The caterpillar spent most of his existence struggling to survive, and only thinking of his immediate needs. The caterpillar struggled for existence against many predators, and the caterpillar was unable to see past the few leaves in front of him. The caterpillar could not imagine what it would be like to be a butterfly soaring in the wind, and seeing the beauty of everything around him. The caterpillar could not see the true beauty of the world, because the caterpillar was in the dense vegetation, struggling to survive.

How could the caterpillar even begin to imagine, what the butterfly sees? If the caterpillar had a vision. If the caterpillar understood what was going to happen. If the caterpillar knew that there was going to be a metamorphous. If the caterpillar knew that he would one day glide on the wind. If the caterpillar knew that he would one day soar above the world. If the caterpillar knew that he would one day see beauty which he could not imagine. If the caterpillar knew that he would spend the rest of his days going from one beautiful flower to the next. Could the caterpillar really imagine what this new existence would be like?

If the caterpillar told the other caterpillars what was going to happen, most of the other caterpillars would think that the caterpillar was going insane. Most of the other caterpillars could not even begin to conceive that what they were told was possible. Would any of this mean that what was going to happen to each caterpillar, was not real? Would it simply mean that the other caterpillars were not ready to know the truth?

When the caterpillar first created his cocoon, the caterpillar did not know what was happening. The caterpillar was still attached to the caterpillar's old world, but the caterpillar was no longer a part of the caterpillar's old world. The caterpillar was closed off from the caterpillar's old world, but the caterpillar was not ready to enter the caterpillar's new world.

The caterpillar constructed his cocoon from all of the accumulated rubbish from the caterpillar's existence. This is what the caterpillar must discard before the caterpillar can become the butterfly.

The metamorphous which the caterpillar must undergo to transform from the caterpillar into the butterfly is very painful, but unless the caterpillar endures the metamorphous, the caterpillar cannot become the butterfly. The caterpillar has no idea what to expect when the process is complete. As the metamorphous progresses, the caterpillar slowly starts to understand what it is happening. However, the caterpillar has difficulty believing what is occurring, despite the wings which are forming.

After the caterpillar's metamorphous is completed, and the caterpillar has become a butterfly, the butterfly is still in the cocoon. Regardless of how hard the butterfly tries, the butterfly cannot possibly fly until the butterfly first discards the cocoon. Before the butterfly can fly, the butterfly must force it's way out of the cocoon, which takes some effort.

One day, the butterfly breaks out of it's cocoon and soars off into it's new world, leaving an empty shell behind.

The butterfly looked back and remembered how he once believed that the leaves in the butterfly's old world were the most important things in the universe. The butterfly recalled that he had worried about which caterpillar had the juiciest leaf, and whether the leaves would always be there. The butterfly now knew how insignificant the leaves really were. The butterfly now saw the trees and knew that there were other trees. The butterfly now saw all of the trees, and so much more. The butterfly saw things that the butterfly had never known existed, and could not have conceived.

The butterfly could not understand why he had believed that the insignificant leaves on a single tree had been so important. However, without those insignificant leaves, the caterpillar could not have sustained itself, and grown to become the butterfly.

The butterfly lands on the flower of a tree. The same tree that the butterfly had lived on as the caterpillar. The butterfly carries pollen to another flower, to fertilise the seed, which will fall to the ground and grow into a tree for caterpillars to live on.

Do four butterflies gliding around a meadow of flowers know that they were the same four caterpillars that lived together on a single branch? If the four butterflies do not know that they were the same four caterpillars that lived together on a single branch, does it mean that the four butterflies were not once four caterpillars that lived together on a branch?

When the four caterpillars lived together on the branch, could any of the four caterpillars have conceived that the four caterpillars would one day be four butterflies gliding around a beautiful meadow, or even that the meadow existed?

How many centuries did it take for us to discover that the caterpillar and the butterfly were the same entity? We spend most of our lifetimes like a caterpillar struggling to survive, and only thinking of our immediate needs. The metamorphous which we undergo is extremely painful, but unless we endure the metamorphous, we will remain as caterpillars. When we live with our souls, we are like a butterfly, gliding above the ground and enjoying the true beauty of the world.

We have to accept the analogy of the caterpillar and the butterfly, and we have to know that the transformation will be worth the pain.