There is medicine to swallow, mark my words.
There’s a red pill. The information that the physical and the spiritual are one, not two. That this One is timeless Awareness. And that this Awareness is the essence of Being.
What does the red pill bring? The seeing of the world both for what it is (Awareness) and as what it appears as (a world). The fulness of feeling all the feelings, knowing they can’t break us, yet feeling deeply into the brokenness. An opening of the eyes to every appearance of Awareness, as spirit, soul, mind and body. The freedom to know it all, and know all is Awareness. To know any momentary experience, not as part of a whole, but as all of undivided, indivisible Awareness. A blistering clarity that burns through every white lie that was intended to protect us.
There’s a blue pill. To swallow the white lie. To believe this body and mind are the truth of who we are.
What does the blue pill bring? It brings to life the idea of a self who cannot know. Who must strive and battle just to stay above water. For whom moments of love and joy are gifts from somewhere other. It brings the burden of frustration, bitterness and despair. And it brings the lie that these burdens are necessary for life.
The blue pill has some sugar to ease it down: The promise of a better future. The idea that we can earn the rewards of love and joy. And comfort, “You’re only human, you’re doing the best you can.” Comfort isn’t wrong in itself, but it can lock us into the lie.
What sugar helps the red pill go down? Utter delight in all of it. The colours of leaves, the legs of insects, the purr of a cat, the taste of coffee, the burn of a harsh comment, the sound of the rain, the warmth of a bath, the sweetness of a broken heart. The freedom to know all experience as Self, and Self as all experience. Not two.
In case you are colour blind, here’s the clue. If life is not delighting you, in all its craziness, you took the blue pill. This life is real, and the reality of it is Awareness. And Awareness is truth, beauty and love. As Ehrmann said, “With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.” That’s not rose-tinted glasses. That’s the honesty of the red pill.
If you take the red pill there are no free passes, no bypassing, no white lies. There is only opportunity to take it all seriously and to laugh at our seriousness. There is only the unbearable lightness of being. Of being all of it, and living as though part of it.
You may well have a mission, most of us do. But we might have forgotten what the true mission is. To open ourselves to the wonder of knowing ourselves as all of this. Of being reminded, over and over, that this human is but a brief appearance of Self. And of advancing humanity to the place where living in the world and living as Awareness are fully integrated in our understanding.
Which pill are you taking today? If it’s the red pill, there’s no going back. To truly see is to dance in this chaotic freedom and love it all.
With Love,
Sara
