From the work in progress Life: A Book About Learning to Live
By Jim Rosemergy
The longer I live, the more mysterious life becomes.
I cannot remember what it was like to be a child, but by watching children, I conclude that they know life is mysterious and something to explore. Children taste life, literally. They try to devour it, for everything goes in their mouths.
I’d like to be like a child again. I’d be an explorer, and the gift I’d receive would not be the discoveries I’d make, but the awe I’d feel in being alive. I’d be curious, and my curiosity would affirm that life is mystery.
Mystery, awe, and wonder are meant to be wed to one another. They are the heart, soul, and body of life. I wonder when I lost the sense of awe and mystery? There must have been a time when I thought I knew what life was about. I must have thought I could get something out of life. Maybe I even thought it owed me something.
Perhaps on the day when I began to use the term my life, I cut myself off from life as it could be. I wanted my life to be a certain way. No more mystery for me, and therefore no more awe and wonder. And yet, the mystery has returned because the longer I live, the more mysterious life becomes. You would think that the longer we live, the more we would understand life, but this is not the way it is. However, the more I embrace the mystery, the more I am filled with awe and wonder. It has taken years, but I must rank this insight as one of the greatest truths I understand. It is not actually an understanding of life; it is an understanding of how to live.