Rab's reflection on the mystery of God

Since I was diagnosed with wear and tear in my lower lumbar spine walking has become a mandatory exercise and to turn my daily walks into a fundraising activity seemed a no brainer. 

However, what I did not expect was to discover insights into something that I had been aware of for all my life in Edinburgh - the Joppa Rocks. 

My daily walk would normally take me down to Portobello Prom and along to the start of Joppa Pans.  

At the end of the Prom there are the Joppa Rocks and I always thought they looked strange and wished I knew more about geology to help me understand a wee bit about their history. 

It was seeing them almost daily that made me even more cuirious. So, I decided to do some research and found out that the rocks were laid down during the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago, long before dinosaurs roamed the Earth, and about 15 million years after the volcanic activity which resulted in Arthur’s Seat and the Castle Rock. Study and analysis have revealed a cycle of land, sea and freshwater lagoon over the area – which at the time was close to the Equator and part of a land mass which included modern Europe and North America. 

Now, I always stop and look at the Rocks in a new way, a spiritual way, and I think of the wisdom of Nan Shepherd who roamed her beloved Cairngorms and spoke powerfully of the relationship between knowledge and mystery: 

"The more one learns of this intricate interplay of soil, altitude, weather, and the living tissues of plant and insect, the more the mystery deepens. 

"Knowledge does not dispel mystery. 

"Scientists tell me that the alpine flora of the Scottish mountains is Arctic in origin - that these small, scattered plants have outlived the Glacial period and are the only vegetable life in our country that is older than the Ice Age. 

"But that doesn't explain them. It only adds time to the equation and gives it a new dimension." 

Thanks to my SCIAF Lenten Walk I now have that new dimension too and I'm delighted to have raised £1,335.