Gil Hedley ~ Integral Anatomy

It is possible to transform, say, a room, for a special occasion. But when the party's over, you take down the balloons and the bunting, fold up the extra chairs and tables, and it's back to business as usual. It works differently with us though.

Become who you are, no matter what. Once certain steps are taken towards your self-evolvement, you are on the slippery slope to becoming a butterfly~~you liquify, and there is no hope of turning back to your old ways. When was the last time you saw a butterfly turn back into a caterpillar?

Some may protest and lament your change, including your own vestigial caterpillar elements. And some may take pleasure in counting, drying, and pinning butterflies to boards. Neither points matter particularly.

Should we wait until everyone else around us is ready for us to transform before we do so? It will be a long wait. Should we wait until we feel perfectly safe to do so? Hungry birds eat caterpillars as well as butterflies. I'd rather fly into the mouth of destiny than be swallowed while crawling away from it.This post on transformation was originally posted on the Gil Hedley ~ Integral Anatomy, Discussion Board (Feb, 2011) and was later added to Coming Into Form, Gil's earliest collection of free verse poetry to explore the issue of coming into form from an embodied spiritual perspective.