cocooning

isn't the metamorphosis of a caterpillar amazing.  as a child, i had a teacher who put a caterpillar in a glass-enclosed container.  it was exciting to get to school each day... really... in order to observe what changes had taken place.  of course, the caterpillar became a cocoon; the cocoon housed what was to become a butterfly; the class cheered. the butterfly was loosed out the window.  freedom!

i could take you down the road of using caterpillar metamorphosis as a metaphor for life, with the end result being freedom and transformation.  but i won't.

that is because the cocoon fascinates me so much more.  it is during the cocoon stage of incubation that formation is taken place.  a process that involves deep change. the animal knows that it doesn't inch along anymore; it doesn't know it will fly someday.  all it knows is something very different, something strange is happening. 

some people may understand cocooning to be isolation and avoidance.... that certainly can be true.  my preference is to view it as a time of formation.  it's a deeply personal time in which a person lets go of the known and enters into the unknown.  it's a place of insight and reflection, anxiety and fear, nostalgia and longing.

i've experienced being a butterfly several times in my life.  and sometimes i wanted to be one so much i have tried to skip (or at least shorten) the cocoon stage.  but for now, i am a cocoon.  it's cozy as it is uncomfortable.  for now, i am content here.