The Wisdom of the Caterpillar

We do not change by trying to be what we are not, but by being fully what we are. This is the secret. We do not change by looking at the future, but by living the present. When I am fully and generously all that I can and want to be in the present moment, I begin to feel inwardly ready to pass on the to the next moment; when I am all I can be now, I spontaneously and obviously begin to be what I am to be next. The fullness of the present leads up by itself in to the newness of the future. Today flowers into tomorrow when it is fully today, not when it pretends to already tomorrow in impatient anticipation and undue haste. Thus change takes place precisely by not worrying about it, by not trying to forcibly to bring it about, by not imposing it, by not seeking it. Let me be fully what I am today, and I shall wake up in a new world tomorrow.

An example: We know that a caterpillar turns into a chrysalis, and a chrysalis into a butterfly, which is a nature lesson of wonderful change. Now, the caterpillar does not turn into a butterfly by trying to be a butterfly, by planning, scheming, endeavoring, or in any way contriving to be changed into a butterfly with colored wings and flying antennae. If it were to do that (as man would surely do if he were in its place) it would only ruin its chances and spoil its future. A caterpillar becomes a butterfly by being a good, honest, healthy, reliable caterpillar; that is, by being fully and genuinely what it is now, not by trying to be what it is not. The better that caterpillar, the better the butterfly. The stronger the present, the brighter the future. The way for me to learn to fly one day is to walk firmly with my feet on the ground today. Nothing is achieved by dreaming and longing and craving and crying. Only by being fully what am I am today can I get ready to be fully tomorrow what I can be tomorrow. My present stage fully lived is the best preparation for the next one. That is the wisdom of the caterpillar, and why it moves around contentedly at its leisurely pace. It trusts nature and it befriends time. It enjoys life crawling among the leaves and branches as one day it will enjoy life flying from flower to flower in the open sky. It is natures’ kingdom.

— Carlos G Valles

Fr Carlos is a Jesuit priest who has worked in India for nearly forty years.]