I Glasses

At our cores, once we've cut through all the layers of illusion that we mistake for our selves, we're left with a vacuum. A void, emptiness, a veritable black hole of beingness. And this absence of self is so dazzlingly dark that it burns the retinas of our minds eyes. So we create brightness glasses that filter out the nothingness with shiny somethings that we can identify with, and don them whenever we look inward. This quickly becomes habitual, and we end up wearing them continuously. Then the whole world is viewed through this filter of selfy somethingness, and interpreted and valued accordingly.

When we design our glasses, we fashion them such as to let other people know who we want to be. Thick black rims for those who want to appear intelligent. Little round wire frames for those who want to look artsy. Aviators for those who fancy themselves the adventurous types. Wrap-arounds for the cool crowd, and so on. If you're ever unsure whether or not you've achieved the look you're going for, just gaze into another's glasses. As it so happens, they're all mirrored on the outside, for everyone's convenience.

But with these glasses perpetually pasted to our faces, decisions are made from false assumptions and goals are set based on erroneous reasoning. Societies veer wildly off of their ideal courses, because everyone's views are so drastically distorted by their I glasses. And our shared planet suffers, too - all because people can't abide their naturally nebulous nature.

We, the world and the universe are all full of unknowns and unknowables. The part of our minds, whose job it is to gather everything into nice discernible packages, will never be happy about this. But that aspect isn't destined to occupy the drivers seat, and we're under no obligation to give its wishes undo priority.

Convincing a world full of people to lose the shades that define them and their world (and make them look so cool) may be an insurmountable ambition. But for the rare few who sincerely wish to live a truthful life, it's the only option. And let's face it, it's much better to be cool, than to look cool.