Reflection for July

Transforming Modernity: An Imaginal Metaphor

Where I live on Tscha-Kole-Chy, also known as Whidbey Island, WA, this summer has brought forth an abundance of swallowtail butterflies. Call them a flutter, a flight, or a kaleidoscope, multitudes of these beguiling beauties have blessed my garden since the spring. Briefly alighting on bushes and shrubs and flashing their gorgeous yellow and black wings, they soon launch themselves back into the maritime breezes that grace this place. My spirit rises with them and, despite everything that’s happening in the world, my heart takes flight.  
 
Of course, these light-as-air creatures were once clumsy caterpillars who could only crawl and eat and eat and eat. Driven by their insatiable appetites, these dim-sighted, worm-like beings devour the vegetation that supports their weight. In some ways, they remind me of my own species and its rapacious and never-ending cravings; cravings that are destroying the Earth that supports all species.
 
And yet when a caterpillar is too bloated to continue, it stops eating, its skin hardens into a chrysalis, and something magical – really magical - begins to happen.
 
Deep inside the caterpillar’s body, what are called ‘imaginal disks’ start to form. Through a quirk in evolution, these disks contain ancient DNA that is quite different from the caterpillar’s. And because of this, its immune system regards the disks as foreign invaders that must be destroyed. But despite being viciously attacked, the disks keep growing and connecting with each other.
 
Eventually, the caterpillar’s immune system goes into catastrophic failure and the disks transform into countless different types of imaginal cells that in turn transform into all the different body parts of a butterfly. The decomposing remnants of the caterpillar are transubstantiated into the delightful creatures that bless my garden.
 
Perhaps those of us who want to transform modernity’s destructive worldview into one that is truly sustainable can see ourselves as imaginal disks. We may be attacked, but we will grow and connect with each other to become cells and then the parts of something new – a worldview that expresses and re-vivifies our own ancient DNA –  the traditional ways of knowing and being that have given rise to and sustained human communities for millennia. Not in a way that romanticizes or steals from the Indigenous cultures that have maintained them, but in a way that honors and respects their wisdom, so that all species, including the swallowtails and humankind, can survive and flourish.
 
Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, July 15 from 7:00 - 8:00 am PT on Zoom (available at: https://www.portlandinsight.org/weeklygroups)
Portland Insight Meditation Community
Mindfulness of the Body (3)

Tuesday, July 22 from 7:00 - 8:00 am PT on Zoom (available at: https://www.portlandinsight.org/weeklygroups)
Portland Insight Meditation Community
Mindfulness of the Body (4)

Tuesday, July 29 from 7:00 - 8:00 am PT on Zoom (available at: https://www.portlandinsight.org/weeklygroups)
Portland Insight Meditation Community
Mindfulness of the Body (5)

Thursday, August 14 from 5:00 - 6:15 pm PT on Zoom
Mindfulness Meditation & More
TBD
Meditation, talk and comments/questions

Friday, November 21 7:00 pm - 5:30 pm Sunday, November 23 on Zoom
Big Bear Retreat Center, CA
Taking a Larger Perspective in These Transition Times
Online retreat co-taught with Ayya Santacitta
More information and registration here