The Butterfly Farm-Ep. 1

Imagine a tropical butterfly farm, where upon entry, you’re given a pair of glasses that turn everything you see into a flat monochromatic, black and white dirge.  All of the butterflies––in black and white. All of the turf, trees, plants, flowers and foliage––in black and white. All of the other visiting tourists––in black and white. The entire farm, with its array of buildings, meandering outdoor walkways, beautifully landscaped grounds, shimmering ponds, delicately flowing waterways and vast cumulous cloud-filled skies draped above–– all ––in black and white.

Oddly, everyone except you seems to be okay with this arrangement.  No one is asking questions.  No one is bothered by the circumstances. No one is doubting the experience. 

But you are…

Something deep inside of you whispers, worries, grumbles, complains and eventually (no longer capable of gentlemanly or womanly, aristocratic refrain) roars in deafening defiance:

“What fresh hell is this!” 

The despondent frustration in you peaks until, with one deft swipe of that miraculous, opposable-thumbed paw of yours, aimed with uncanny accuracy at the upper ridgeline of your right cheek bone, you knock those dastardly glasses right off your face and onto the ground.  They shatter into a thousand pieces of splintered glass. 

For a moment––a nuclear event-level, bright-white-light completely blinds you.  The glasses had blocked a considerable amount of the sun’s natural rays.  In the next moment, you become dizzy and nauseous.   You double over and puke.  Finally, weak and wobbly kneed, you gather your energy, focus your squinting eyes, stand to your feet and gaze out upon your surroundings.

Your heart skips a beat. You are sublimed, amazed and astonished.  It’s overwhelming, magnificent and breathtaking: COLOR!  It’s nothing less than an ebullient and epiphanous Christmas morning!––where the gifts weren’t just left behind for you to just rummage through unnoticed––No. There, standing next to the tree––is the man himself, with an armful of presents, each with your name on it. The presents are utterly secondary in light of the miracle standing before you: Internally you keep repeating to yourself over and over:

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!  He is real!

You spin around three hundred and sixty degrees taking in the new wonder of the butterfly farm. COLOR EXISTS!  Your heart beats to an inner joy you haven’t felt since childhood.  Your muscles relax from head to toe. You become intoxicated by the overwhelming truth of this reality. You knew it!!!!  You were right all along!!!  You are vindicated!  You are released from prison!  You are FREE!  Free from the hellish monochromatic prison of black and white!

This joyful revelation last days, weeks, months even.  Eventually, the high equalizes and color simply becomes your new reality.  Color––of course!  It’s the natural birthright of all human beings.  Everything is in color.  Everything is full of color.  The entire world, universe and cosmos––existence itself!––is made from color.  It couldn’t be simpler…

That is, it couldn’t be simpler, to you. 

Oddly enough, even though you’re giddy as a rainbow puking unicorn, galloping through the technicolor landscape of your nascent reality, there’s just one problem: You seem to be the only one on this butterfly farm who sees color.  You’re quick to notice that the reality of black and white is ubiquitous and completely insane.

You notice the obvious suffering that monochromatic vision causes.  No one is happy.  No one is fulfilled.  No one is joyful.  No one is hopeful.  No one is at peace. Everywhere you look there is lack, desire, greed, stress, anxiety, addiction, depression, conflict and war––all fundamentally due to the impoverished state of black and white vision.

 Alone and horrified by this realization, you do the only sensible thing––the only reasonable thing to do:  You seek out those on the butterfly farm willing to consider the possibility of color and, one by one, help them discover the truth: You help them remove those insidious and dastardly black and white glasses.  You help them see the farm how it was meant to be seen: In glorious, luscious, full-blown, infinitely varied––color.

Of course, this butterfly farm isn’t a farm–– it’s your life.

Welcome to Go Bleep Your Blog- A Little Enlightened Reasoning in an Age of Insanity.

This Blog will contain three themes: 

1. The Story of My Journey to Enlightened Reasoning. (Recounted for the benefit of your own journey)
2. The Definition of Enlightened Reasoning (Defined to save you from suffering and delusion)
3. Enlightened Reasoning Insights About Our Current Age of Insanity (To help ground you in these dark, chaotic times)

In this blog I’ll be deviating from my normal self-regulated author rules and delve into the often spiritually taboo topics of politics, government, society, sex, culture and of course––the cyclical mating habits of Costa Rican Iguanas. (Yes, I’ll still retain my usual sense of humor, albeit a bit subdued, due to the seriousness of the times.) Additionally, I’ll be speaking about the same topics I’ve written extensively about in my five books: self-help, anti-self-help, attention, awareness, mindfulness, spiritual awakening and enlightenment. 

This blog is sponsored by my books.  They’ve won awards, sold thousands of copies and changed many a woeful life.  My most famous book (and series) is called Spirituality for Badasses.  Click on the link above or search Amazon.

Okay. Thanks again and welcome, especially those here by way of the robot articles. Sorry––I had to get your attention somehow.  Now that you’re here, let’s help you remove those insidious, dastardly and evil––monochromatic glasses. Robots suck, but so do black and white butterflies.