Life seems random but it actually has a design. As I watch the little metal ball move seemingly randomly through the sand, I am contemplating my life. Looking back over the arc of my life I can see how patterns, like this one, were formed during different phases of my life.
At first it’s hard to see that the little ball is creating a pattern. And then you spot the pattern and simply watch it replicate and expand. That part can be fun if it’s clear something beautiful is happening. The Mystery captures your attention as it reveals its plan, much like that little ball moving through the sand.
But sometimes it doesn’t feel fun: it feels hard. Especially when the little ball is complete with the pattern it had in mind, and then starts deconstructing it to make a new pattern. It charges its way through the beauty, breaking up what felt sacred and perfect, revealing the flaws underneath and reminding us that nothing is permanent in this world of shifting form. The force moving that little ball wants to create something new. It may not even be better. It is just new.
If we can let go of what we loved, we can experience something new that will also expand and delight us. It’s that letting go of what we thought was happening, what we really wanted to keep happening forever, that can be so hard.
Life wants to keep moving, shifting, expanding, and knowing itself anew. The magic of the Mystery opens as we accept the ending of what was, and the beginning of what may be.
