In our secondary school days, we were taught of the
metamorphosis of butterfly. It was used as an example because we were meant to
know that the butterfly is one of the insects that undergo complete
metamorphosis;
Egg to Larva to Pupa to Adult.
When I reached adult stage of life, I learn't through
experience one of the most wonderful and beautiful lessons that nature always
teach to man; The Lesson of the Butterfly.
Now you may ask, what is there in butterfly that
nature wants to teach man?
The lesson of the butterfly is one of the
phenomenons in nature which portrays the different stages of the evolution of
the human consciousness at each point in time. It is also a phenomenon that
portrays the cycles in the evolution of human consciousness and the evolution
of ideas.
In this write-up, we will be surveying the stages in
the metamorphosis of the butterfly and its connotations to humanity’s
evolution.
1. THE
EGG (The Birth/The Seeding of Ideas)
The butterfly usually laid multiple
of eggs, depending on the specie of the butterfly. They lay their eggs under
the leaf of grasses and trees and some other comfortable locations. After the
laying of the eggs, the butterfly flew off and never returns again. The egg is
now left on their own, at the mercies of predators, weather and climatic
changes, natural and physical hazards, etc. when the time period given for the
hatching of the eggs is reached, the few eggs that were able to survive the
above conditions will now proceed to the next stage of evolution, The Larva Stage.
In terms of humanity’s evolution of
consciousness, the butterfly can be likened to God, the Universe, the Spirit of
Humanity, the Universal Mind, the Higher Mind or whatever you might call it.
Got the idea? Good. The butterfly can be likened to Humans too.
The laying of the egg can be
likened to the continual seeding of the human race, the continual seeding of
numerous ideas and inspiration into both the individual mind and the collective
mind, and the numerous works and activities that humans engage in.
The eggs are ideas, the human race
and the works of humans.
The predators and the hash natural
phenomenon are the challenges, hardships, obstacles and misfortunes that humans
– individually and collectively, encounters in the process of nurturing the
ideas, and works that have been implanted in them.
This is the initial stage of
evolution. Nobody can tell which egg will perish and which one will survive.
However, there are some eggs that will proceed to the next stage of
metamorphosis.
2. The
Larva Stage (The Period of Slow Movement)
The egg having hatched will change
into a snake-like organism called a caterpillar. Depending on the specie of
butterfly, the caterpillar can be as small as 0.2in (0.5cm) in length and can
be as tall as 2 inches (5cm).
One major characteristics of the
caterpillar is that it is very destructive. In this stage, it is considered a
pest. Pests that destroys agricultural products, eats up wooden furniture etc.
But without these acts it cannot feed. Another major characteristic of the
caterpillar is the slow movement.
Ever wonder why the human race
suddenly became so destructive of nature during the last millennia,
Ever wonder why to start a project,
a lot of cutting and breaking have to occur.
Ever wonder why a lot of mistakes have
to be made in order to actualize an idea.
Ever wonder why the pre-teen and
the teens are very destructive – both of themselves and to others.
Like the caterpillar, without these
destruction, cutting and breaking etc, it cannot feed.
The larva stage is the stage of
confusion, uncertainties, and insecurities.
The caterpillar is also subject to
external influences like predators, chemical imbalances (pesticides and
herbicides), natural catastrophes etc.
No one knows the ones that will
make it and the ones that won’t, but one thing is for sure, there will be some
surviving caterpillars that will proceed to the next stage of metamorphosis.
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