A Caterpillar's Diary

jst2laws

If you are critical of spirituality you will find plenty of material at which to poke fun. If you are in a mystical/spiritual mood you might enjoy it.

May I tell you about my caterpillar friends? A colony of them lived in a row of banana trees along a river that flowed through a parched land. There were only banana trees as far as you could see, and there were only those caterpillars in the banana trees. The caterpillars often spoke together about “The Island”. The island had every type of plant to eat, perfect weather, and no birds to threaten them. But the island was in the sea, far away, and the caterpillars had no way to get there.

One day several caterpillars got together and formulated a plan. “Lets chew off these banana tree leaves near their base and they will drop into the river. We can ride them down the river to the sea and there will be the paradise island. It would work. So all the caterpillars went to work on their own leaf and soon they were riding the current of the river heading to the sea. It didn’t matter how big or small the leaf was, nor the shape. All the banana tree leaves were heading down the river to the same destination, the island in the sea that had everything.

The caterpillars were each enthusiastic. Yes they had what they needed to eat and plenty of life’s water to drink from the river. Although the river meandered, was a slow mode of travel, and had some dangerous rapids it was taking them where they wanted to go. And their individual banana leaf had taken on a symbolic meaning to each caterpillar: survival, and the way to the paradise. They had become rather protective of their own leaves.

One day a butterfly landed on one of the leaves. The butterfly discussed with the caterpillars their plan to ride the banana tree leaves down the current to the sea, to reach the Paradise island. The butterfly shared with them a secret: They did not have to ride the banana tree leaves to the sea. If they just believed they can do it, they could become butterfly’s and leave the river behind. They could FLY to the sea.

This sounded good to the caterpillars. Their goal in life truly was to get to the paradise island in the sea. The meandering river and their decomposing leaves were a hazardous means of getting there. Flying would be a direct route and almost immediate.

“But . . . . .”

Steve