Engaging the Power of Paradox

A paradox may be described as “a contradiction with meaning written underneath.” On the surface, it makes little or no sense. Only the discerning eye (or heart) can perceive the underlying meaning. A familiar example occurs in the writings of St. Paul: “When I am weak then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–11). At a rational level, the statement makes no sense, yet many among us can recall experiences within which the statement rings true. It is the mystic more than anybody else that can entertain and embrace this paradoxical wisdom. This alternative consciousness, with its capacity for deeper perception and understanding, is not merely a feature of human life but an evolutionary endowment that characterizes all creation at the cosmic and planetary levels alike. Birth and death are not merely human experiences; they characterize the whole of God’s creation. On the planetary scale, earthquakes serve as a good example. Metaphorically, an earthquake can be described as the earth-body releasing its pent-up energies, so that it can continue to grow and flourish in a more creative way. Without earthquakes, we would have no earth, nor would any of us be around even to speculate on this baffling paradox of birth-death-rebirth.

—from the book Paschal Paradox: Reflections on a Life of Spiritual Evolution,
by Diarmuid O’Murchu, page  61-62

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