ENCOUNTERING THE MYSTERY
( a short 'reflection' )
In our quietest moments and at our
deepest centre, human beings have always been aware of, and attracted to, their
inherent sense of mystery that lies both at their heart and the heart of creation.
This awareness and
attraction to mystery is all around and within us. We are each faced, at our
deepest depth, with the essential questions ‘Who am I’ ? , What is my
‘true’ self ? and How am I connected to the Ultimate Source, the
Self that is the Mystery at the heart of creation? These are existential questions and,
although we often deny or suppress them, they bubble beneath the surface of our
awareness and if ignored can lie at the heart of our inner restlessness and
angst.
All the Spiritual and Faith Traditions
have struggled with these questions and the mystics, sages and teachers of the
past have provided some pointers and possible answers. There is a wonderful
story from the Zen Buddhist traditions that attempts to provide an answer or,
response, to the questions
The Candle & the Mirror
A Chinese Empress once
asked a Buddhist Master about the relationship between the ONE
( Mystery) and the Many. The Master sat for a moment and then has a
series of mirrors placed all around the room – to form a complete circle.
He then placed a candle in
the middle and lit it. The Empress was both moved and delighted by the wonder
and splendour of the reflected light.
The Master explained that
the light from the candle was the ONE
and the reflections were the Many
This story provides us with a useful
metaphor that is a typical of the many attempts that can be found in all the
Traditions. They can provide us with a view of the Mystery at the heart of our
being. This Mystery reaches out to all and invites us to enter into a deeper on
inner relationship of Self to self. This is an invitation to an encounter
with the Mystery .
This is an example of
the I : Thou relationship outlined by the famous philosopher Martin Buber. Encounter
is a central concept for Buber and for his theory of relating. For Buber, this encounter
occurs with ‘God’ or Mystery ( by whatever name you call It) who is the
eternal Thou and who sustains the I/Thou relationship.
This spiritual I/Thou relationship is one of total
encounter and many examples can be found in the Jewish Scriptures and the Hindu
Upanishads. It also has echoes from
Celtic Spirituality, where ‘presence’ is such an important part
of encounter (See the Resources page of the Satsang Website www.satsang-companionship.org.uk
‘Echoes of Creation )
In this ‘encounter, this ‘Presence’, this I/Thou
relationship between the person, others , the environment and Mystery, there is a unity of being, a
sense of ‘indwelling presence’ one to the other. Thus there is no barrier of
other relationships which separate the individual from Mystery , and thus there
is direct communication. All is seen as ‘Presence’, be it Mystery, nature, the
environment or people.
