But Suppose

"Liberation beckons us within everything."
—Li Song

Some days it is enough to be aware of the enormous mystery of life, and others, I need to plunge in, follow the clues, attempt to solve.

There is no solution, of course—only endless puzzling.  Some days the idea of knowing, of figuring out, seems like the liberation I’m seeking (freedom from bafflement, from ignorance, from contained and unenlightened thought); but in the end, I think, it’s accepting the mystery and never-knowing that’s the liberation of Li Song, and the almost baffling happiness of Rilke.

“But suppose the endlessly dead were to

wake in us some emblem:

they might point to the catkins hanging

from the empty hazel trees, or direct

us to the rain

descending on black earth in early

spring. ---

And we, who always think of happiness

rising, would feel the emotion

that almost baffles us

when a happy thing falls.”

—Maria Rainer Rilke, Duino Elegies

image:  what beckons; photo:  The Beauty of Arts