Red Pill or Blue Pill? An Important Re-frame for Our Biggest Decision
I see talk of “Red Pill or Blue Pill?” cropping up more and more. The ‘red pill and blue pill’ is a meme representing a choice between taking either a “red pill” that reveals an unpleasant truth, or taking a “blue pill” to remain in blissful ignorance. Most often, this is a direct reference to the movie, The Matrix, where the main character chooses the ‘Red pill’ and is awakened out of his normal existence and transferred to an enlightened, painful reality that shows him the illusion he lived in before as well as his true identity and accompanying purpose.
“Red Pill or Blue Pill?” is a metaphor we’re all being asked by our environment right now. We’re being beckoned to ‘choose a side’, determine ‘this OR that’, chose ‘them OR us’, identify as ‘Masculine vs Feminine’, ‘Right vs Left’, and so on. We’re seeking identity, truth and a new kind of future.
As a traditionally trained therapist I look at this and think ‘that’s a lot of binary choices for such a multidimensional reality we all live in’.
There are times, for certain, that we have to make binary choices and do so with the information we have at any given moment. We must at time choose ‘yes or no’, ‘this person or that person’, etc. And for the sake of empowered action, I highly encourage everyone to take those actions and make those choices when the time is appropriate for you to do so, in whatever form is best for you at this time in your life.
For the rest of our time though, re-focusing on issues outside of us and outside of our control ultimately slows us down. Let me repeat that: after we make a choice to take the action within our means on an external matter, most circumstances will remain outside our control and constant re-focusing on them takes away our energy from cultivating OUR OWN personal, unique gifts and contribution to the world.
So, let me ask you, Red Pill or Blue Pill?
If the Red Pill reveals some kind of ‘ultimate truth’ or ‘enlightenment’, let that ultimate truth be the revealing of who YOU really are, what you’re meant to do on this planet, how you can live your life to fullest while doing what you love and thereby elevating those around you. Let the Red Pill be a choice to tune into the reality of your full potential, and let the rest be an illusion to distract you from that ultimate fulfillment.
The Blue Pill, if it’s representation is to remain inside an illusion, is to simply stay unaware of your purpose, your true power and your ability to cultivate positive impact by living out your truest potential. Let the Blue Pill simply represent not yet being ready to wake up to the incredible reality of who you are and what that means for the rest of your life.
There will always be external noise, and right now it is loud. There will always be distractions, and right now there are many. There will always be triggers, and right now we’re swimming in them. There will always be opportunities to come back to who you really are, and right now the world needs us more then ever.
So do what you need to do in this time of tremendous transformation in our country and world. But remember, the ultimate way to take responsibility, make a change, and create the world you want to live in, is to first cultivate your best self and bring her to this world, everyday. That requires a certain amount of ‘awakening’ to the depths of who you are, to your purpose and the role your awakening has in this world.
That is by far the most powerful thing we can do, and often, the biggest adventure we’ll ever take.
So, Red Pill or Blue Pill?
“The Search for Truth is a Search for Identity, that in finding Truth, we find Ourselves.”
— Neil Sutton
Jesska Layne Herfst, MAPC
@flourishrevolution
