Contents
When we’re at the end of our lives and about to return to what once was, we should do so with beautiful memories, instead of beautiful dreams. To bring this belief to life, we turn to the story of the caterpillar, its mind-boggling journey into adulthood, and how it manifests the transformative force of existential courage.
It’s a story I adore to the bones, one that I think many people in general are quite familiar with. And yet, its most mesmerizing element is oftentimes heavily overlooked. A pity, since it’s exactly this part of the story that reveals the unexpected ingredient needed for venturing into our own personal metamorphosis.
(FYI: it’s probably not what you think.)
The transformative tale of a caterpillar
Out there, in the corners of the world where wonders still go unnoticed, there rests a white dot on a small green leaflet. That dot is the beginning of what will one day become a majestic butterfly. But when the egg hatches, there appears not a butterfly, but a small caterpillar. Still vulnerable and sluggish, it goes out on a quest to stuff itself with nutrients to grow bigger and stronger.
As time lingers on, the small insect coaches itself into a well-fed, juicy caterpillar, ready to venture forth into the transformational process of metamorphosis. First, it finds for itself a place that’s tucked away from danger. It starts making a cocoon for itself, also known as a “chrysalis”.
Then, it goes into a deep sleep, and for the days that follow, nothing seems to happen from the outside. But even so, some days later, it bursts open and reveals a beautiful butterfly that is slowly waking up to its new, colorful body. The once awkwardly sluggish, ground-bound creature transformed itself into one of the most iconic insects fluttering through the air. In a way, this transformation beautifully mirrors the psychological journey we face during an existential crisis: a period that, like the chrysalis, invites us to “shed our old skin” and thus holds a profound potential for self-actualization.
Dissolving the former Self
This process on its own is already quite bizarre, but the element that makes the transformation so absurdly beautiful is what happens inside the chrysalis, during the days of seeming nothingness.
This is where the magic unfolds, for inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar almost completely dissolves and liquifies itself into a protein-rich fluid. This “caterpillar-soup” then reorganizes its very structure, slowly molding itself into its final form of a color-rich butterfly. For its evolution to be complete, the caterpillar has had to literally dissolve all former parts of itself that are not part of a butterfly.
The epic story of the caterpillar sheds a new light on the distinct stages of personal transformation. It’s an analogy for how we, humans, might also embrace our fullest beings and reach for the sky.
Suppose we are to learn from the caterpillar, and use its story to guide us on our paths – we may find that personal growth requires two vital ingredients: One must feed itself the resources it needs to grow and transform, but then, secondly, and most importantly, one must also dissolve parts of its former Self. To do so requires existential courage: the willingness to let go of who you’ve been to become who you’re meant to be.
By the way, if this resonates with you, we can send new thoughts and reflections straight to your inbox. Yes, send them →
Paradox as an invitation to metamorphosis
When we’re young, we are all caterpillars in some sense. We’re curious, we’re open, we take in what we can. But these child-like qualities cease to exist when we forget to delve into our own personal metamorphosis.
Imagine, for a moment, the caterpillar that forgets to undergo its own metamorphosis, or one that clings to what once was, refusing to dissolve parts of itself, only to stay in its larval form forever. That’d be a miserable creature, consuming to consume, only to dream of ever fluttering into the bright, wide sky. Luckily, not many caterpillars seem to forget the act of metamorphosis. But strangely enough, humans do, oblivious to the fact that they, too, could take to the skies.
However, the thing that differentiates us from caterpillars is that for us, metamorphosis can be a choice. A choice to accept and start our own transformation, to venture into becoming, and growing into the most exciting version that we can become.
Ultimately, ours is a paradoxical situation: Whereas caterpillars grow into one final form, we are always both caterpillar and butterfly, at the same time.
This strange paradox is a profound part of the human experience: Precisely because we live inside this paradox, we should embrace paradox whole-heartedly, and should be willing to dissolve parts of ourselves, if we are to create and re-create ourselves.
