A Word I Felt This Afternoon - #215

Listening to trees being butchered made for a lamentable afternoon. 

I've written about my love of trees before - specifically trees in my backyard. Luckily they are not under attack.

The trees under the knife are ones that provide beauty outside my office building. The unmistakable sound of the chainsaw and the grinder this afternoon made me really angry.

When I grumbled to a new tenant, a woman who recently moved in across the hall from my suite, she disclosed that previous to her move, she was informed there were plans to update the office building. 

Suddenly I was feeling APORIA. 

This new word (to me) doesn't show up in every dictionary but when it does make an appearance, it is a word I love.

It is late and I need to stop writing. Next post, I will define it and tie it in to impermanence. 

Let me know if you find it and how you think it relates to impermanence. 

Thanks for exploring the mystery  - Nicky Mendenhall

The image is of a tree I named "Post-it-note Tree that was discovered in OR last year.

Are You Seeking To See - #214

"Sehnsucht"  (German pronunciation  'zeːnzʊxt') 

Sehnsucht is a German word for yearning (seeking to see).  

It is a difficult word, according to several sources, to translate adequately. 

When I first found the word it was defined* as follows:

Expresses a profound desire that life would have meaning beyond the "seen." 

I read this to mean that most of us want to find meaning in the irrational and the nonmaterial.  

I find meaning in the story of Jesus' life here on earth. I find meaning in The Four Noble Truths discovered by the Buddha. I find meaning in Nature and in the changing of the seasons.  

Where do you find meaning? What are you seeking to see? How do you deal with the irrational and nonmaterial? Send me an email or comment on the blog.

exploring the mystery will be back next Tuesday! Nicky M.

*Once again I lost the source. I apologize to the originator.

Never Doubt the Power of the Unconscious - #213

Post #212 was lengthy. It occurred to me after it was published that since reading it would take more of your time, I would skip the next post. No final decision was made; my assumption was that a new post was needed.

Friday evening, the window of opportunity for pushing the "publish" button (for Saturday delivery) came and went. No thought whatsoever of exploring the mystery.

This morning, Saturday, I woke up a bit disoriented. Something didn't feel right. What day was it anyway?

Clarity came slowly. I had forgotten to post last night. I have plenty of excuses why this didn't happen but my best guess is that my unconscious interfered. I thought I could (or is it would?) skip the post and so I did.


Do you catch your unconscious interfering with your plans? Do you even believe in the unconscious? I suspect there is at least one person reading this that no longer "believes" in the unconscious. I'd love to hear how you would think of situations like this.  

I offer my apologies for the late arrival of this post plus an image of an idyllic beach scene from a trip to Brazil in 2010 coupled with the thought - how can it be almost six years? I remember the fresh fish - caught minutes before lunch - grilled over the open fire.

What is your experience at the beach? Do you "believe" in sitting on the beach listening to the ocean? Let us know in an email or in the comments section of the blog which you can get to by scrolling to the bottom of the email you are reading and clicking on the underlined phrase, exploringthemystery

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Reader Posits Puzzling Paradox - #212

"I have hope," Karen writes after consulting her medical professional.

exploring the mystery: "That's good - it's important to have hope!"

Karen: "What about your post that talked about staying with the worry and disappointment?  I never know what to aim for!"

exploring the mystery : "What good questions. I'll get back to you - I need time to ponder."

Few days later:

Dear Karen, 

This response may not help. I fear that postponing my response may have raised your expectations.  

As you so astutely pointed out, the posts have offered two diametrically opposed opinions: ”stay hopeful” and “stay with suffering.”

Finding the word paradoxical in my Kindle dictionary, I learned it is an adjective meaning seemingly absurd or self-contradictory. This didn't seem rich enough for me so I kept looking.

My research unearthed: para="beyond" and dokein="to think." To me this implies one has to go beyond thinking to understand a paradox. 

A paradox, writes Kerry Walters,* "properly elicits from us a lived response, not a conceptual analysis."

Walters also writes that a paradox takes us into a "mysterious realm that stubbornly resists the battering ram of reason."

"Mysterious realm" - doesn't that sound like natural material for exploring the mystery! 

So Karen, here's one idea for dealing with this particular paradox: "Stay with the suffering; feel your feelings. Stay as long as you can with whatever feelings arrive on the scene. As you sink into the feelings, at some point you will notice that these feelings shift and change. You don't have to make that happen, the nature of feelings is that when they have our full attention (occupied center stage as long as necessary) they will shift and change."

And here's another idea: "Stay with a feeling of hope. Stay as long as you can. Picture the glimmer of hope. Feel it manifesting in your life. If hope begins to flicker, talk to someone you trust. Get support."

In other words - don't aim for anything. Just sit with yourself. Flip a coin if you don't have any idea where to start. You can switch back and forth between the two options for as long as you want.

Don't analyze. Experience your experience. Wait for a lived experience.

How would you respond to Karen? What paradoxes trouble you the most? Is it easy for you to go beyond thinking? Please let us know by emailing me or going to comment section.

Thanks Karen for exploring your mystery with us

Thanks  to everyone for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall



*Kerry Walters, Soul Wilderness (2001), page 3.

Note regarding image: There is not a hidden paradox in this image, don't drive yourself crazy trying to find one. If  you find one, please notify me immediately!

Can You Celebrate the Muddy Mess? - #211

"There is a hard truth to be told: before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck. I have walked in the early spring through fields that will suck your boots off, a world so wet and woeful it makes you yearn for the return of ice. But in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created."* *Parker Palmer, Word for the Day, 2/7/2016, Network for Grateful Living. Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Do You Have To Stretch For Patience? - #210

Pulling into the driveway at 4:00 this afternoon, the squawking from this pair of geese captured my attention. I went into the house to find my camera. When I came back out, I discovered that the noise wasn't from just these two, they were communicating with another pair on a roof two houses over. In addition, there was a single goose in between the two pair who was the loudest of all. The dark clouds seemed part of the story.

I wish you could have heard them! The sound was raucous! It made me laugh to see them stretch their necks and squawk!

This was a marked contrast to what I faced inside the house: the internet was off line. Don't you just hate twenty-first century technological problems?

I guess that's where patience should have blossomed inside me.

What I really want to share with you are a few lines from Christine Valters Paintner's post from the Abbey of the Arts newsletter on March 6, 2016.  I found them quite fitting for our discussion:

"The cultivation of patience.....the Greek word is hupomone, which essentially means to stay with whatever is happening. 

"On a deeper level, the call is to not run away when things become challenging. Stability demands that we stay with difficult experiences and stay present to the discomfort they create in us."

This seems a little deeper look at patience. It challenges me to honor whatever is happening, no matter how difficult. These words hint that the discomfort may have something to offer.

I don't know about you , but I like comfort.  Stretching myself to appreciate discomfort will be quite a stretch. As much of a stretch as the geese did with their necks!

Does Christine's take on patience add anything for you? Please email me of go to the comments section and let us know. 

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Did the Guardian Make a Fried Egg? - #209

"Patience is remaining present."

The above wisdom is not original. I jotted it down, omitting the source. I was confident I would remember and give credit to the author.

But alas the memory of the source is no longer available. This type of wisdom saying, so obvious and so true, is beginning to feel like something I must have said. If you said it, or know the source, please let me know.

The Guardian statue is always present when I raise the shade to see the rising sun and brilliant sky in the morning as well as when I begin to settle in for the evening and lower the shade.

I find myself pushing to get items on my list(s) crossed off or pushing things out of my mind, often things I am not ready to know.  I admit that patience is not my long suit. 

The Guardian sits there in all types of weather accepting what is. The Guardian is patient. The Guardian is a model for me. The Guardian is always present.

Scroll back to Post #191 and you will see another image of the Guardian. Keep scrolling until you reach the Post for 12-29-2015 for yet another.

Next time you lose patience, remember to be present. Remember the Guardian.

Do you have lots of patience? What makes you impatient? Is it your normal state to be in the present moment? What interferes? Does this make sense to you? Do you have a Guardian?

Thanks for exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Observe Your Phalanges - #208

"Plants have learned how to arrange their branches at the exact mathematical angle that allows each leaf to absorb the greatest amount of sunlight.

"Our finger bones or phalanges embody this exact same mathematical ratio, which allow the hand to integrate the part with the whole and to open and close in the most efficient, elegant way."*

When leaves return in a few weeks, notice how the branches are arranged to provide maximum sunlight for them.

Observe your hands gracefully open and close. Notice how often you use them every hour.

Two ways to continue exploring the mystery - Nicky Mendenhall

Nature and our bodies will be coming to life soon! Are you ready for the season to change? Please let us know what you look forward to as well as what you dread.

*David Fideler, Ph.D. as quoted in Kosmos magazine, Volume xiv, number two, 2015.