Enlightenment Involves Captain Underpants

There's an old saying, buddhist in origin maybe, that goes:

"Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water."

Basically, you still have to brush your teeth, bathe occasionally, eat food, drink water, stay warm, stay sheltered. The basic human needs. And we are human here. No matter what our origins are, our deeper spiritual or inner identities, we are all on a level somewhat here as human beings, like it or not. And isn't it fun? Isn't it a grand cosmic game this life we live?

There are times and days when I am not so sure it is so fun or grand. In fact, I'd say there are times and days where it feels very heavy and negative, very far from fun and grand. The good news is that in times like those, we do have Captain Underpants.

After a challenging bout of life and times, I sometimes find more wisdom in Calvin & Hobbes than in reading a book of spiritual import. There is solace there and simple truth that many spiritual endeavors do not easily deliver. A laugh is a doorway opening to my inner being that both releases negativity and invites positivity. Laughter is great medicine.

There is also truth in good humor. And there I use the judgement term "good" because for me, when humor isn't delivering some nugget of truth or wisdom to me, then it goes down some notches on my sliding scale of good-bad humor.

Dav Pilkey visited my grade school when I was in maybe the fifth grade. I was excited. I really liked his "Dragon" book series at the time. They are cute little chapter books about a very sensitive dragon who did things a little differently from a lot of folks, in his own special dragon way. I remember "A Friend for Dragon" had me crying by the end, it was a very nice little story, made you laugh, made you cry. Ah, life. So, it was without hesitation that, as an adult, I purchased the full series of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants books shortly after they hit the bookshelves. These are a load of fun to read. If you can get over any hangups you may have about "potty humor", you will really enjoy these alot. They are about two boys and their antics and escapades with a superhero they more or less created through means of a creative hypnotic technique they used on their mean principal. Anyway, I'll leave the rest for you to discover, should you so choose to lighten up your own enlightenment with a dose or two of Pilkey's books.

My mom also sent me a more recent book of a similar nature, which has apparently acheieved a pretty substantial following, called something to the effect of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Both Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants have a similar effect on me. I don't think enlightenment at all involves a becoming dead serious and knowing complex and complicated things. I think it's actually paramount in that process to become LIGHTER, and to return to the simplicity of your being.

"Before enlightenment: read Captain Underpants. After enlightenment: read Captain Underpants."