{"id":5908,"date":"2014-02-24T09:16:05","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T14:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/?p=5908"},"modified":"2014-02-24T09:16:05","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T14:16:05","slug":"the-butterfly-model-for-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/2014\/02\/the-butterfly-model-for-transformation.html","title":{"rendered":"The butterfly model for transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"-<\/a>In many cultures, the butterfly is a favorite image for soul. In Greek, the word psyche<\/i> means both \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cbutterfly\u201d. The cycle of the butterfly is a model for a life that is open to transformation.<\/p>\n

To spread butterfly wings, you must transform again and again. You must let your old identity collapse into mush. You must use your imaginal cells to overcome the resistance of the old you, the little you, who clings to what you once were. You will progress through four distinct life forms. Each time you change, those who knew your previous self may no longer be able to recognize you, because you will be radically, almost inconceivably different.<\/p>\n

The butterfly cycle begins with an egg, stuck on a leaf. Out from the egg comes a very hungry caterpillar that tries to eat all the green available. Eventually the caterpillar stops consuming and settles on the underside of another leaf, or perhaps in the bark of a tree. It grows a hard casing, the chrysalis or cocoon. Inside the cocoon, it turns into a restless mush, a stew of contending elements.<\/p>\n

In the cocoon, as in an alchemical retort, the worm produces new cells. Science calls these\u00a0imaginal<\/em>\u00a0cells. They are quite different from anything that has been active in the caterpillar before, so different that the killer cells in the worm’s immune system target them as enemies that must be destroyed. The job of the killer cells is to resist transformation and defend the old identity of this life form as a caterpillar hungry for green.<\/p>\n

Enough imaginal cells escape the murderous attack \u00a0to create friendly communities. They resonate with each other. They have a social network, reaching each other on the same frequency band. They gather together, and soon the imaginal movement is so strong the riot police and death squads of the immune system are overwhelmed. The revolution produces a life form that could not be imagined without the magic of the active imaginal community. It is the butterfly, ready to burst from the cocoon on bright wings and sparkle in the light<\/p>\n

I love the biologists’ choice of name for the cells of transformation: imaginal<\/em>. It evokes the Imaginal Realm, the realm of true imagination known to poets, mystics and shamans.<\/p>\n

The struggle inside the cocoon between the defenders of the worm state and the agents of winged possibility is one that many of us surely experience in times of spiritual emergence. We may find ourselves pounded into mush, hanging upside down from whatever we can cling to – and yet have the possibility and destiny of becoming much, much more.<\/p>\n

You can’t stay a worm, if you want to become a butterfly. You are obliged to drop \u00a0old attachments and expectations and let your old identity be broken down in the mush as a new identity emerges. And you must allow time for the new form to grow, and be fully prepared to take wing. Don\u2019t rush the butterfly<\/i>.<\/p>\n

There is a wonderful cautionary story about this in the autobiography of Nikos Kazantzakis, the celebrated author of Zorba the Greek<\/i>. He found a cocoon in the bark of an olive tree. He saw that the butterfly was beginning to emerge. He watched for a time, then became impatient. He blew on the cocoon, intending to speed up the process of emergence with the warmth of his breath. To his delight, the butterfly emerged from the cocoon. But it had been brought out prematurely. Its wings were crumpled and unusable. They had needed the heat of the sun, not merely the hot air of a man with hurry sickness. The butterfly died in Kazantzakis\u2019 hand. Towards the end of his life, he wrote, \u201cThat little body is the greatest weight I have on my conscience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t rush the butterfly, and don\u2019t pronounce it dead prematurely. I learned about that when I started teaching at the Esalen Institute near Big Sur in California. On a chill November morning, on the path from the Big House to the ravine, I stopped with a foot in mid-air because I noticed\u00a0 just in time that what I had taken for a fallen leaf was a Monarch butterfly, lying dormant with folded wings. As the sun\u2019s rays streamed down, warming its body and drying its wings, the Monarch stirred and flew off, towards the gardens..<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adapted from The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse <\/i><\/a>by Robert Moss. Published by New World Library.<\/p>\n

 
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In many cultures, the butterfly is a favorite image for soul. In Greek, the word psyche means both \u201csoul\u201d and \u201cbutterfly\u201d. The cycle of the butterfly is a model for a life that is open to transformation. To spread butterfly wings, you must transform again and again. 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He is the creator of Active Dreaming, an original synthesis of dreamwork and shamanism. Born in Australia, he survived three near-death experiences in childhood. He leads popular seminars all over the world, including a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. A former lecturer in ancient history at the Australian National University, he is a best-selling novelist, journalist and independent scholar. His nine books on dreaming, shamanism and imagination include Conscious Dreaming, Dreamways of the Iroquois, The Dreamer's Book of the Dead, The Three \"\"Only\"\" Things, The Secret History of Dreaming, Dreamgates, Active Dreaming and Dreaming the Soul Back Home: Shamanic Dreaming for Healing and Becoming Whole. His most recent book is The Boy Who Died and Came Back: Adventures of a Dream Archaeologist in the Multiverse. Over the past 20 years, he has led seminars at the Esalen Institute, Kripalu, the Omega Institute, the New York Open Center, Bastyr University, John F. Kennedy University, Meriter Hospital, and many other centers and institutions. He has taught depth workshops in Active Dreaming in the UK, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Brazil and Austria and leads a three-year training for teachers of Active Dreaming. He hosts the \"\"Way of the Dreamer\"\" radio show at www.healthylife.net. He has appeared on many TV and radio shows, ranging from Charlie Rose and the Today show to Coast to Coast and the Diane Rehm show on NPR. His articles on dreaming have been published in media ranging from Parade to Shaman's Drum.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.mossdreams.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/author\/rmoss"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/224"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5908"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5910,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5908\/revisions\/5910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dreamgates\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}