A Tibetan Buddhist monk told the following story to one of his disciples.
A frog who had lived his whole life in a well was visited by another frog.
The visiting frog asked the frog in the well, “How long have you lived here?”
The frog in the well replied, “All my life.”
The visiting frog was amazed. “What? You mean you've never been outside?”
“No,” replied the frog in the well.
“You've never seen a tree?”
“No”
“Never seen hills?”
“No”
“Animals, plants, the sky... ?”
“No”
“Well come with me and discover the world!”
The visitor managed to coax the other frog out of the well. When he climbed out of the top of the well and looked around himself in all directions, the frog from the well was so astounded by what he saw his head just exploded!
I think the Buddhist monk told this story to illustrate the effect of enlightenment on the human mind – once enlightenment is achieved the old mind just disintegrates completely – explodes!
There is a (loose, I know
) parallel here with what is happening right now with the viral spread of Bitcoin. There is a very strong illusion that has been created by the recent flash in media attention, that might make it seem like Bitcoin is already widely-known, widely-talked about, even widely-used (hamburgers, e-commerce, Lamborghinis, etc.). It also might seem like a lot of people are now buying Bitcoins.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The smallest tip. The media flash is nothing compared to what will happen with the actual increasing adoption of Bitcoin, absolutely nothing. We really are at an early stage. If Bitcoin does keep going and gain traction (personally I sincerely believe that it will) then things are going to get crazy, quickly. With the fact that it is decentralised meaning that anyone can build their business around Bitcoin and it is 100% their business, things will grow much faster than with a “centralised” company as many more people will work with the software directly – open source.
Just like the frog in the well thought his little world was all there is, and then his head exploded when he looked around the real world, I believe that compared to what we are seeing now, the real potential of Bitcoin's growth is mind-boggling!
So you know what the moral of this story is?
HODL!
Goodnight.
