Designing a Butterfly
Have you ever noticed a change that needed to happen at work that would make things run smoother, result in more customer satisfaction, create more profit, or simply improve morale without negatively affecting productivity? Did your manager shut you down or completely ignore your suggestions?
Have you ever had a vision for how your local community or state could make some positive changes to clean up the streets, ease traffic congestion, keep teenagers out of trouble or help the homeless, only to have local politicians and officials bury your ideas in red tape and bureaucratic double-talk?
Have you ever had spiritual ideals that were incredibly inclusive and loving yet others were so biased that they couldn’t even see the beauty of what you were envisioning? Have you ever pinpointed the root causes of your family’s dysfunctional behaviours and beat your head against a wall trying to get them to heal, grow and change along with you? Have you ever felt like a prophet in the wilderness? Then contemplate one of nature’s greatest mysteries: the metamorphoses of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
After a caterpillar inters itself inside its cocoon it simply waits. It's waiting to morph into a butterfly. The caterpillar doesn't just shrink and sprout wings. It liquefies into a pool of mush within the cocoon. If we were to open the cocoon halfway through the process we would not find a half-caterpillar half-butterfly type creature, but a blob of goo. This goo is made up of a bunch of cells of the same type.
But then something miraculous happens. After the caterpillar has turned into ooze, different types of cell start to appear. The original cells do not change into these new cells. Indeed the new cells seem to come out of nowhere. They just appear out of thin air.
These new cells are called imaginal cells. They are so completely dissimilar from the original ooze that they are thought to be a virus or some other alien life form. So the ooze begins attacking the imaginal cells and killing them off. The imaginal cells keep increasing in number even though they are being killed off for not fitting in. More and more imaginal cells appear until, eventually, they begin to seek each other out and stick together. Like attracts like. Clusters of new cells begin to join up with other clusters. The original ooze cells still keep attacking them but the imaginal cells continue to multiply and cluster together.
Eventually, these imaginal cells achieve a critical mass, at which point they switch gears from simply being a group of like-minded cells to become the programming cells of the butterfly. Some start changing into wing cells. Some into antenna cells. Some into digestive tract cells. And so on... They are no longer imaginal cells without a cause but the butterfly’s basic anatomical cells.
As we all know, if left alone to do her thing, the butterfly eventually emerges as a completely new entity from the original caterpillar. Do the new creatures hold the same memories, life lessons and consciousness? Who knows? One would imagine that the butterfly would still retain whatever knowledge the caterpillar had learned before entering into the cocoon state if merely to ensure the survival of the species. But we don't really know for sure.
Sometimes we are led to play the role of an imaginal cell in our small corner of the world. Being one of the very first imaginal cells can be distressing. Later it becomes easier as the cause gathers steam and begins to achieve popular appeal. Imagine what the suffragettes went through as they fought for the right to vote in comparison to what women go through today trying to get equal pay and respect for a job well done. Imagine fighting for the right to create a country based on inalienable rights and personal freedoms where women are treated as possessions and do not even have the right to show their face in public.
Minority groups often feel like those clusters of imaginal cells being wrongly attacked just for being different. The masses assume they must be the enemy. Why else would they appear to be so different? Being an outspoken leader with a vision for massive change can be scary and even dangerous.
I could tell you to hold true to your visions and to fight to the death. I could tell you that you should never ever allow anyone to stop you from making your dreams of a better world come true. But the truth is we're not always totally committed to our visions.
If you are working for a company that is becoming stagnant or irrelevant and is not willing to adapt and grow with the times then maybe your energy and brilliance is wasted on trying to fix them or change them. Maybe you should move on to another company, start your own business doing things 'right' according to your new vision, or simply let it go if all that really matters is that paycheck that allows you to feed and clothe your family.
Not everyone who has a beautiful vision has the heart and soul of an activist warrior within. Some things are definitely worth fighting for while others are simply pleasant ideals. Only you can decide which of your imaginal cell ideas are worth your time and energy.
If you are an imaginal cell in your workplace, your community, your political system or your spiritual viewpoints, know that you're not alone. Know that what you do to improve life for your fellow humans does matter and it does add weight to the collective consciousness of humanity.
You may feel like you are completely alone in your battle. But that's not the case. Know that there are others who agree; others who are also dying for your cause, or who are so inspired by seeing you put it all on the line that they are finally brave enough to step forward making their agreement with you known.
And if the imaginal cell is a quiet little thought somewhere in the back corner of your mind telling you that you could make huge changes in yourself to become less like the caterpillar and more like the butterfly, then know that you are not alone. Many people have done it before you and many more will follow your lead.
You will know if you are meant to grow, morph, and change into some new and improved version of yourself by the recurring theme of those tiny little imaginal cells creating inspirational thoughts within your mind. The recurring thoughts will both haunt you and inspire you. They will cluster together creating themes of healing change, themes of growth, and themes of becoming something completely different than who you used to be.
Fear not, for you are simply undergoing the butterfly’s experience of metamorphosis. You too will feel alone in the dark unsure of what is you and what is not you. You too will have to claim that which is beautiful within and you too will have to fight your own way out of your self-imposed prison to strengthen your wings so that you can fly for the entire world to see, inspiring others to look within at their own imaginal cells.