flower butterflies

A little earlier today, I was walking on one of the mountain paths and out of the corner of my eye I noticed two small flowers. They were a beautiful indigo colour. And as I took another step, the flowers turned into small butterflies, and the two of them flew up in front of me, and danced a while, eventually simply melting away, and leaving me with a feeling of bliss.

That colour of indigo touched me. It was just the right shade to resonate with the third eye – that other way of seeing that we have – our intuitive sense. I could feel the centre of my forehead, energetically enlivened. The butterflies had woken something in me. And I thought to myself: I had never seen this type of butterfly before. In all the years that I've lived, I have never before seen this colour, in such a small delicate butterfly. And I love this: that even at my age nature keeps surprising me with new gifts.

But the main thing I want to say about these butterflies is that, to begin with, I thought they were flowers. I didn't look directly at them, I was watching my feet. And so out of the edge of my vision, I saw two indigo flowers, and they were flowers to me. I didn't doubt it. I didn't question it. That was the reality for me. And then with another step they turned into butterflies. I say turned into because that was my experience. One moment they were flowers, full stop, no question. And the next, they were butterflies, also no question. So the lived reality of my perception was that these flowers transformed, magically, into butterflies. That was my real experience, and of course the logical mind says no, that's not the way it was; they were butterflies all along; it was a misperception to believe them to be flowers. And that may be so. Logic demands it to be so. But I say again, my lived experience was that they were flowers. And the next moment they were butterflies.

So the question is, where do we live? With our logical post-rationalisation of life – redefining our experiences to make a consistent story that does not require any miracles? That's what our rational mind wants, a life free of miracles, where everything is predictable, where things stay as they are. So do we live in that world, inside our own head, the world of the rational, of the logical? Or do we inhabit a world of primary perception? Because that primary perception is our true experience, moment to moment. The rational story is a layer placed on top of our direct perception. It filters it, it distorts it. It creates a story, a consistent story.

On our spiritual journey, we should attend to the truth. And the truth is actually to be found in our direct perception of life, without that rational story. We will find that our direct perception of life is not consistent. It's not predictable. It doesn't behave according to the rules. It's mystical, magical, unpredictable, and it's very much alive. In this case it was alive with flowers, that turned into butterflies, that melted away. And what a delicious experience it was. And it doesn't matter that it is inexplicable. It doesn't matter that others may find me mad, insane, certainly irrational, illogical. For in this direct perception, there is a great joy and a lightness of being.

So I encourage you: live with your direct contact with nature, with the environment, the direct perception. Acknowledge your truth, your experience as it actually is. Be brave and enjoy.