On a beautiful, unseasonably warm, blue sky, puffy-cloud, sun-shiney, “end-of-summer-but-not-quite-yet-fall” day, I found myself on one of my quiet, meditative walks through my favorite, natural, sacred space (my local public gardens). As my walk took me through the newly re-done parking lot, I came across a caterpillar slowly crawling along the sidewalk. It was so beautiful and such a wonder to observe as it slowly moved about.
Black, yellow and green colored, I watched its myriad little legs move it slowly along to wherever it was going – slowly, but surely. After a while I decided to try to capture the image. I turned away from the caterpillar to get my smart-phone from my backpack, but when I turned back I realized we had company. To my great surprise and joy I saw a beautiful monarch butterfly flying about, low to the sidewalk where I was standing next to the caterpillar.
How incredible was that?!
Clearly my caterpillar friend had not mystically manifested itself into a butterfly as it was still crawling along (its butterfly transformation to take place at another time). But how lovely for my own eyes to go from seeing a caterpillar crawling along my path to seeing a beautiful bright orange and black monarch butterfly flying about at the same moment. After a while of fluttering around us, the butterfly flew off into the nearby patch of colorful, blooming flowers to enjoy an afternoon meal.
And as I truly believe the Universe speaks to us in a language of signs and symbols, I felt that there was more for me in that encounter than just something wonderful to see. For me, it was as if Nature was affirming:
“You can crawl along the ground if you want to OR you can spread your wings and fly. Let your wings take you to the abundance and beauty of life that awaits you; that only your own wings can help you reach. The choice is yours.”
And, as I thought about it more, I had to admit that, of the two, the caterpillar’s situation did seem the more precarious: crawling slowly along on the hot sidewalk – no food or water in sight – just hoping that by the time it finds some, it hasn’t been stepped on. On the other hand, I watched the monarch butterfly not leave anything to blind hope or chance but used her very own wings to actively fly through the air, away from any perceived danger, and into a bed of colorful, beautiful flowers waiting for her with all the food she could eat as she freely moved from one flower to the next.
Quite a powerful and illuminating visual metaphor to guide us all as we move through life: You could take the caterpillar’s way and keep crawling along in life, keeping yourself low to the ground and hoping that whatever food or fortune that may exist will either come your way, you’ll eventually find it or, when you finally reach where you’re going, hope that what you were moving toward will still be there. Oh, and while you’re crawling along, hope, too, that nothing comes by, say a human foot for instance, to keep you from getting to where you’re going or, worse, permanently disrupt your life altogether. OR, you could take the butterfly’s way and spread your wings, fly high and let your own wings take you to where beauty and bounty exists for you, waiting on your arrival.
To me, the caterpillar and the butterfly represent two ever present possibilities that we can choose from to help guide the quality of our living – two different approaches to living the same life. Two different approaches that may well lead to two very different outcomes for that same life; not just in where we may end up but, also, in the nature and quality of our journey as we get there. Maybe my experience with Nature’s creatures that day was an affirmation for us all that while there are times in life that may lend themselves to either a caterpillar or a butterfly phase, it may also be that we always have the option to choose; to approach life one way or the other: the caterpillar’s way or the butterfly’s way.
Caterpillar
or Butterfly …