The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy.
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world,
The master calls the butterfly.
– Richard Bach-
The only constant in life is change, the metamorphosis, the journey from the non-physical through birth, maturity, death and back to the non physical. Along the way we are bruised, pummelled, battered, challenged, loved, hated, adored, scorned and a plethora of other emotional states. We leave a different soul than we arrived, some broken, other empowered, but none of us get out unchallenged or unchanged.
From the outset we are in a constant state of flux, nothing is exactly as it was before. Each day, although appearing the same has a different component, a new challenge or opportunity to do things differently. Most of the time we fail to see the little changes occurring within or around us. Nature is constantly changing, passing through the seasons. One blends into the other, yet they are never as they were. Some of us pass through the earthly journey without understanding the subtle changes and at the end of this earthy walk we wonder, What happened?
In our own lives, we depend on our carers to support us through the first years. Some parents never stop parenting, keeping this earlier protection in place too long. Well meaning, they protect us from learning life’s lesson and facing the experiences that help us mature and develop through life’s evolutionary steps. Baby to toddler, where we begin to explore our mobility. Early childhood where we begin to interact with the Big Wide World, if allowed to we develop our coping skills or defence mechanisms for later life. Our teens – where we make our first steps into the world as an individual, exploring the boundaries, pushing the limits. Some without the strong foundations from their earlier times stretch things too far and either hurt themselves or terminate their earthly walk. For each new period of growth, the old must die so we can be liberated for the new to unfold.
The Greatest Loneliness – like the loneliness a caterpillar endures when she wraps herself in a silky shroud and begins the long transformation from chrysalis to butterfly, it seems we too must go through such a time, when life as we know it is over – when being a caterpillar feels somehow false and yet we don’t know who we are supposed to become. All we know is that something bigger is calling us to change. And though we must make the journey alone, and even if suffering is our only companion, soon enough we will taste the rapture of being alive.
-Elizabeth Lesser-
Napoleon Hill tells a story of a child, pampered and over protected all his life. One day the back gate was left open and the little Boy stepped out into this strange new world and was hit by a car and killed. He had no skills to understand the risks. Life is full of risks, challenges and opportunities to explore the rich tapestry of life and love. It comes with a cost, responsibility, awareness and due diligence. As we encounter new ideas, feelings, experiences a new set of parameters come into play. If we had been allowed as children to explore and gain and understanding of our surroundings and human interactions we would have developed the tools to change and cope. Without previous experience everything can become a threat, a danger and something to be avoided.
Dr John DeMartini speaks of two types of children, the over protected, Spoilt Brats and the Fiercely Independent, those that came up through school of hard knocks, or were given the freedom to explore their changing world.
With Change the one true constant in our lives why is it we try to avoid or ignore what is happening? We hold on, trying to do the same old, same old, possibly because it is comfortable, we know what we are doing, what to expect. We invest so much time and energy in being unwilling to change, unwilling to learn. We stay stuck, and so often complain about our lot.
Our six great fears come into play in making us resistant to change:
The Fear of Illness
The Fear of Old Age
The Fear of Death
The Fear of Poverty
The Fear of Loss of (Someone’s) Love
The Fear of Criticism
The Power we give these six Apocalyptic Horsemen bring us to a grinding halt. The Fear of… is greater than the Love of… Each holds Power over us, until we turn towards them, embrace each of these demons and take back our Power. Knowing which Fear dominates our life gives us the opportunity to release it and turn, again towards Love. For in the end the only thing that matters, the only true change and learning comes from Love. The Only Lesson is Love. The Only Real Change – is improving our ability to express and action to Love, moment by moment.
We delight in the beauty of the butterfly,
but rarely admit the changes it as gone through to achieve that beauty.
– Mayo Angelou –
