Metamorphosis – A message from St. Francis

During our trip exploring Rishikesh in India, we stumbled across a wonderful book shop where Alan gave me a book that resonated on a deep level. Since 21.12.2012 I have received messages from St. Francis and I knew this book would give me so many insights along my spiritual path. I want to share with you today a transformational message from the marvelous spiritual mystic, St. Francis.

This message lets us see the world through the eyes of a caterpillar on his journey to expand into a beautiful butterfly and teaches us that we are all connected and as One, ascending on this earth plane back to our home in Heaven. Enjoy!

Like a caterpillar that is physically transformed into a butterfly, our bodies are constantly moving and changing both physically and mentally. They are like waves breaking on the shore; no one wave is ever the same. Each is always creating anew its own style and form. Our bodies are continually transforming in this ocean of life. Will we learn how to swim in order to facilitate our relationship with the ocean? Or will we fear the water, dipping only our feet in?

Transmutation is our natural way of expressing our development and evolution. However, many of us choose to stay like a caterpillar forever, crawling from one path to the next, too afraid to trust the natural process of life. On the other hand, the caterpillar doesn’t fear that’s its form will change into a butterfly; rather, it naturally accepts this ever evolving process.

Metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly drastically changes its view and allows the caterpillar to gain a broader perspective on life. When a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, it is no longer constricted to just dirt, grass, rocks, trees, and crawling slowly from one leaf to the next. Instead, the caterpillar ends up flying and seeing further than it ever could of imagined. As the caterpillar’s outer horizons greatly expand, its inner horizons expand too. The qualities the caterpillar received as it crawled, like patience, persistency, and sensibility, are deeply grounded by its connection to the Earth and this helps it to prepare for becoming a butterfly. Once it becomes a butterfly, each of these qualities helps it in countless ways.

Like the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly, we change from infancy to childhood, then to adulthood, and finally to old age. The difference, though, is the caterpillar makes this change without resistance or hesitation. The change is a natural process the caterpillar innately accepts without fear. This graceful acceptance of “what is” allows its life to unfold effortlessly. You may say, “but caterpillars have no choice as nature dictates what comes next.” This is so, but doesn’t nature also dictate what comes next for humans? If we would only listen to nature. But the problem is, humans don’t listen because we have highly developed minds that we rely on to make most of our decisions in life. That’s the main difference between a caterpillar-butterfly and a human being.

Although the mind is useful in many ways, it is not our only source of our intelligence. Like the butterfly we have a natural god given “intuitive wisdom” that follows the dictates of nature. This wisdom is always accessible to us if we trust it and tune into its quiet voice. Its concern is always for our highest good and it wants to guide us to our greatest potential.

We must learn to decipher when to use our mind and when to use our intuitive wisdom. Attaining a fine balance between the use of our mind-intelligence and our intuitive-intelligence is our task in life. Because the natural state of the mind is to fear and doubt, it can’t be trusted to make life changing decisions. Because the mind is concerned with comfort and security it is afraid of the unpredictable and the unknown. Furthermore, it is not concerned with living in the moment; rather, it dwells on the past and the future. Because we follow our minds’ dictates instead of our hearts’ dictates, our transmutations have diminished into stagnancy and decay.

This has eroded our lives and chipped away much of our life force. When we follow nature’s way and listen to our intuitive wisdom, we accept what arises. This results in our living in the present where transformation is welcomed and natural .By living our lives like this we live in a serene state of being and maybe seen by some as enlightened souls. In truth, enlightenment is the natural state for all of us.

Our sister the caterpillar-butterfly is our mentor to follow and imitate. She is our teacher, for we can see how gracefully she flows with life. As a butterfly, she moves onto higher planes. And so would we, if only we would listen to our heart instead of our head.

A butterfly’s life is probably the most perfect life we could ask for. Think about it: the butterfly is free to explore and move where it desires; it eats free and healthy food from one flower to the next; it is beautiful and graceful; it lives each moment to the fullest; it can fly with ease; and it loves its life without questioning it. We would benefit tremendously if we chose to live life in much the same way as the butterfly. In certain ways, our life is similar to the caterpillar-butterfly. We begin life as a baby, crawling like a caterpillar and innocently exploring every object we can touch. As we grow and begin walking upright, our horizons expand and our experiences multiply. This is the point where most people choose to remain a caterpillar instead of choosing to become a butterfly. Our cocoon has the capacity to become our hell or our heaven. We can choose to live in our cocoon afraid of life’s opportunities and challenges, or we can choose to emerge loving and open to every moment that life gives us.

Our choice is not already written in the stars; our choice is not imprinted in our destiny. Rather, it is unknown, like the day we will die. Instead of fearing transformation, we must embrace it and move forward like a butterfly. If we embrace it we will evolve into a beautiful, spontaneous, totally aware and conscious human being.

This is our natural way. Let’s respect our mentors; the plants, the insects, and animal kingdom – and follow their path. They are here to remind us to return to the right track if we stray. Let’s create our own destiny and choose to commit to nature’s way. This is the true way… the intuitive way… our way.

A message from St. Francis, An Ancient Mystic Speaks to the Modern World, By Cheri Harris