Watching a Butterfly
picture credit: Joseph Ron
I’m sat in a room and look outside the window. I catch a glimpse of a butterfly fluttering in the sun, occasionally stopping on a leaf or a flower and then continuing to flutter away. It looks so free, does it feel like that? It looks so beautiful, does it know that it is? It looks so happy, is it?
What does the butterfly think about? Does it even like fluttering around? Is it freedom for him, or is it a drag to have to be on the move all of the time? Does it remember being a caterpillar? Can it remember the hardships of its caterpillar life and how they compare to its current life in flight? Can it appreciate the preparations it did as a caterpillar that enabled it to become the fluttering being it is now? Are there things it misses about being a caterpillar? Is the life from above really so much better than the life on the ground?
Can the butterfly appreciate how beautiful it is? Can it see its wings? Does it compare the design of its wings to other butterflies? Does it compare how it looks now to how it looked as a caterpillar… that’s if it actually remembers its life as a caterpillar?
It looks so happy as it flies from flower to flower, I’m sure I’d be happy if I could fly so easily between one beautiful flower to another. But is the butterfly really happy? Was it surprised to wake up, having finally understood its life as a caterpillar, and suddenly having to learn anew what it means to be a butterfly? In its nonstop effort to flutter around, does it get time to connect with the world or with other butterflies? Or is it actually a lonely life to fly quickly with barely a moment’s rest?
Sitting and watching the butterfly, I wonder if its life is as perfect as I assume it to be from this one moment. Sitting and watching the butterfly I wonder if it remembers all in its life that led up to this moment of wonder. Sitting and watching the butterfly, I wonder if the butterfly enjoys the life it's living, especially in comparison to the life it used to live. And as the butterfly flies away, I wonder – do I appreciate the “caterpillar” life I had that brought me to this moment? To experience all the beautiful things I perceive the butterfly to be, I need to let go of all that pulled me down before, I need to keep moving, I need to keep connecting with the new experiences that life has to offer.
Look out and see a butterfly. What do you think, you want to fly with me?