The human mind is confronted with three kinds of mysteries which I call Trivial, Significant and Grand.
Trivial mysteries (Trimys) include simple passing confusions, wonderments and riddles. Where is the key I had just placed on my table cluttered with so many things? A little careful search will find the key. Why has my friend not yet arrived for dinner? We may find out that there was a traffic jam on the way. Which travels faster, heat or cold? Heat, because we can catch cold. Trivial mysteries are easily solved.
Significant mysteries (sigmys) relate to natural phenomena: How is the rainbow formed? How do mirages arise? Why is the sky blue? These are some instances of significant mysteries. Sigmys are resolved by scientific investigation and analysis. Indeed, science may be defined as a collective transnational effort to resolve significant mysteries working in a collectively agreed-upon framework that relies on reason, experimentation, instruments and well-defined concepts.
Grand mysteries (granmys) relate to the perennial puzzles that have tormented human minds since time immemorial. Examples of granmys are: What is the purpose of human life in a cold and vast cosmos? What, if any, is the ultimate meaning of life? Is there postmortem persistence for humans? What is the source of suffering and evil in the world? How can one know the day on which one will die? No science or search, no poet or philosopher can resolve granmys to everyone’s satisfaction.
There can be three reactions to granmys:
The first is to provide some reasonable and persuasive answer which will be accepted by a vast number of people. This is usually done by charismatic individuals in various cultures who gradually manage to acquire significant numbers of followers. That is how the religions of humankind have arisen. Indeed, a religion is a culturally meaningful framework that provides answers to granmys, which are fulfilling to large numbers of people.
A second reaction to reaction to grand mysteries is to concede that the human mind cannot provide logical, rational and incontrovertible answers to them; and contemplate on them periodically with reverence and humility. This reaction to granmys can also be deeply fulfilling.
Conflicts between science and religion arise when religions go beyond answering granmys and attempt to answer some signims also; while science asserts that granmys are irrelevant and trivial.
A third reaction to granmys is simply to ignore them as irrelevant and unproductive waste of time, somewhat like the fox in Aesop’s fable which, after a couple of unsuccessful attempts to reach the grapes, declared them to be sour anyway.
Spurts of Thought 