Butterfly Lesson!

The Butterfly Lesson

                                                                By Anjana Mohan

The butterfly flew from the window to the shrub. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the colours it was made of and the quickness with which it could carry itself to any place around. That got me thinking, about their journey to this striking appearance. The transformation that it undergoes from a seemingly ugly larva to a full grown butterfly is a lesson we humans could imbibe in our own life's journey.

Studying the growth stages of the butterfly, I saw the similar pattern that appears in an individual's growth. We begin our life's process from the larval form, which is a nae, immature, emotionally weak form just as the caterpillar. At the onset of the growth process it is quite an impossible feat to imagine that anything good can come out of it. The caterpillar is an ugly creature which in no way can be appealing to the human eyes just as we perceive that the struggle of the initial years of any endeavour as ugly.

With time the caterpillar forms a cocoon around it, a protective space. Our tendency to close ourselves into a shell, which may be imaginary, at times of difficulty isn't anything new. For ages, mankind's first reaction to suffering is to pull themselves away from the crowd for quiet introspection. Just as the caterpillar, we require this space to rebuild ourselves to what we believe we could become.

The next stage in the butterfly growth cycle was what amazed and educated me the most. The larva, caterpillar melts into a fluid inside the cocoon and this precedes the complete formation of a butterfly. What we dread the most in our lives is change! We fail to realise that we need to let go of our ego, shed our inhibitions and accept the change which is very painful to reach that higher realm. We have to melt like the larva, 'from within', which is the cocoon of self-introspection and embrace the state of fluid where we become flexible, where we can just flow.

The fluid form of the caterpillar undergoes further transformation over the time and starts sprouting wings! The wings that can take it anywhere it wants to go. Our wings are our adaptability, flexibility and the attitude of acceptance that we gained when we melted our egos.  The process becomes complete when the full grown butterfly gets formed and breaks out of its cocoon  in magnificent colour and shape as if it was sent to the earth by the creator exactly in that godly form.  The transformation of the man takes a full circle when he emerges out from the suffering, the tribulations as a better human being; mature, wise and humble.  The stage of breaking out of the cocoon is the hardest and the transformation of the caterpillar to the beautiful full grown butterfly isn't complete without undergoing this tremendous pain. An individual makes a breakthrough only when he pushes past that final barrier which would be the most testing phase. Just like the butterfly, the journey of an individual isn't over with the transformation alone. The wonderful journey begins when he starts flying to places with the total realisation that he needs to keep moving and growing in life!

I loved to share this with you; the lesson I learned by simply watching a butterfly that came to my window sill. For now let's call it "The Butterfly Lesson" and guess what....my eyes are still wide open!

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