Something said in the "Mystery of Chaco Canyon" video
I posted a link to earlier got me thinking about the
mysterious topic of Mystery. In the film Robert
Redford was speaking eloquently about the Anasazi
gazing up into the sky and perceiving its predictable
patterns -- patterns recognized only after 19 gener-
ations of careful observation, but patterns nonetheless
-- as being to some extent the opposite of the chaos
and unpredictability they saw in the world around them.
It would have been natural for people in that time to
look to the heavens and try to extrapolate from its
patterns similar patterns that would work for us
humans down on earth. They longed for Understanding.
I'm not as big a fan as some people of Understanding.
I don't understand shit about the universe and How
It All Works. But I'm a big fanboy of its Mystery.
One of the things that I've noticed in my Road Trips
around the spiritual marketplace is that quite a few
of the people who feel -- or say -- that they "under-
stand" things coincidentally seem to me to be the
same ones who have the least feeling for Mystery. It's
as if the folks who were presented with what for them
intellectually constituted a believable "answer we have
already prepared" or who had their own cognitions
based on a powerful subjective experience *stopped
wondering* about the things they felt they "understood,"
and to some extent closed themselves off to further
Wonder. The greater the sense of "I understand the
Mystery," the lesser the sense of Wonder, and the
lesser a corresponding openness to Mystery.
I "get" the desire to feel as if one had figured things
out. But personally I get off more on the Go Figuring.
I was amused when I moved to France that one of my
favorite phrases in English ("Go figure") had its
counterpart in French ("Va savoir"). Even though
literally ("Go forth to know") it's more explicit
in French about seeking some kind of goal, the more
common meaning when it's spoken in conversation is
more like the Brooklynese "Go figure." It's an expres-
sion of the idea that the goal may be unattainable,
and that the "going" is the important thing, not
the "figuring."
That kinda captures my credo as well. Even though I
am often accused of being a Buddhist, I am probably
more of a Taoist. The quote I used for the frontis-
piece of the book I called Road Trip Mind was from
Lao-tzu: "A good traveler has no fixed plans, and
is not intent upon arriving."
I hope to never "understand" the universe and How
It All Works. Where's the fun in that? I hope to
keep wandering and wondering till my last day on
this rock, and after that to keep doing the same
thing in future incarnations, if they present
themselves. In my experience those I've met who
seemed most convinced that they "understood" things
also seemed to be the most locked into a kind of
intellectual (and often spiritual) stasis. They
didn't "go" much of anywhere new, and just kept
repeating the things they "knew" over and over.
Boring. My path has no destination, and hopefully
will never have an end. The saddest thing I can
imagine is the spiritual path having an end. And
yet others not only embrace this idea, they seek
it fervently. It's just another instance of
predilection, I guess.
For them, the phrase "Go figure" has its emphasis
on the second word. For me, the emphasis is very
much on the first. Although I may ponder many sub-
jects on this forum in a seeming attempt to figure
them out, for me the wonder is to be found in the
continual "going," not in the "figuring." If what
Maharishi said about the natural tendency of the
mind is true, my personal natural tendency is in
the direction of Mystery and Wonder. If there was
a branch of the path that veered off to the right
and had a signpost there at the crossroads saying
"This Way To Understanding," I missed it. And I
don't miss having missed it.
