The Mystery of Life: "What's 'Round The Corner?"

EDITOR'S NOTE All scenic photos this post- Geology Page on Facebook. 
Top  photo: Fingal's Cave, Scotland (cont'd at bottom of post)

"It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between."  Diane Ackerman: A Natural History 

Most of us make choices each day that should provide long term security for ourselves and our families. Yet, even with the best of planning, none of us can be sure what lies around the corner...waiting... as a surprise experience for us.

If we think about life in a mostly positive way, we'd expect that whatever lies ahead to be pleasant and adding joy to our days. If we have a tendency to negativity, we can live in fear of what may lie ahead. 

This is the area of life...this living with the mystery of life...that separates the faithful from those who are atheist or agnostic. 

But then, again, there's grace. 

Grace is the unexpected happening that takes a seemingly negative person, or even a positive-leaning person, into a different level of being. We can be moved from extremely dire circumstances into one of hope and joy, by a single act of grace.

So an obvious question for most of us: how do we acquire grace or get grace to show up more and more in our lives?

That question may challenge many of us for most of our lives....if we are undiscerning. 

Grace may seem to occur in our lives at random times, i.e. at times we didn't know how an answer to our prayer could manifest. Then, out of nowhere, grace showed up transforming a bad or negative experience into a very good, or excellent, outcome. To us then, grace may seem like a miracle. 

But for those who study the actions of God, we learn that grace shows up most often in the lives of those who believe in a power greater than him or herself.

When we are able to leave space in our lives for a superior power to take over, after all of our own exhausted efforts have failed: we leave room for God to act; we receive grace. 

When we believe that God is the foundation of all that we do, we do receive more frequent "acts of grace."

Grace is not arbitrary:
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all those things will be added unto you,"
Matthew 6:33

It is difficult even for those who believe in God to believe absolutely in his showing up for us at those times when we most need him. That's because the human mind is conditioned to know what's ahead with a fair amount of certainty. When we don't know or can't predict with a high level of certainty what will happen, fear and anxiety result. 

Fear: false evidence appearing real. And there's lots of this evidence around to support our negative thoughts. Anxiety is the physical manifestation of that fear. Once it gets going, it's often hard to stop our minds from getting all tied up in knots. 

Managing this cycle of fear and anxiety has created lucrative businesses for many, as psychologists and psychiatrists manage phobias and other human emotions. But for those of us, not deeply traumatized by the occurrences in life, and who want, and are capable of managing the cycle ourselves, there's another way ...an even simple way. (Warning: This process may take many years, even decades, before you reach a comfortable plateau or your final destination.) 

Look to God who Lies within. 

That's where the source of the seeming grace, i.e. miracle, lies. Connect to this source of power within us and light a fuse that spreads throughout your mind and body. 

By connecting within for everything we seek, we become our own power source of seeming miracle upon miracle. 

"I'm in his Presence" is the term a very humble Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence, used to stay connected to his source of power, GOD, throughout the course of the day. In tasks large and small, Brother Lawrence reached within to stay in the presence of God, overcoming obstacle upon obstacle in his life. 

The real difference between us and Brother Lawrence is not that he was a monk and we're not; it is that we simply won't believe it is that simple: 
• How can we believe that all of life's problems can be solved by simply staying connected to God? 

• How can it be that results emanating from seeming acts of grace came by hitting the center of our being and hanging on tight?

Surely, Life is much more complicated than that! 

But is it really? 
Or...Is it in our minds? 

On any given day, attending Catholic or any other mass, we can be witnesses to individuals seeking God's mercy. We witness their acts of contrition, believing that they did something wrong and must plead and beg God for forgiveness. They get on their knees to pray. 

We pass on, leaving them to their activities and prayers. 



'Life is difficult," wrote the late Dr. M. Scott Peck, to begin his insightful book, "The Road Less Traveled." In this volume, Dr. Peck advises us to chart our course and to seek our own path to find answers to this difficult life. Some of us have done exactly that...but in doing so, we've found the answers led us back to those so many others have already traveled and recorded to save us the trouble.

The Bible, for *Christians, is such a recording. 

Jesus is one such Soul who charted the course for us.

Then, there's also Brother Lawrence, "Practicing The Presence of God."

I have found in my own long search that one of the key reasons there's a delay comes from this confession said in the Catholic Liturgy:

"Father, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof...but only say the word... and my soul shall be healed."

Think about that. You're asking God to be in his Presence, but it's all messy inside! You would not do that to your friends, indeed even more so to your enemies, i. e. invite them into an untidy or messy house. Yet, you want to entertain God with your garbage strewn all over the place. 

Over the years, as I grew spiritually, I still took pride in many, many "Don't Look At Me, God," moments. John Ortberg in his book, "God is Closer than You Think," cites these times as those moments when we're aware of doing, saying or thinking something wrong, yet doing it anyway. 


So, if you're like me, you may start cleaning house: you may begin to find the myriad ways you can begin to prepare for the coming of his presence, permanently, into your life. Not just glimpses of him in moments of grace. 
                                                                                                                                                                                    Looking for what's around the corner? 

We will never know with any certainty what's around the bend. But by walking closely and connecting within, we can have a fair amount of predictability that the outcome will be filled with ...grace and mercy. 

The feeling is one I repeat from an old song John Ortberg's used in his book: 

Yet...is it really summertime? Or, is it just 'round the corner...
and in your mind?

Summertime, and the livin' is easy:

"Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is highYour daddy's rich and your mama's good lookin'"  

Namaste',
Che'  





EDITOR'S NOTE (cont'd): Confirming the image of Fingal Cave, Scotland,  Mike Ross, a researcher and writer based in San Jose, and also a friend, wrote:  "The image is of Fingal Cave in Scotland, which made the same-slow-cooling lava flow as the famous Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. This is also a similar process that created Devils' Postpile in California's Sierra Nevada._ 

*NOTE: Religions other than Christianity have their own Holy books: Judaism, The Torah; Hinduism, Baghavad Gita; Islam, The Quran; Mormonism, The Book of Mormon, and Buddhism, The Tipitaka. Of course there are many other religions with their own teachings.  of the Senses