This morning a butterfly landed on my shoulder and refused to budge. There was nothing for it but to do my morning contemplative sit with this butterfly quietly perched on my shoulder. It was a beautiful reminder of what I was there to do – to allow myself to be completely undone by grace so that the gradual process of transformation and inner freedom can take place.
Once it has entered its cocoon, a caterpillar hangs in a dark, cramped little space. Here it dies to its previous form – if you cut open the cocoon, all you will find is a formless green goo. It completely comes apart as a caterpillar, but in this process it is transformed into something beautiful and free – a butterfly. This is a stunning example of the process of inner transformation. It involves a total dismantling of the previous version, but the new version is made from exactly the same cells, it has just been transformed through this process of leaving behind the old, and waiting in the dark.
(Excerpt from Contemplative Living, by S Grussendorff)