No need to know

Embracing mystery

I had a dream once that clearly stands out above the rest. It happened during a time when I was having frequent lucid dreams.

In one of them, I started meditating on a mountaintop and became surrounded by blinding light. In another, I was simultaneously the dream's omniscient architect and unsuspecting protagonist.

Those dreams were interesting, but they came and went. They didn't really have a lasting impact.

The most compelling dream I've ever had involved me walking through a sea of people at a chaotic house party. As I crossed the loud, crowded room, I started to wonder how I'd gotten there, where I'd been before, and why the heck I couldn't remember - the usual reasoning process that tended to yield lucidity.

Except that this time, right before I reached the epiphany, I thought: "You know what? I don't know, and that's okay. I'm happy and grateful to be here. This is fun."

The only thing I remember after that is being filled with an incredible sense of joy. It was as if embracing the mystery rather than trying to solve it had unlocked a sense of wellbeing previously held hostage by the need to know.

I find this to be directly applicable to waking life. When it comes down to it, none of us knows why we're here, or where (if anywhere) we were before this. We don't know what this reality is that we find ourselves in.

And that's okay. The point is, we're here. We can embrace this without needing to know what or why it is.

Paradoxically, this connects us to an innate sense of understanding much more meaningful than any package of words and concepts can provide.