Some have sought throughout time

To control the mystery, that if we can attain enough

knowledge, we can build a future of our own choosing,

But what accounts for enough, for mystery even lives

In the past because what we know is limited to ourselves,

Our experience, our point of view, and shackled by our

Ever fading and altering memory. We talk to others,

And come to know more, but never all, and the archive

Of human experience is as diverse as it is infinite, and only

Presents a fraction of all that has been, let alone what is,

And will be, but a little knowledge applied to little things,

Can lead to a little success, and a little success grows

Big heads. Little is mistaken for all, the mystery lost,

The awe forgotten, humility gone, and we set our sights

On grasping the future, thinking that with control we can

Finally beat back that ancient enemy, fear. We build

Structures around ourselves, shelters from the storms,

Fences, kingdoms, bureaus, systems, where we sit sovereign,

And we do not like our reign threatened, by rain, storms,

Outsiders, new ideas, other know-it-alls, the earthquakes

Of else. These are all the illusions, and they are what gets

Threatened in times like these, when our control, the same

We never ever actually had is revealed as such. We are

Again faced with the reality of the mystery. People of faith,

Whether they be Muslim or Christian in name, on their

Best and worst days have much in common. Neither

Is immune from the desire to control the mystery, and have

Again and again, then and now, fallen prey to such desires,

The actions of the tightening grip of fear and avoidance,

But also, both at heart, if we were to ever let our hearts

Get Involved, could have faith enough to embrace mystery,

Simply living, allowing the piece of knowing from the past

To give us peace enough in the present to let go of just

Whatever mystery tomorrow has in store for each of us,
Such is my prayer when I say, "Thy Kingdom come," or
"Guide us to the straight path" almighty, infinite, amen.