The Art of Being

"Part of a commitment to living in the mystery more of the time means learning to become more comfortable swimming in a sea of questions rather than standing rigidly on islands of concrete beliefs, especially about things that are beyond our capacity to know without absolute certainty."

- - Dr. Jordan Paul Stepping into the mystery of

'I don't know'

Have you ever read a good mystery novel that really had you wondering "who done it" until the very end of the book?

That's because somehow the author kept you involved throughout the story by not giving you the complete answer you were seeking.

In much the same way, life is a mystery, too. The only difference is that when it comes to life, we most often have a far greater attachment to knowing how the story is going to end long before it does, and we suffer greatly because of it.

Whether we're talking about our lives, our relationships, our careers or any other aspect of our daily existence, most of us are greatly attached to knowing, or controlling, in advance exactly how everything is going to turn out. And because of this, we tend to live smaller, condensed, fearful little lives.

If you stop and consider this, it's really quite something. Life truly is the ultimate mystery.

We are born from the pure essence of divine creation, given a body in which we rattle around for a given period of time, and then we leave again, going back into the divine essence from which we came.

That- in and of itself- is amazing.

The space between those two points is what we refer to as "life," and we spend most of it trying to figure out why things are the way they are and how we can manipulate, control and squeeze more out of it, rather than living in awe of the sweetness of the mystery itself.

Those who insist on knowing the whys and hows of everything are not generally happy and peaceful individuals. That's because their need to know is driven by fear and insecurity, not inspiration.

The bottom line is that some things are simply beyond our capacity to know with absolute certainty, and to try and do so will make our experience here very unsettling. We are here to evolve, giving a deeper and fuller expression to the life that God is.

That requires us to continually push out further into the mystery of the unknown, stepping out of "I have to know" and into "I don't know."

Believe it or not, that's also where we connect with authentic inner peace. There is an amazing release that happens when we let go of the need to know it all, all the time. When we live in wonderment, not just by accepting what is but by being willing to see Infinite Intelligence at work, a deep and profound peace accompanies it.

Of course, the pathway that enables us to step into the mystery of "I don't know" is faith.

What does it really mean to have faith?

In Hebrews 11:1 it is stated with such simple elegance it cannot easily be misunderstood: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

In other words, it's possible to hold space in your heart that includes a willingness to allow life to support you in your forward movement without being attached to how it will do so. That's a profound thought, isn't it?

So, hold a vision for yourself and what your life can be, but be willing to take the action of faith, because faith without works really is dead.

Ultimately this requires you to step into "I don't know" without an agenda other than to be in awe of the mystery itself, understanding that contained within the mystery is what you need to truly be the evolving being you've come to be.

Ah, sweet mystery of life . . .

Dennis Merritt Jones is the spiritual director for OneSpirit Center for Conscious Living in Simi Valley. His website is www.OneSpirit.org.