The Mystery of the Present and Play
Play is the highest form of research.
– Albert Einstein
If it is important even for our survival on the planet to relearn re-entering the Mystery of the Present, what serves this end?
This question is one I contemplate this season as the dark comes before 5 in the evening and stays well past 7 in the morning. Mystery crackles in the fire I build in the wood stove, glows in the candlelight on the altar, sparkles in the Christmas tree bulbs we put on the little blue spruce we brought in for its second year. If only I notice!
Do introverts have it little easier in these tasks? I am not sure. We so love the quiet, the time alone with a fire or a candle. Apprehending beauty always brings mystery for me, something it is so easy to not see when I am busy rushing around.
But there is also the Mystery of the Other, Mystery that comes when I don’t know and am open to listening. It is a discipline I exercise regularly in my analytic practice when I sit with someone whose pain is an enigma to us both and yet a guide into new territory. But at home it is so easy to assume I know my husband, my children and grandchildren, my friends, or, for that matter, the graceful old Valley Oaks in the meadow, or a dear goat. It is so easy to forget the Mystery of the Other in efficient, busy states of mind!
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| One of my favorite people contemplating the mystery of olives! |
I have been wondering, do laughter and fun promote the apprehension of Mystery in the Other? I love lingering meals with friends and family, long walks with friends or goats, the meanderings of uncharted days with loved ones, experiences which render me open.
I read where it is important to do nothing some part of every day. Is doing nothing play?
Does play serve opening into mystery?
Mysterious questions! Ones of the season? What opens the door of Mystery for you?