We end where we began
I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man
Chuang-tzu - 4th century B.C.E.
We are like butterflies who float for a day and think it is forever
Carl Sagan - 1980
It has been a long, difficult journey into the present for us - the butterfly and man. We have emerged from the same cauldron and survived the same struggle to adapt. So many did not and all that's left to show that they were here are their fossilized outlines and their genes within us. We are the inheritors of their legacy. We carry the proof of their existence in every cell of our structure. We, the survivors, walk in their stead and float on their wings. We, the survivors, have earned the right to be here... It has been such a minuscule length of time that our species has been present on this planet. We are late arrivals, indeed, and we view the world while standing on enormous shoulders. It would be good to remember that.
The symbolism bestowed on the butterfly speaks volumes of the connection we seek with it. We are made of the same stuff. We operate under the same rules and we are as short lived and delicate as they. Or is the connection to be found in the wish for ourselves that we may embody beauty of the soul, gentleness of spirit and certainty of purpose as effortlessly as does the butterfly? And do we hope that these prized characteristics can be maintained in the face of the struggle and harshness that is part of the existence on this planet? Perhaps we will yet discover the path of metamorphosis to become such beings.
To a 284K sound file of Dream (1:10)
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Part VIII
Dream
words and music - Dennis Bidney
I'm dreaming another life that seems so real to me
I am the chrysalis struggling to be
Emerging from the deep, deep sleep
Now strangely changed
The drive to transform, preordained
Breaking through a cocoon shrouded home into the new
I'm drying my gossamer wings of iridescent, brilliant hue
But still vague memories of crawling earth bound
Now liltingly light
Unfettered and floating
In the breezes above the ground
Unspeakable sensations of being free
And I have no question of what to do or be
I somehow have the knowledge of my own destiny
I must complete the cycle of an ancient prophecy
I feel a part of this natural world
I am a perfected process
And I sense that I will fulfill my creation to the highest
Then the images fade or do they now appear
And in the transition state which reality is near
Am I the man who dreamed he was a butterfly
Or am I now the butterfly dreaming I'm a man
From the same earth
By the same powers
Fluttering spirits sigh
"You are me"
I am the butterfly
I am the man
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The End
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