“It had always seemed to Emily, ever since she could remember, that she was very near to a world of wonderful beauty. Between it and herself hung only a thin curtain; she could never draw the curtain aside – but sometimes, just for a moment, a wind fluttered it, and then it was as if she caught a glimpse of the enchanting realm beyond – only a glimpse – and heard the note of unearthly music. This moment came rarely and went swiftly, leaving her breathless with the inexpressible delight of it. She could never recall it – never summon it – never pretend it; but the wonder of it stayed with her for days.”(From “Emily of New Moon” By L.M.Montgomery)
Rudolf Otto called it “the divine sense of the truly other”
If you have ever experienced it yourself, you know exactly what I speak of and there is no need to read further for nothing I can say can replace the sense of wonder and revelation that comes when one experiences it for oneself.
It creeps up on you unawares like a divine homesickness, like a holy haunting. And for the short while it lingers, we are drenched in mortality, more aware of our brevity and temporality than ever before. And we are left in no doubt that we have tasted but not yet feasted, on that which is otherworldly.
Albert Einstein said ”the most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.”
Abraham, experienced it and it drove him forward. He went out, not knowing where he went, homesick for that which he had but caught a glimpse of.
And he sojourned.
The word literally means “to spend a day”.
We are but sojourners in a land of promise. We are aliens on a visit, pilgrims in a foreign land who have come but "to spend a day".
What we have is temporal, and it is the taste of “the mysterious” that calls us onward to that other city, that other country. It beckons us with an ache of the soul that reminds us that the journey is not yet over, we have not yet arrived.
There is music playing, but not everyone can hear it. Most are too busy hoarding things, reputations, egos and possessions. But those that do hear it always recognise the melody. A sometimes melancholy tune that truly moves them, divine music that touches the depths of their being with a longing for that which should be, and what one day will be, the manifestation of the sons of God amidst "Paradise Found."
Life is all messed up. It’s a result of the fall. We just don’t seem to remember that do we? Once upon a time we lived in paradise.
But not anymore.
We spend our days on “that which is not bread”. We labour for “that which does not satisfy”.
Will we ever wake up.?
Annie Dillard says “We wake, if we ever wake at all, to mystery”, and elsewhere she writes “our life is but a faint tracing on the surface of mystery”.
Will we ever realise once and for all that there is nothing on this temporal planet that will ever truly satisfy us because it’s not supposed to.
It was never meant to in the first place. The original blueprint is for a different world. The "mystery" beckons us on, the "holy haunting" calls us forward and we must finish the journey, we were only ever meant to be here but “to spend a day”.
