The Chrysalis
Metamorphosis: So often anthropomorphized into the symbol of rebirth or renewal in our lives. While it is true that the caterpillar that shrouds itself in a chrysalis does eventually emerge as a beautiful winged butterfly, for the longest time no one actually knew what happened during that pupate stage. What changes are occurring inside it to result in such a dramatic transformation? If you were to interrupt that cycle before it’s complete and cut open a chrysalis, all you would find is a bunch of goo inside. A biological soup of what was the caterpillar. Seemingly no order to it whatsoever. So how does that goo assemble into one of nature’s most beautiful creations?
Experiments have been conducted on caterpillars where they were forced to associate a certain odor with pain until they were able to observe the odor as something they must avoid.[1] Everytime the odor was introduced, the caterpillars were given a short, mild shock and would try to get as far away from it as possible. The time eventually arrived when the caterpillars formed their chrysalis’ and the scientists waited as the natural process ran it’s course. Once the butterflies emerged from their shrouds, they would re-introduce the odor to see if it remembered. And in fact, they did – the butterflies quickly identified the odor and flew away from it. Therefore, while the appearance of the caterpillar had drastically changed into the butterfly, it obviously still retains at least a small part of itself and the life it once knew. Somewhere contained within that goo, has to be part of the caterpillar that lives on.
It has also been discovered that if you were to slice open a caterpillar prior to the chrysalis stage, you would find parts of what will eventually become the butterfly. The antennae, the structure for the wings, the legs, and so on. The caterpillar just keeps these parts held tightly within itself. The physical process itself is less rebirth and more about transformation.
All of this presents us with a question: what part of my future self is within me today already just waiting for the right time to spread it’s proverbial wings and fly?
We all get trapped into a certain way of thinking about ourselves and others. Characteristics that were observed within us that we can’t escape. All of us change as years go by and new life experiences teach us more and more about ourselves and the world around us. I am certainly not the same person I was in my teens or my twenties or even my thirties. “We get stuck within stories about ourselves and who we are that don’t respect the fact that we are capable of change. One of the kindest things we can do for ourselves is to shake off an old story [narrative] about ourselves, a story that maybe fit us several years ago but doesn’t define us now.” – Mala Gaonkar[2]
There’s a lot of truth in “all old things are passed away and all has become new”. But instead, we should reframe that into, “what within me today is an area that I want to change or improve about myself?” You have inside you right now all that you will need to become the person you want to be. It’s just a process of trying to identify it and develop it. We should be careful not to stereotype others and to realize that everyone changes over time. Sometimes life deals you a losing hand, but just like in playing cards the next round is a fresh start and you learn from those tough times exponentially more than you do when things go your way. Navigating through this labyrinth of life is not all rainbows and butterflies. The greatest thing we could do for ourselves and for others is to listen and exercise some empathy. There seems to be a growing lack of it in the world today. By viewing things only through a black and white lens, you’ll miss all of the shades of gray and vivid colors that are all around you.
When an artist is painting on a canvas and does not like the progress and wants to start over, he does not throw out the canvas. Instead, he creates a new painting over the old. The masterpiece it becomes would not exist were it not for the previous versions underneath it. Even the scientific principle that “matter can neither be created, nor destroyed; it can only change form” applies here as well. We are transformed not by destroying all of who we once were. Rather, we become a masterpiece because of the situations we learned from and developing the characteristics that were always within tucked tightly under the surface waiting for the chrysalis of change to mold us into something truly unique and remarkable.
[1] Radiolab: Black Box (Originally 2014, Re-released October 21, 2022)
[2] The Theater of David Byrne’s Mind; presented by Radiolab, (released October 7, 2022)
