A Butterfly Metaphor
The butterfly as a metaphor, for the human soul, expresses the idea that we are each in a continual state of becoming, of growing into the person God calls us to be through grace. Made in His image, we are given the freedom of our will to accept or reject this destiny. But, following the butterfly metaphor, such a rejection would go against our nature. There is something within us, in our deepest heart of hearts, that seems to compel transformation. We are optimized for growth, in holiness, even if we might stymie and suffocate the spiritual spark placed within us by God.
A luminous, winged butterfly is the result of an astonishing process: the little caterpillar’s old body dies within the chrysalis, and then a new body emerges, one that transcends its former state: from crawling on leafy surfaces to taking flight; even to rising above the forest canopy. That’s quite a change! Quite the paradigm shift. To stretch the metaphor further, I ask: does a caterpillar have the soul of a butterfly? Does the butterfly retain something of its caterpillar nature? Or are they both, simultaneously, caterpillar and butterfly?
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the body and the soul are truly one:
“The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body; it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.” [CCC 365]
Like all metaphors, my butterfly metaphor also, eventually, falls apart. We are not caterpillars or butterflies. But I like to imagine that the human soul has butterfly qualities; while the physical body, our human self, tethered to the world, is a little like a caterpillar: laboriously laboring and eating its way through a single leaf at a time, while its destiny is to finally fly, and gain an inkling of the whole tree of creation.
We are invited by the Creator of the cosmos to begin this essential transformation, here and now, during this little life we are provided with, for such a short period of time; and to accept the necessary and sometimes painful death that leads to unimaginable, eternal life. We are created for this, and nothing less.
Image: Juliette Pierce Kent