A Gift in Nature’s Shroud

A Mist(ical) Reflection

daylight’s silken shroud mystery ripples reveal wings sudden flutter

fluttering wings lift ripples reveal mystery through mist-shrouded view

In this mist-shrouded reflection, a mistical (sic) reflection if you will, we explore the known-unknown. When we look upon a familiar scene shrouded in mist, we may know what is out there but the world of certainty is now hidden from us. The known becomes more mysterious, more uncertain. This can be frightening but at the same time, it is a gift. For when everything is known with certainty, life falls into the background. We no longer see the mountains, the lake, the world of beingness that stands majestically before us. Moreover, we become bored automatons as we shut the door on a world that offers no surprises. Without mystery, there is no spark to life, no challenge, no striving. It is in the striving that life unfolds not in the arriving.

Yet, as the bird moves in the shrouded waters (was it a duck, a goose, or perhaps a heron) a ripple forms. A signal from nature, a trace memory that moves in every direction at once, simultaneously revealing the past like light from a distant star, but at the same time activating a moment of wakefulness in the here and now. The ripple in our imagination now also moves forward in time, a projection into a possible future of striving to see, to imagine, and to learn about life. Perhaps a sound, an echo off the water, will offer further clues to revealing the mystery. We are suddenly open as we take flight in pursuit of life. It’s good to be alive.

There is a parallel here to the Koan poem I published earlier:

and you can also find previous nature reflections here:

There are a total of 6 nature reflections in this series to date but you can scroll down the one above to find links to a couple more. The series is all published in Blue Insights and began with: