The Caterpillar

The other day I went out for a walk on my favorite trail not far from my home.

Often when I am in need of some time with my soul and my spiritual helpers, I like to get out in nature and just tune in and see if I get any insight or messages.

While walking on this particular day, I happened to notice a multitude of caterpillars that graced the walking path. Due to the time of year, this was not particularly unusual, I guess, but I always try to notice what I notice and just zoom in a bit and see if there is a message from my higher wisdom.

Since it had only been a few days since a traumatice death in the family, I was also just spending time contemplating the events of the past few days.

The Guides who talk to me began to speak.

"Do you think caterpillars spend much time contemplating the meaning of life?" they began.

"No." They continued. "They really don't. If you tuned in to the thoughts of any one of these tiny creatures, all you would really find is that they are contemplating their next meal, surviving, and pro-creating. That is really all that life is about for them.

They probably don't even know they are crossing a trail and they could possibly at any moment get stepped on or squashed by a bicycle wheel. They are not even aware you are walking by. They have never even seen the sky. All they see are the tiny gravels on the trail they need to navigate to get to where they think they may find their next meal.

They have no idea that one day they will create a cocoon and turn into mush. They don't know that the body they are now living in will completely dissolve and the world they know and understand will cease to exist. They have no idea that one day they will fly and that they will be free and loved by many for their beauty and grace.

You cannot even think that you can decide to have a chat with one of these creatures and tell them that life is fragile and that there is so much more to existence than what they know. It would be like trying to teach calculus to a first grader who hasn't even contemplated why 2+2 really does equal 4."

That is how life is, and how all of us are at some point in the evolution of our souls.

A young soul is pretty much living life just trying to survive and propagate the species. You can't really expect a young soul to be worried about why they may be here or what life is all about. You can't tell them that one day life will change and they will become aware that so much more exists than what they are currently experiencing.

If you think about this a little bit, it may make you a little more compassionate toward those who really aren't thinking too much about spiritual things, about climate change, or world peace, or the balance of power. If you approach someone who is in survival mentality, and you open them up to a bigger picture of life, or a larger perspective than what they have previously been aware of, it may open up a whole new world for them, or it may go in one ear and out the other. They may even judge you to be mad!

The truth is, one day that caterpillar will, in fact, go into a dark night of the soul. It will begin to build a cocoon around itself and shut itself away from all that it knows. Life may become too much to bear. The existence that is most known to them may cease to exist.

After awhile, after it has completely shed itself of any resemblance to its previous form, it will re-emerge, but it will be different. It will see a world that it never even dreamed of before. It will fly. People will be in awe of its beauty and grace.

Sometimes we may look at people and we can tell what stage they may be experiencing, but not always. We don't know if they are just in survival mode, if they are just trying to propagate the species, if life has become unbearable and they have entered a dark night of the soul, and when or where or even if they will emerge from it.

Let us treat others with kindness and acceptance for whatever stage of life they are in. We don't know what perspective they may have, or even if they have ever seen the beauty of the stars at night or experienced the awe of a sunset or the whisper of the wind in the trees. Maybe they are just trying to survive.

And when you are out walking, look out for the caterpillars who may just be trying to get to the other side of the trail.

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