"Butterfly as Companion"

Dear Diary,

Yesterday was one of those absolutely perfect days.  I spent the afternoon sitting on the rock wall under the  pink flowering Weigela which was alive with bees, hummingbird moths, and butterflies.  There were at least 6 Tiger Swallowtails chasing each other around and around.  I was perfectly content.

Zhuanzi's foundational Taoist text, "Butterfly as Companion: Meditations on the First 3 Chapters of Chuang-Tzu", was one of the first I read after my return from China in 2002.  The following quotation seemed the perfect complement to my afternoon...

“Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man.”