Awe and Mystery as Food for the Soul

By Lissa Rankin, MD

Guest Writer for Wake Up World

I never thought much about the difference between awe and mystery until I started hanging out at the proverbial kitchen table of Kitchen Table Wisdom author Rachel Naomi Remen, MD. Soon after I bellied up to that table, awe and mystery, along with a side dish of wonder, started showing up on the menu.

I don’t know why I never thought much about awe and mystery before meeting Rachel. After all, just like her, I was trained as a doctor. Doctors are blessed with a front row seat on awe and mystery. Over 10,000 times, I was the first human a new baby saw after slipping out of Mama. At least 100 times, I was the last person someone saw before transitioning to the other side of the veil. Countless times, mystery showed up in ways I couldn’t explain — like how I would know something about a patient that I couldn’t possibly know with my five senses or the results of any laboratory tests, and yet very often, what I knew would save a life.