Mysterious Maya

(Image from pixabay.com)

I smiled as I thought about my new connection - Maya. The name was appropriate, as she had a deep sense of mystery about her. I looked closely at her timelines – it went back well into the past. Interestingly, the timeline covered most major events in her life. When I looked at her, I always admired her for the deep sense of calm on her face. But her timeline indicated there had been turbulent and violent times as well. As I read through her timeline, I wondered why would she put so much information to the outside world right since the early part of her life.

I was curious to know everything about her - she was the most fascinating person I had ever known. I reflected on my interaction with her – conversation was difficult as she spoke a different language, but I grew to recognize some of her signs. Though I was connected, I wasn't even sure if I could consider her a true friend yet.

I reflected on this:
Outwardly, Maya was neither friendly, nor unfriendly
She portrayed a sense of calm and balance
She was not verbal, and yet was very expressive
She encouraged me to understand her better
She had interlinked her life very closely with mine
She wanted me to learn the language she spoke
She wanted me to learn lessons from her life
She wanted me to write her story


All this was encouraging, and I supposed I could count her as a friend. However, her message seemed to be “Just be” - don't simplify a relationship with labels such as “friend” and “foe”.

Can you recognize “Maya”? You know her too!

I have used “Maya” in place of the “Universe”. Why don't you re-read the text above with “Universe” in place of “Maya”…..

It is sometimes easy to lose sight of how profound the universe is. She has allowed us to see her and that too well into her past. And she has extraordinary lessons for all of us on how we need to be balanced.

“I will tell you why we have these extraordinary minds and souls, Miss Whittaker," he continued, as though he had not heard her. "We have them because there is a supreme intelligence in the universe, which wishes for communion with us. This supreme intelligence longs to be known. It calls out to us. It draws us close to its mystery, and grants us these remarkable minds, in order that we try to reach for it. It wants us to find it. It wants union with us, more than anything.”

― Elizabeth Gilbert, The Signature of All Things

“Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”

― Alan W. Watts

My last post dealt on about how we need to think of the universe as being alive. Isn't it remarkable that the universe has encouraged us to be curious, build capability across several generations and reach out to the very limits of our intellect to be able to understand her not only how she is today, but well into the past and how she was born? Stephen Hawking had remarked that science would be able to say how the universe was born but not why.

The question on why the universe bothers to exist is the same as asking why we bother to exist. To answer that question you must both look out and look in – listen to the whisper from outside and the voice from inside. And wise men tell us it can be done – if you learn the language of silence which is more expressive and clearer than words…..

In looking at the universe, are we not looking at ourselves? Isn't that why knowing more about the universe is possible and exciting, since it is a process of self-discovery ultimately? Have you felt your oneness with the universe?