Metamorphosis

What a week!

Three extra days were tacked onto my weekend due to snow, five days of consciousness exploration!

Deliberately.

The thought that stuck in my mind the most concerns the butterfly as a metaphor for spontaneous evolution.

First thought: Evolution – what happens? Well, there's Darwinism, which helps explain some of the smaller changes that occur throughout the process of evolution. However, we know now that about every 26,000 years there is a jump, so to speak, in our evolutionary state. Something seems to occur in nature that helps jump start our next evolutionary breakthrough in every way (biologically, physiologically, psychologically and socially).

Since we have no record of human history that goes back 26,000 years, we do not fully know how that “jump start” takes place, or if even happens in the same way every time. But what happens is phenomenal.

Basically, to put it simply, what occurs during evolution, and even more so during one of these “jump start” occasions, is that – in order to evolve, any organism that experiences evolution is required to let go of dominant and fundamental beliefs from the past, including those which seem to define the very structure of what it means to be that organism.

The organism must let go of the past. It must trust in all that nature has offered and provided, trust that it those lessons will always be there to draw on and may even help another organism to evolve as they once did the organism in question. But, the organism must let go, or it is unable to evolve.

Therefore, in order for humankind to evolve, we must let go of fundamental belief patterns and dominant paradigms that has helped to shape our very existence.

Letting go is no easy task, for, Mother Nature has conditioned each and every organism very well and now we know interdependence. In order for a body to be alive, all the cells within it must work together to beat the heart, to pump the blood, to get blood to the brain, for the brain to function, to sneeze or walk or breath or talk...in order for all of this to happen, immense interdependence must be known amongst all of the cells in the body. For those cells who go against the flow, who refuse to cooperate, become cancerous.

Mother Nature has conditioned us to understand science and gravity and death. We know these things to be true, even though we see a bird fly and a tree's leave spring up anew each year. So, is Mother Nature ready for us to move on to that next lesson?

So how do we let go of fundamental belief patterns that have saved our lives in the past and many times have helped us to thrive as a species? Not easy. But, it may ease the mind to know that as we evolve, the beliefs and structures that are in place begin to bring less and less prosperity. In fact, they begin to inhibit evolution itself.

Enter the butterfly.

After a caterpillar is born, it consumes and consumes and consumes...and as it does this it climbs a tree. At a certain point, the caterpillar is simply unable to consume anymore, it has literally eaten itself stiff. The caterpillar then just stops where it is, sheds its skin and reveals its chrysalis and builds a cocoon around itself. While the in this state, the caterpillar is undergoing an incredible metamorphosis at which time the old and the new exist simultaneously. Although there is an extreme amount of transformation that takes place during this time, it barely looks like anything is happening, as the cocoon stays quietly and still, attached to the tree branch. Then, suddenly and within moments, a seemingly completely new creature emerges from the chrysalis and cocoon as the butterfly flies away to start its new life.

Let's break it down.

During the first part of the caterpillar's life, when it is consuming all that it can consume, Mother Nature encourages this act and graciously gives all that she is able for the caterpillar to use. However, at a certain point, the caterpillar is unable to consume even one more bite. The life which the caterpillar once lived no longer works for it, in fact, if he continues down the path of the past, he will indeed die. Instead it stops and allows for change to occur. It accepts the change that needs to occur in order for it to continue to live its life.

The caterpillar sheds its skin – signifying the first stage of letting go. Then he just sits and lets change occur. He does not try hard, he does not strain, he does not move, he just sits and lets it happen. It almost seems as though he is not doing anything about his predicament, but on the contrary, letting go and letting be is exactly what he needs to do in this stage of the transition.

During the metamorphosis, old and new exist simultaneously, there is not a lot of action, but slowly the caterpillar is growing wings (a good metaphor for raising awareness of consciousness); for soon, it will be time to emerge anew. Who knows what really goes on during this time, it is clouded and mysterious since it is hidden from the human eye, but essentially, the caterpillar-butterfly is preparing itself for a new world.

As the butterfly spreads its wings and takes flight for the first time it completes its final stage of letting go as it leaves its cocoon behind. That world is over, and another has begun.

The old way of life would not have worked for the new butterfly. If the butterfly would have strained to hold onto the old ways of life, it would have died. For, Mother Nature does not strain to evolve, it is natural and so effortless. Life force is strong, or else it would not be.

Here's the kicker – I mentioned that organisms have to let go of fundamental belief patterns and structures in order to evolve; in the caterpillar's case, he had to completely let go of the very concept of gravity in order to evolve into a butterfly and thrive.

We live in a fractal and holographic universe; therefore, it is completely accurate to use the life of a caterpillar/butterfly as a model for all life in the universe (or at least on this Earth). For, this is part of our lesson, to understand all life, all things, as One and as such, all life is a reflection of itself, life.

Let's let go. Let go of judgment, let go of fear, let go of gravity, let go of eating, let go of our heart beats, let go of breathing, let go of what we have come to know as life, let go of what we have come to know as death. For those things do not define us, we do. And those things do not provide for us, the Universe does.

Let's accept. Accept change, accept forgiveness, accept love, accept Truth.

Let's rejoice. Rejoice life, rejoice death, rejoice together.

Let's evolve, as One.

Let us love our Mother, and let Her love us.