Consciousness (when being conscious of consciousness itself) can stumble upon states of consciousness that we commonly call “wonder” or “awe.” 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.
The Land of Mystery
We live in a Land of Mystery.
We know nothing about it.
We don’t know where we have come from.
We don’t know where we are going.
We don’t know where we are.
We are newborn babes.
We have never been here before.
We have never seen this before.
We will never see it again.
This moment is fresh,
Unexpected,
Surprising.
As this moment moves into the past,
It cannot be fully remembered.
All memory is a creation of our minds.
And our minds cannot fathom the Land of Mystery,
much less remember it.
We experience Mystery Now
And only Now.
Any previous Now is gone forever.
Any yet-to-be Now is not yet born.
We live Now,
only Now,
in a Land of Mystery.
The River of Consciousness
Within the Land of Mystery
flows a River of Consciousness.
Consciousness is a moisture in the desert of things,
an enigma in the Land of Mystery,
Consciousness flows through body and mind.
Our bodies are pain and pleasure,
desire, emotion, stillness, and passion.
All these are but rocks in the water
or on the banks of the River of Consciousness.
Consciousness is not the body,
but a flow through the body and with the body.
Consciousness is an alertness that is also
a Freedom to intend, to will, to do.
The mind is a tool of consciousness,
providing consciousness with the ability
to reflect upon consciousness itself.
But consciousness cannot be contained
within the images and symbols of the mind.
Consciousness is an enigma that mind
cannot comprehend – even noticing consciousness
is an act of consciousness using the mind and
flowing like a River in the Land of Mystery.
The Mountain of Care
Within the Land of Mystery
rises a Mountain of Care –
care for self, care for others,
care for Earth, care for the cosmos,
care that we exist, care that we suffer
care that we may find rest and fulfillment,
care that we may experience our caring
and not grow numb and dead.
It takes no effort to care.
It takes effort not to care.
Care is given with the Land of Mystery.
Care is part of the Mystery of Being.
We care, we just care, we are made of care.
Care is a Mountain because care is so huge,
so challenging to embrace, to climb, to live.
Care is a demand upon us that is more humbling,
more consuming, more humiliating,
than all the authorities, laws, and obligations
of our social existence.
Care is a forced march into the dangers
and the hard work of constructing a life that
is not a passive vegetable growth
nor a wildly aggressive obsession.
Care is an inescapable given, simply there,
yet care is also an assertion of our very being.
It is compassion, devotion, love for all that is given
and for all parts of each given thing, each being.
Like Atlas, we lift the planet day-by-day,
year-by-year, love without end,
in the Land of Mystery.
The Sea of Tranquility
In the Land of Mystery
there is a Sea of Tranquility,
a place of Rest amidst the wild waters of life.
The waves may be high, our small boat tossed about,
but there we are with a courageous heart.
It is our heart that is courageous.
We are born with this heart.
We do not achieve it.
We can simply rest within our own living heart,
our own courageous heart that opens vulnerably
to every person and all aspects of that person,
to our own self and every aspect of that self,
to life as a whole with all its terrors and joys.
This is a strange Rest, for no storm can end it,
no challenge of life defeat it,
No loss, no death, no horror of being, no fear
can touch our courageous heart.
We live, if we allow ourselves to truly live
on this wild Sea of Everything in the Tranquility
of our own indestructible courageous heart.
To manifest and fully experience this Tranquility
we only have to give up the creations of our mind
that we have substituted for this ever-present Peace.
We have only to open to the Land of Mystery
flowing with a River of Consciousness
and containing a Mountain of Care.
Here and here alone do we find the Sea of Tranquility –
Here in the Land of Mystery that our mind
cannot comprehend, create, or control.
Here beyond our deepest depth or control
is a Sea of Tranquility in the Land of Mystery.
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: “The Reign of Reality,” “The Commonwealth of Awe.” Yes, even “The Kingdom of God” was good poetry in those strange centuries long ago when “Kingdom” still meant something positive and when “God” 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. “Land of Wonder” is just poetry for the WHERE that all religious symbols point.
If you want to explore Wonder still further, here is my more expanded discussion:
http://www.realisticliving.org/PDF/Consciousness/3WhatIsWonder%3f.pdf
And if hearing, rather that reading, is a mode of communication you prefer, please listen to this brief radio interview on Wonder.
http://www.realisticliving.org/radio.htm
Also, I intend these monthly “Pointers” to create discussion, perhaps among you and your friends, perhaps with me on any topic of Realistic Living. Here is my email: jgmarshall@cableone.net