Pondering Mystery

 "I'm dying now". This three sentences come from the fictional character in a famous novel of Roberto Bolano. An utterance from a man who is now in his death-bed, waiting for the last hour of his life. As we read those lines, maybe we are not at that horrifying state yet but still, we can all says in unison, "Life indeed is a mystery." Why we are here on earth, Why leaving this world now rather than tomorrow or yesterday? These "why" questions are always full of puzzle and puzzled mankind. Some challenging questions has an answer to it but some others are far from the surface of an answer to which we can called it at the end as "mystery". Mystery commonly related to idea of darkness or mystical. We can found this idea simply as we browse to our NetFlix site as we are looking for which movie to watch and get the idea of what mystery all about. We can say also, because of the nature of the mystery that set the uncertainty at the fore front, no wonder, mystery can push us to the limit of our intellect and exposed that our mind actually has a limit. There is cloud of unknowing in our life and this is the indispensable fact of life in which we are living, and we can come to know this when we encounter directly with the mystery of life. Signs and rituals since the ancient past were an attempt to capture the glimpse of mystery of our world. Homer in Odyssey says, "the charm of unknown dominates everything." And this unknown was best to be translated as mystery.  

Some have tried their best to elaborate and unlock the mystery of life but at the end of the day, we could wonder whether the unlocked mystery was the mystery in the first place for mystery, simply something are very cloudy and almost impossible to be known. Moreover, to add point of remark, the unlocked mystery will set the weight of another mystery that is to say, how can those person can find the meaning and origin of the mystery in the first place? What mind he/she uses? What kind of tools? What evidences based? Many follow up questions will formed as a conclusive proof of the mystery of revealed mystery. Stephen King, a well known mystery writer once critique the mystery movie that try to explain detail on the mystery through out the scene, for King, it's like an inner contradiction of genre. Hence, it fails to deliver the nuance and the atmosphere of the mystifying genre of mystery itself.  So What we can say the midst of mystery? Wittgenstein once wrote that "what we cannot speak of we must consign to silence." At the deepest level, silent means affirming the reality of mystery that is beyond our reach. Silent does not mean we are stop to use our mind. Rather, to concern with the mystery stimulate our mind to the maximum limit that we never reach before, if we are willing to wonder and walking in that track. 

Apparently many mystery are left unanswered. Even the fictional character like Holmes who is one of the best person to unveil bemused mystery has had a cases that he cannot solve! For me personally the existence of Covid-19 is one of the best candidate of what we called as mystery of our time that most of us will agree to vote. If indeed the virus was made by human, then we can safely say this is not a mystery. A pure human error and human mistake. But, who knows the truth? Who can be certain that the world is playing blaming-game of the origin? Some even bring lot of conspiracy theories to add the mystery-flavor, and to this I do not really see necessary. However, if the virus was not made by human then here come the element of mystery play loudly in our head, why God allow such deadly virus to harm the world? Why this virus is getting deadly everyday? I believe, in line with N.T Wright that the "Judgement" thesis of God punish the world for their sin cannot be the conclusive answer to this great mystery. In this case, at best, we perhaps need to stop on speculating, be silent and then asked a different sort of question. From "Why" to "What" we can do to help? We also can be silent in our prayer and lament asking God's mercy in this very crisis of our day that is in the edge of destruction. 

It's already been a year and a half (2021) but the world is not going better compare to the last year (2020). Thankfully we have vaccines but still, we fight a greater mutated virus today. Many souls are dying. Many has passed away. Pope Francis might get this right as he says that this virus is a "thick darkness" and it evokes spiritual calamity and the obscurity of the hidden God. Hence, Pandemic can be said as one of the greatest mystery of all time. However, at the same time, we should not forget that there is a greater mystery more than the mystery of the Covid-19 virus that now has been revealed to us. We can boldly say that this greatest revealed mystery, does help us to stand firm in the midst of human mystery that brought us misery. This greater mystery that will absorb all other mysteries like a black hole. Which mystery we're talking about? The mystery of the love of God in Christ Jesus! Apostle Paul wrote, "that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of Wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:2)

The problem of this world may come and go. The mystery can becoming greater and greater but the only answer to the agony is still the same, unchanging forever. Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior is the light in the darkness. The ultimate peace in the midst of storm. The bedrock in our greatest tragedies. The end of us is not "here" but "there", with and in Christ alone. We should never focus on the crisis but the hope. In one of his campaign, President F. Kennedy popularized this notion of hope as he said, Chinese word for "crisis" consists of two characters. First represent "danger" and second "opportunity." He then conclude, therefore, in every danger there is opportunity. And of course, one of the greatest opportunity is to learn. If we try to reflect, for all this moments that has been passed thus far, myriads lessons we could draw as we were managing our survival then and next. Lessons like the culture of preparedness, communicating healthy information and not hoax, making an integrated system, and so many other humbling lessons for sure. In my personal opinion, the greatest lesson human can take as we ponder the mystery of our world is this that this mystery of deadly virus, at the end of the day does not matter too much and indeed, it will never terribly tear us apart for the greatest mystery of God in Jesus has swallowed the most devastating ramification of the unsolved mystery of the Covid-19. If the worst thing that virus can bring to us is death, the Sacred Scripture stated it clear to us the counter-part  as it was attested in 1 Corinthians 15:55: "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"