The Mystery of it all

There are some things we just cannot wrap our mind around.

And so the world will always offer us mystery. 

That urge to explore will always be a part of the human condition.  As much as we are technologically advanced we are still so limited in our knowledge of the world and its surroundings.  We are still captivated as adults by the vastness of the ocean or the infiniteness of space.  There are whole worlds we do not know even after so much time spent looking out to the sea or to the stars.

Take for example, the sea.  Did you know that the earth's largest mountain range, highest mountain, most spectacular waterfall, and deepest valley lie in the ocean?  True.  Yet we don't think about it much as this world is unseen to most of us.  Unless of course we are either oceanographers or mermaids and mermen.  And there is life even at the bottom of the ocean floor miles and miles beyond what we can fathom.  Creatures we had not known existed, live and die down in those murky depths, a world relatively unknown to us.

On a clear night you can see the stars all lined up in their bright constellations.  But what you can see with the visible eye is miniscule compared to what is actually out there beyond our limited scope.   You feel your smallness within the universe on such star gazing nights.  But even as small as we are, we are a part of the whole.  We constitute infinity.

And what about the worlds inside the world?  If you ever attempt to read about quantum physics (the dummies version in my case) you will find that you hardly recognize the world as you know it.  At the subatomic level reality changes and re-invents itself in the form of waves and particles.  You do begin to wonder at the hand which so cleverly built all these different worlds so that they not only tolerate one another but work in unison. 

There are miracles everywhere.  The life of a fruit fly seems magnificent particularly if we were to find one on Mars or beyond.  Nothing can be taken for granted.  Look at the intricacy of a small leaf hovering to the ground.  Pick it up and marvel at its green translucency.  Wonder how it grew like so many others.  You appreciate how many others throughout history have also marveled at life in its simplest of forms.   Throughout our existence here on earth we humans have seen the trees rich and full in the summer and the grey bare limbs of winter.  Poetry, literature, and art will always record beauty in expression.

How fortunate we are to get a glimpse that beckons us to explore and to validate why we are here.   How lucky are we that we can sit on a cloudless starry night and contemplate what lies beyond.

It is the mystery of it all which makes us know we are alive.