It Began in Mystery-Daily Meditation-6.23.23

Today’s quotation:

It began in mystery, and it will end in mystery, but what a savage and beautiful country lies in between.-Diane Ackerman

Today’s Meditation:

There is so much for us here on this planet that even if we lived to be a thousand years old, we’d never be able to experience it all.  How our lives begin exactly is not something about which we have precise knowledge, and what happens when we die is also pretty much unknown to us, but here we are!  Today we will experience the savage and beautiful country–or we will experience the tame and mundane world that many people experience each day.

I believe that by “savage” here, Diane means “untamed.”  Unfortunately, we have done all we can to tame this world, so we rarely experience the world in its untamed form.  We eradicate animals that may harm us and build shelters that protect us from storms.  We have vehicles that make long treks on foot unnecessary, and we buy food in supermarkets and restaurants.  We want the world to be a tame, “safe” place, and we don’t seek out adventures that may test us to our limits.

We may not be able to experience the savage anymore (and it may not be a good idea to do so without training to face it), but we can experience the beauty and remind ourselves of the savage.  We can take those walks in the rain- and snowstorms, hike in areas far from other people, and put ourselves in situations that will challenge us and push us to limits.  Life has plenty to offer in addition to all that we take advantage of each day, but we’ll never know what it is until we reach out and touch it.

One day it will all end, and we’ll either move on to something else or cease existing.  In the meantime, though, we have the opportunity to experience the savage and beautiful lives with which we’ve been blessed–but only if we choose to enrich our lives by stepping out and becoming a part of that savage and beautiful life instead of always accepting the safe and mundane.

Questions to consider:

In which ways have you reached out to test your limits recently?  In what ways would you like to do so?

Why do human beings always try to make their worlds safe and threat-free?

Why do we often admire people who take risks and do things that others don’t do?

For further thought:

The things that are most worthwhile in life are those within the reach of almost every normal human being who cares to seek them out.-Charles B. Forbes

If you missed our last Daily Meditation, it is here.