Consciousness (when being conscious of consciousness itself) can stumble upon states of consciousness that we commonly call \u201cwonder\u201d or \u201cawe.\u201d It takes a bit of poetry to communicate from one person to another the deeply inward experiences of wonder. Following is some poetry on this topic. I like this particular poem because it summarizes the vast scope of wonder. The structure of this poem uses the overall metaphor of a Land of Mystery in which there exists a River of Freedom, a Mountain of Care, and a Sea of Tranquility.<\/p>\n
We live in a Land of Mystery.
\nWe know nothing about it.
\nWe don\u2019t know where we have come from.
\nWe don\u2019t know where we are going.
\nWe don\u2019t know where we are.
\nWe are newborn babes.
\nWe have never been here before.
\nWe have never seen this before.
\nWe will never see it again.
\nThis moment is fresh,
\nUnexpected,
\nSurprising.
\nAs this moment moves into the past,
\nIt cannot be fully remembered.
\nAll memory is a creation of our minds.
\nAnd our minds cannot fathom the Land of Mystery,
\nmuch less remember it.
\nWe experience Mystery Now
\nAnd only Now.
\nAny previous Now is gone forever.
\nAny yet-to-be Now is not yet born.
\nWe live Now,
\nonly Now,
\nin a Land of Mystery.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Within the Land of Mystery
\nflows a River of Consciousness.
\nConsciousness is a moisture in the desert of things,
\nan enigma in the Land of Mystery,
\nConsciousness flows through body and mind.
\nOur bodies are pain and pleasure,
\ndesire, emotion, stillness, and passion.
\nAll these are but rocks in the water
\nor on the banks of the River of Consciousness.
\nConsciousness is not the body,
\nbut a flow through the body and with the body.
\nConsciousness is an alertness that is also
\na Freedom to intend, to will, to do.
\nThe mind is a tool of consciousness,
\nproviding consciousness with the ability
\nto reflect upon consciousness itself.
\nBut consciousness cannot be contained
\nwithin the images and symbols of the mind.
\nConsciousness is an enigma that mind
\ncannot comprehend \u2013 even noticing consciousness
\nis an act of consciousness using the mind and
\nflowing like a River in the Land of Mystery.<\/p>\n
Within the Land of Mystery
\nrises a Mountain of Care \u2013
\ncare for self, care for others,
\ncare for Earth, care for the cosmos,
\ncare that we exist, care that we suffer
\ncare that we may find rest and fulfillment,
\ncare that we may experience our caring
\nand not grow numb and dead.
\nIt takes no effort to care.
\nIt takes effort not to care.
\nCare is given with the Land of Mystery.
\nCare is part of the Mystery of Being.
\nWe care, we just care, we are made of care.
\nCare is a Mountain because care is so huge,
\nso challenging to embrace, to climb, to live.
\nCare is a demand upon us that is more humbling,
\nmore consuming, more humiliating,
\nthan all the authorities, laws, and obligations
\nof our social existence.
\nCare is a forced march into the dangers
\nand the hard work of constructing a life that
\nis not a passive vegetable growth
\nnor a wildly aggressive obsession.
\nCare is an inescapable given, simply there,
\nyet care is also an assertion of our very being.
\nIt is compassion, devotion, love for all that is given
\nand for all parts of each given thing, each being.
\nLike Atlas, we lift the planet day-by-day,
\nyear-by-year, love without end,
\nin the Land of Mystery.<\/p>\n
In the Land of Mystery
\nthere is a Sea of Tranquility,
\na place of Rest amidst the wild waters of life.
\nThe waves may be high, our small boat tossed about,
\nbut there we are with a courageous heart.
\nIt is our heart that is courageous.
\nWe are born with this heart.
\nWe do not achieve it.
\nWe can simply rest within our own living heart,
\nour own courageous heart that opens vulnerably
\nto every person and all aspects of that person,
\nto our own self and every aspect of that self,
\nto life as a whole with all its terrors and joys.
\nThis is a strange Rest, for no storm can end it,
\nno challenge of life defeat it,
\nNo loss, no death, no horror of being, no fear
\ncan touch our courageous heart.
\nWe live, if we allow ourselves to truly live
\non this wild Sea of Everything in the Tranquility
\nof our own indestructible courageous heart.
\nTo manifest and fully experience this Tranquility
\nwe only have to give up the creations of our mind
\nthat we have substituted for this ever-present Peace.
\nWe have only to open to the Land of Mystery
\nflowing with a River of Consciousness
\nand containing a Mountain of Care.
\nHere and here alone do we find the Sea of Tranquility \u2013
\nHere in the Land of Mystery that our mind
\ncannot comprehend, create, or control.
\nHere beyond our deepest depth or control
\nis a Sea of Tranquility in the Land of Mystery.<\/p>\n
If you resonate with any of this poetry it is because you have also experienced these same aspects of this inescapable, but often fled, Land of Mystery. Perhaps you prefer other poetry: \u201cThe Reign of Reality,\u201d \u201cThe Commonwealth of Awe.\u201d Yes, even \u201cThe Kingdom of God\u201d was good poetry in those strange centuries long ago when \u201cKingdom\u201d still meant something positive and when \u201cGod\u201d was only a word of devotion for The Final Reality of Infinite Wonder. We have to use words. We have to have poetry, and yet the words do not finally matter. Poetic images are just creations of some tiny little finite human mind. Our religious poetry is just figures of speech that point beyond themselves. \u201cLand of Wonder\u201d is just poetry for the WHERE that all religious symbols point.<\/p>\n
If you want to explore Wonder still further, here is my more expanded discussion:<\/p>\n