To know the mystery of life is to be grateful in all things. In all things, with all things, through all things.
Diana Butler Bass
Welcome to Day Three of Enliven Your Spirit
Have you ever thought of yourself as a mystic? What would you say if someone told you that you could be — that everyone can be? Br. David Steindl-Rast offers this compelling and perhaps surprising invitation: “The mystic is not a special human being,” he says. Rather, “every human being is a special kind of mystic.” If that seems impossible, let’s home in on some definitions of mystic that might make Br. David’s bold claim more accessible. One dictionary defines a mystic as someone who relates to the belief that there is hidden meaning in life (Cambridge); another defines a mystic as someone seeking to understand important things that are beyond the intellect (Oxford). Leaning in to these definitions, it doesn’t seem quite such a stretch to think that each of us can be “a special kind of mystic.”
Curiosity, wonder, and inquiry are innate human capacities — superpowers, even — that have resulted in breathtaking creations, deep wisdom, and transcendent experiences. They constitute an ever-present yearning to understand life’s mystery. While it’s tempting to cling to the comfort and habit of certainties, in doing so we actually close ourselves off from life’s peak experiences, those moments when, as Br. David describes it, we are grabbed by life. Put another way, when you live as if you already know exactly what you’ll find around the next bend in the trail, it’s very likely you’ll miss the beautiful, fleeting rainbow just off to your left.
If you’ve ever looked up at the night sky and wondered at the scale of the cosmos, if you are curious why we love or feel passionate about intangible ideas and principles, if you’ve longed to discover meaning in something larger than yourself — that’s the mystic in you coming through. And if you tend to steer clear of the big questions and peak experiences out of security, habit, or busyness, today is your opportunity to invite them in.
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
Albert Einstein
Today’s Practice: Let Yourself Be Grabbed by Life
To set the stage for today’s practice, spend three minutes with this powerful video about our home, planet Earth. The Pale Blue Dot is narrated by the renowned scientist, professor, and humanitarian Carl Sagan. Pay attention to any questions and feelings that arise as you’re watching and listening.
Step One: Recognize Certainty and Expectation
Bring to mind something in your life where your tight hold on certainty or expectation may be resulting in more stress than meaning, more disappointment than joy, more isolation than belonging. Something may come to mind immediately, or you may need to take a little time to reflect. It could range from a belief you hold, to an expectation of self or others, to a long-held vision of how something should be.
Step Two: Replace Certainty with Possibility
The poet Rainer Maria Rilke famously wrote that we should “try to love the questions themselves,” “to live the questions.” Come up with one way you could replace a certainty you hold or an expectation you have with a question or a kind of wondering. Use any or all of the following sentence prompts to deepen your reflection:
- My need for certainty closes me off from possibility by…
- If I could get more comfortable with unanswerable questions, I imagine that I…
- I would like to let go of narrow expectations and open to meaning and mystery by…
Step Three: Write Three “Notes to Self”
Set an intention to be open to the unexpected for the day ahead. On three post-it notes or small pieces of paper, write the following reminders and place them in visible spaces where you live. Modify in ways that resonate for you:
- Note to Self #1: Be open today. Be open to the unexpected joy and unexpected meaning I can discover today. Don’t dwell on expectations. Invite possibility.
- Note to Self #2: Mix it up. Seek or create something new or beautiful that takes me out of myself and my routine. I will do something simple like pause to look at the sky or listen to the rain coming down.
- Note to Self #3: Pause for awe. Listen for music to send shivers up my spine, reflect on a memory that fills me with wonder, and slow down enough to really savor the moment. I will let myself be grabbed by life!
Step Four: Reflect
- Are there places in your life where holding too tightly to certainty and expectation gets in the way of deeper understanding?
- When you let yourself be grabbed by life, when you allow peak experiences to impact you, what feelings arise? How are you changed?
- When you awaken your inner mystic, how does it open the door to the transcendent or offer a sense of connection to something larger than yourself?
Scroll to the bottom of the page (or click here) to find the Community Conversation space where we invite you to share your reflections about today’s practice.
Deepening Resource
It was during a rainstorm that musician and composer Wu Tong first read the story of a novice Zen monk who experienced enlightenment by observing the ordinary act of rain falling from a roof. The young monk was, it seems, grabbed by life! The resulting composition by Wu Tong offers not only beautiful music, but an invitation to consider how something as seemingly ordinary as rain can open us to the transcendent. The piece is performed with Wu Tong’s friend and teacher, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.
Rain Falling From Roof by Wu Tong and Yo-Yo Ma
Research Highlight
Professor and author Steven J. Heine of the University of British Columbia leads research that seeks to understand what helps people feel they’re leading lives of meaning and purpose. His work reveals that people who identify as spiritual, regardless of whether they also identify as religious, report feeling greater meaning in their lives than those who identify as neither religious nor spiritual. Heine reports that his team’s research suggests that an essential factor in this heightened level of meaning is a person’s “mystical beliefs, such as whether they believe in karma, or whether they feel that the whole universe is connected.”
Heine, Steven J. Start Making Sense: How Existential Psychology Can Help Us Build Meaningful Lives in Absurd Times. New York: Basic Books, 2025.
Photo by Greg Rakozy
My experience with “Being Grabbed By Life” today was early in the morning, before I was being grabbed by the daily routine of work again :-). I went out to my friend’s rural property just before sunrise to help feed the horses and clean paddocks, which usually takes up most of the time I have available there before I have to head into the city for work. This morning there was not much cleanup to do as with the approach of milder weather, the horses spend most of their day in a big field grazing and only come in at some point during the night to wait for their warm morning mash. After they all had their treats, I had time to just stand among the 4 horses and 2 donkeys and we all watched the sun come up over the horizon. It was such a peaceful moment, being one with the herd, feeling their collective presence, being awed by the sunrise and experiencing the mystery of connecting with another species. These moments always awaken a sense of something larger than myself in me, and a feeling of deep gratitude for this amazing life with all its ups and downs.
I also loved the Rain Falling From Roof song – spellbinding! I am curious what the instrument is that Wu Tong is playing, I have never seen or heard anything like this before.
Thank you for sharing that visual of you sharing a sunrise with 4 horses and 2 donkeys – it sounds magical!
I was doing fine on steps 1 – 3 and can see using these again to help me find the kind of space or pause I need when I am stuck in a rigid set of expectations. I think I do this because I have anxiety, and it gives me a feeling of order and control when I plan out in my head just how things ought to be (from my viewpoint at that moment). I have really been working on this using tools that include pausing for some deep breaths and then asking myself some questions – is this my issue to fix? Is it about me? Am I in danger? Once I get past this point and have recognized what has triggered my anxiety. I love the idea of Steps 2 and 3, mixing it up and pausing for awe. The situation I worked on in the first step didn’t lend itself to this process, but it helped me sort through it. I will try this again. I like the Post-its because it is hard to focus on one issue while the busyness of life goes on. So, I think there is much to consider, and I think that my regular practice of walking and breathing to let go and open my heart and mind while spending time in nature will allow me to explore this further. The feeling of awe often puts things right into perspective for me. So does a good night sleep with an intention to return to my question the next day. How clear things become. I don’t know if that is ‘my inner mystic’ but it is quite magical when the light comes to me. Thanks for keeping me curious!
Hi Mary,
Thank you for sharing this – it made me think about curiosity which is a somewhat underrated quality, and yet I feel that it is at the heart of being fully alive. Being curious allows us to put aside preconceived notions and expectations, and open our hearts and minds to the possibilities instead. Curiosity pushes us to ask questions, to explore, to take a step into the unknown, to ponder different perspectives. I hope to remain curious all my life.
Thank you, Uli. How did you cultivate your curiosit? I love learning new things and at the same time I have such entrenched habits and often just respond according to old ways of thinking, even when I’ve learned something new. It takes a lot to get something fully embedded in my tool kit or subconscious so that it is more automatic. Sometimes visuals help and those are often found in nature. I would love to have my curiosity triggered instead of my anxiety when I’m faced with uncertainty. Perhaps it is just a matter of practice and a gentle loving approach to being an old dog who is trying to learn new tricks. Curiosity is someting I am currently trying to nurture and I’d love to hear, how is your curiosity triggered?
There was an unexpected turn when meeting my dear friend, instead of folowigng our intention, the theme completely turned to something where my friend could offer may be someting to help along where nothing could help so far. Ii brought some light of hope in it concerning my inability in managing when facing my deepest fear. Thank you dearly, my dear friend.
The Rain falling From Roof” by these two artists – most touching and so beautiful. Energy of the scene arriving through inner ears to heart in sweet melancholy just in that moment of playing. Thank you dear Wu Tong and Yo-Yo Ma, and dear Grateful team for sharing this.
I believe that everyone is spiritual, not necessarily religious but coming from and imbued with spirit. So grateful to live in a time where dicotamies are disappearing & we don’t have to think either/or.
I get more in touch with spirit and my inner mystic when I’m in the natural world or in the presence of children. Everything is more PRESENT when I look, learn and be.
The ‘Rain Falling From The Roof’ was spellbinding! New instrument & new artist…Always something new to learn! Thank you! 🌻
Whirling, twirling in space. It’s NOT A RACE! But a journey of meditation, contemplation–NO HASTE!
Take your time. Over time. In your OWN TIME. Reflect, reassure yourself—that all is well. If you
will just swell—into the reality that IS. Your own. You. Matter. Within the matter of Earth, soil, sea, skies
and sublime LIFE! NO STRIFE. As we navigate our past and paths forward, on this one great Earth
whirling. . . twirling. . . in space. . . enjoy the ride!
Wow – what a beautiful poem! Thank you for sharing this – it really resonated with me and captures the essence of what it means to be alive. I will print it out and put it up somewhere where I can look at it every day and be reminded to enjoy the ride.