IMG_3926In recent weeks I’ve been reading a book called Trespassing on Einstein’s Lawn (a daughter and father’s search for the fundamental nature of reality!); and I’ve been talking with my kids about the challenge of raising their kids, dealing with defiance, resistance, negativity… and I’ve been coming up against some of my own personal patterns that keep me going in circles and being hard on myself.  It dawned on me this morning that all these have something in common: they are mysterious! 🙂

Quantum physics and the universe(s) it is revealing are nothing if not mysterious.  And we are not really getting much closer to any clarity about the fundamental nature of reality.  The more we know, the more we realize we don’t know, and the more mysterious it all seems.  I find this rather exciting, and love following (as best I can, which is at a pretty basic level), how the notions of observer dependence, M-theory, dark matter and black holes, strings, holographic principles, give us peeks into the dazzling complexity, or maybe simplicity, unpredictability, that are the core of “reality”, all that is.  Oh my.  images-1

From the far out, to closer to home: we parents and grandparents are finding it quite mysterious how our (grand)children can bring such vehement resistance to doing what they know is simply required (a few chores, say, or not tripping up or bugging their siblings..); how they scream and shout that they hate doing this or that, when the last time they did this or that, it was lots of fun (a walk, a hike…), and further, how they simply can’t seem to step, even for a moment, out of the petulance and resistance to take a breath or two — which would change everything!  Oh my.  (Of course it’s not always like that… but those defiant times are certainly challenging, and stand out!)

And to complete this trilogy, I find it mysterious too how I can have so many tools, have learned and know so much, have been intrigued and attended for so long to inner work, and still I can find myself stuck in my head, forgetting to breathe, slow down, notice my experience’  I am hectic and scattered, saying critical things to myself and others before I even know it…  Well, at least as I write this I am pleased to say, I am smiling, and feeling curiosity and compassion, rather than judgment.  Yeah.

imagesI don’t have any answers! 🙂  Maybe I could offer a few explanations, and certainly pose some more questions… but I won’t even go there.

For now, I will rest in the Mystery, and take some (no small) comfort in the ongoing puzzle about the fundamental nature of reality!!   As well, I will take several deep breaths, as I prepare to cycle off in the glorious, Vancouver, summer weather, to do a few errands.

Comments welcome!

Jill Schroder is the author of BECOMING: Journeying Toward Authenticity.  BECOMING is an invitation for self-reflection, and to mine our memorable moments for insights, meaning, andgrowth.  Check the website for a sample chapter, or see the reviews to get a flavor for the volume.  Follow me on Twitter, let’s be friends on Facebook :-)

 

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