We all know those mornings when we step outside only to encounter a world smothered in cloud and fog. As in the scene depicted above, the landscape around us is hidden in a shroud of obscurity. We can’t get our bearings.
But we know that things will change. The sun will climb higher and the air, after a time, will begin to warm. As morning progresses, wind and breeze will brush away cloud and fog; sun will thin off mist. Eventually, peaks and ridge lines that first appear as islands, show their connections, one to another.
The landscape is swept clean, the air is clear and the world, formerly draped in cloud and fog, reveals itself to us.
So too in the other worlds we inhabit, the worlds of work and profession, the domain of relationship, and the mystery of faith and belief. We dwell in these worlds throughout much of our lives. As in the physical landscape above, much is hidden from us. Yet, as time passes, much is also revealed.
A new career finds us surrounded by much that we don’t understand. Strange terminology, alien ideas, new work disciplines, all of which we must absorb into our mind as well as make part of our everyday routine. We start small with just a few tasks, then over time expand our repertoire of skills. After many years, we may achieve a level of mastery, where much that was concealed from us is now clear.
The stranger we encounter in a new relationship, whether serious or more casual, presents us with a mystery, a challenge. Do we assume they are much like ourselves? If we do, at some point we detect differences in temperament, outlook and disposition – all the attributes that mark us each as individuals. How has their experience, so different from our own, shaped them? And how does their personality demand from us a response, unlike any we’ve had to give before.
Of all the worlds we inhabit, none holds more mystery than that of the meaning and significance of life. Religion, with its sacred writings, rituals and beliefs, is humanity’s oldest and deepest way to navigate this domain. But even after a lifetime of devotion, will the world of meaning and mystery ever reveal itself fully to us?
There are days when the physical reality we inhabit offers just such fullness of vision – days when the air is clear, when the landscape is alive with light, and when each tree on a distant mountainside stands forth from its close-packed neighbors, as if waiting patiently to be counted. Will we ever find such clear-eyed understanding of the spiritual world?
Mystics and others who seek union with God long for such moments of clarity. To those who seek wisdom in the Bible, the Apostle Paul says yes, we will see all, but not in this life. We must wait ‘til later. “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Suggested Reading
I Corinthians 13:12
