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Imagine being dropped into a field of darkness where you cannot see the hands in front of your face, cannot discern up from down.

How does that make you feel? Vulnerable, scared?

In general, darkness is portrayed as something that is scary, even evil. We demonize the darkness (think of those goblins and dragons lurking in the dark forest, and the monsters that hide under your bed). We perceive the darkness as something that needs to be fixed or transmuted with life-giving light.

But is it really the darkness that we are afraid of? Or is it the unknown, the unconscious that we fear? We call it darkness only because we can’t yet see within it—it hasn’t been illuminated with the light of our conscious awareness. The truth is, there is nothing evil or bad about darkness. In fact, the fertile darkness is necessary. Vegetables, trees, flowers need the dark to grow. We need to sleep behind the darkness of our eyelids to heal and restore our chemical balance.

The world as a whole, too, goes through cycles of sleep to heal and restore. It could be said that, given our current situation, we have entered a new cycle of sleep and deep cocooning. Just like being in a cocoon, we can’t see with the clarity we once had.

Remember when life made more sense? People generally trusted the news media. Institutions seemed more solid and reliable. Now we are bombarded with contradictory information and opposing narratives. People who used to see eye to eye on most topics are now battling it out, calling one another names, defriending, blocking, and deleting friendships. They have lost their “soul vision”—the ability to see the highest in another. It is as if the light has been turned off on the planet. The very fabric of reality seems to be unraveling, falling apart.

Isn’t that exactly what happens within the cocoon?

What if we are not meant to understand everything on the outside of ourselves in this moment? Collectively, we have been in the caterpillar stage, fattening ourselves, consuming everything in sight, not aware of how we are affecting the world around us. What if life needs to become confusing and unclear on the outside of us for us to begin to trust and turn within even more?

Imagine you are a caterpillar. Every day you’re cruising around in the sunshine. Your whole job is simply to eat leaves, lots and lots of leaves, and get yourself fattened up. Then one day, you get a strong intuition to build a cocoon. You may not even know why. You just know that you must cocoon, and so you do. Once the cocoon is built, there is no turning back, you’re in for the journey. It’s frickin’ dark. You can’t move. You can’t even pass time with your favorite go-to: eating. And the worst part, your body begins to dissolve. Then you’re like, what the f*ck? What did I do to myself? What have I gotten myself into? This is not a vacation from your previous work! It is a process of complete annihilation, death of what you know and who you have known yourself to be. Here you are, a caterpillar following what spirit is guiding you to do. And now your body is dissolving into gooey caterpillar soup!

Your caterpillar personality may not know what is going on, but within you are imago cells that have the blueprint of the butterfly you are becoming. And yes, your butterfly soul knows exactly what it’s doing. For within that complete dissolving, a cellular intelligence takes over. Your new wings and aerodynamic body are forming.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, the day comes when you feel strong enough to venture out of your familiar enclosure as you sense that you are ready to push beyond.

The process of breaking out of your cocoon takes every muster of strength you have. It’s a vulnerable time; anything could happen. You are easy pickings for predators until you are fully out and able to fly away—you might be eaten by a frog! Even after you finally emerge, wings wet, you won’t fly for a few hours yet.

Once your wings have dried fully, you’re ready to test out your new freedom. You are a completely new creature. You may as well have died, and in the truest sense, you have, because the you that you were no longer exists. Surprise, you know how to fly! The butterfly that you are has always existed within you. Becoming so is your destiny.

How does this relate to us right now? As a global community and as individuals, both without and within, we are in a collective cocoon, preparing for our new form.

This is our time, globally and individually, to trust spirit.

Turn to the inner corridors of your own soul, find the light within. Because, in this moment, cocooning is exactly what we need in order to prepare for the necessary leap of consciousness—the We-volution. We won’t make it as a species if we don’t evolve. Remember the quote attributed to Albert Einstein, “You can’t solve problems with the same thinking that got you there. A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels.”

Let go of the need for everything to make sense, and see with your inner vision. There is a bigger picture unfolding. Spirit knows that the confusion is useful. Things have to not make total sense right now, because being in the cocoon is necessary.

This is the message: if we’re going to make that leap in consciousness, we must become new creatures. Transforming from a caterpillar that consumes, consumes, consumes into a creature that pollinates, and supports the ecosystem of our beloved planet rather than ravaging her.

As we emerge from this pause, will we embrace our new form? Or will we revert to our unsustainable caterpillar ways? What does full flight look like for humanity? The butterfly soars from a higher vantage point, able to see the interconnection and interdependence of life down below. If we make it out of the cocoon and aren’t eaten by our fears (or by frogs), how will seeing from this new vantage point affect our actions and decision-making process? Will it inspire us to live more harmoniously with the earth and her sentient creatures?

It is definitely the end of the world as we know it. There are not enough leaves to fill our insatiable caterpillar bellies, and we can’t go back to our caterpillar ways. Our caterpillar bodies no longer serve us; they are dissolving. We’re in the soup of becoming. Either humanity will create its own demise by refusing to We-volve, or we embrace our destiny and let the caterpillar die, becoming the transformed winged one, who serves and sustains life.

Haven’t you always secretly known that you could fly?

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