We’ve been thinking about “caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly” lately. Great metaphor. We read about it in two recent books: “The Great Turning” by David Korten,which we both read, and “When the Heart Waits-Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions” by Sue Monk Kidd, which I recently read:

Did you know that once the caterpillar encloses itself in a chrysalis, it undergoes a crisis as the structure of its cellular tissue begins to dissolve into an organic soup or “mush”? Once there is complete mush in the chrysalis, a number of organizer cells begin to rush around gathering other cells to form “imaginal buds”. These imaginal buds are initially independent multicellular structures that begin to give form to the organs of a new creature. As this happens the caterpillars’s still intact immune system perceives “threat” to the old order and often attack these imaginal buds as alien intruders! The “creature” (or whatever it is at that point) actually attacks/resists it’s own growth and transformation. Eventually the imaginal buds win out by linking up together. And eventually a beautiful butterfly emerges as result of this mysterious metamorphasis.

Anyways, cool metaphor!

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