If I were smart enough to figure it out, then I could prove it to you. And there’d be no argument.
If it were small enough to see it all at once, then it wouldn’t be big enough to be the mystery that it is.
If words could describe it, then a book would explain it. So far, nothing has come close.
If I were big enough to put my arms around it, it wouldn’t big enough to make me, to hold me, and to mold me. It’s smaller than an atom, yet the whole cosmos is a mere atom within its vast body.
I can’t figure it out. I can’t prove it to you. I can’t tell you what it is. I can’t see it, not the whole thing. And I can’t put my arms around it.
Yet I’ve a feeling that its mystery is as real as I am. That though it can’t be seen, it has more substance than what’s before my eyes. That the illusion lies in what’s apparent in front of me, even though everything around me shouts that I have it all wrong.
It’s nameless, and yet it has all names.
It’s the silence that underlays words.
I can’t give it to you, yet it’s the greatest gift.
It’s as far from my understanding as the most distant reaches of the universe. Yet it’s closer to me than I am to myself. It’s alien to me, yet it’s my very being.
I search for it everywhere, only to find it was never lost. And so, to stop searching is the only way to find.
I open my mind to it.
I open my heart to it.
It’s always right here.
It’s always right now.
I have slept in its passing
Yet awaken to discover that, beyond time, I’ve never slept at all.
I’ve journeyed far from home
Yet arrive to discover that, past all space, I’ve never left my home.
© 2022 by Michael C. Just
Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.
You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23
Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002
Four of his short stories have recently been published online:
Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)
The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW
I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October
Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within