Imaginal

The Rilke poem submitted earlier put me in mind of an interesting phenomenon in nature. Most of us are familiar with the progression of caterpillar to butterfly, and with the significance of the chrysalis (cocoon) in Christian symbolism. I was surprised to learn earlier this year that the nature of the progression from caterpillar to butterfly was considerably different from what I had assumed. It seems that when the caterpillar, which has its own fully formed organs and circulatory system, determines it is time to form the cocoon, the process within is not a progression of form similar to a tadpole forming legs and losing the tail in the process of becoming a frog. What happens within the cocoon is much more complicated and much more amazing. Once inside the protective layer, the substances that formed the caterpillar turn to an amorphous “soup” with no structures whatsoever. Within that soup are specialized cells called imaginal cells, and they begin to reassemble the molecular soup into the totally new structure that will become the adult butterfly which is called the imago. These imaginal cells were present but inactive within the caterpillar, much as our kardia or spiritual GPS is present but often inactive in us.

The details of this process make the chrysalis an even more apt metaphor for spiritual growth. Significant spiritual growth involves repositioning and/or “dissolving” the ego and with it the sense of primary identity we have built for ourselves on the physical plane. We have to move from perceiving ourselves as physical bodies which have a spiritual dimension to understanding that we are souls having a human experience. We have to change from identifying with the physical body and its attachment to the material world to identifying with our souls or higher selves and ultimately with God.

What a marvelous metaphor! Completely dissolving the attachment to the earthbound caterpillar body and rebuilding with imaginal cells to be free to navigate the “heavenly” realms ever closer to identification with God.