“In the caterpillar’s chrysalis, there are cells are called “imaginal cells” that hold the image of the butterfly that will emerge. The original cells struggle, trying to stay like the old caterpillar, but eventually, the imaginal cells begin to build the wings of the butterfly.” – Jack Kornfield
In a way, the problems we’re seeing today are a symptom of our human need to evolve. Here we are in the 21st century, living in late-stage capitalism, where success has also brought extremes of wealth and poverty, and divisiveness has become more pronounced, exploitation more rampant. We’re at a moment that Joanna Macy calls “The Great Turning”—a great opportunity for us to reset our lives as human beings.
What’s true about the Great Turning is that it’s a birth process. Birth is messy, painful, dangerous, and difficult. We are in a collective birth process. The polarization we see around us is a symptoms of our ancient fears. We’re wired to fear the “other,” and politics often feeds on that fear. The great commentators of politics have said that the aim of politics is to frighten the populace into voting for you. This was said a hundred years ago, and it’s still true today.
But that’s not who we are at heart. That’s the small, separate self, called “the body of fear.” The Buddhist texts remind us of a bigger truth: O nobly born, remember who you really are. Center yourself and remember your birthright of freedom and fearlessness in the midst of it all.
Thomas Jefferson said, “One person with courage is a majority.” I used to have a picture on my refrigerator of that powerful image from Tiananmen Square—the Chinese man standing in front of a line of tanks, holding his shopping bags. The tanks stopped, and he stood there, unmoving holding his bags. How can we do this? We have to stay in the present. If you let yourself get drowned by the news, by fear and anxious thoughts, you’ll get swept away in the ocean of grief and fear—and that’s not who you are. Meditation invites you to have a very different perspective.
When a butterfly makes a chrysalis, we used to think that the caterpillar grows wings and emerges as a butterfly. But now, science shows us that it’s something much more profound. The caterpillar dissolves into a gelatinous mass, and some of the cells are related to the old caterpillar, while others are entirely new. These new cells are called “imaginal cells” and they hold the image of the butterfly that will emerge. Some of the original cells struggle against the change, trying to stay like the old caterpillar, but eventually, the imaginal cells begin to build the wings of the butterfly.
This process is not easy. Things fall apart, and there can be tremendous suffering. Part of our practice and meditation training brings us the capacity to bear witness to the ocean of tears as well as the wondrous beauty of the world and the universe. Now we are being called to shift from fear and separation to rejoin the web of life. Nature keeps showing us amazing things, and no matter what we do, it will keep renewing itself. It will push through cracks in the sidewalk, no matter how much we try to pave it over.
Love always renews itself.
Naturally, we will imagine a new world together.
With metta,
Jack
*To dive deeper into these teachings of imagining a compassionate new society through the Great Turning, please join my free new course, Stand Up For Compassion.
