Metamorphosis - the ultimate surrender

falling into place

I gave a talk a while ago on the importance of surrender on the spiritual path. Since then a number of people have fed back to me that the thing they related to most strongly was the suggestion that, when everything feels like it is falling apart in our lives, the thing we can best do for our growth is, rather than to cling on for dear life (which can seem like the 'natural' thing to do) to actually surrender into the uncertainty of that moment - and let go.

As the picture above illustrates (and as I put it in my talk), 'Sometimes, when things are falling apart they might actually be falling into place'. It's almost as if, if we let go of our own personal story of what 'should' be happening - and let things properly fall apart - they can then take shape the way they are 'meant' to. This is being reflected for us outwardly at the moment in the volatile financial markets, unpredictable weather systems and the breakdown of systems and organisations that once seemed like cornerstones of our society.

And the way I see it, rather than hold on to what is breaking apart, the healthy thing is somehow let it fall apart as it needs to, so that new, equitable, more human, more sustainable systems can form in the space that is being created.Of course we have many awesome outplayings of this process in Nature in the process of metamorphosis! On its journey to become a butterfly, the caterpillar at one stage becomes a chrysalis – on the outside quite a definite structure, but inside it’s really just a gooey mess.

Can you imagine that.... allowing the structure of your body to break down into liquid so that an entirely new structure can form? Synchronistically, an intriguing documentary entitled Metamorphosis – the Science of Change, by filmmaker David Malone, came my way last week, just as I was exploring these themes. It explores the phenomenon of metamorphosis in Nature and, as it does, extrapolates on our own 'metamorphosis' - the human journey of evolution within our lifetime.

But unlike Nature, Malone says, part of us resists the change (surprise surprise): 'It's as if a butterfly was afraid of flying... Maybe that's what being human is about,' he says. Now, just think what could happen if we really learnt to let go and trust the process...!