The Grand Healing of Human Metamorphosis
Listen-up for a simple truth that will change your life for the better, whether you like it or not.
Have you ever wondered how a caterpillar can become a butterfly? It seems these two variations of the same creature could not be more opposite. Caterpillars are voracious eaters, known to eat all the leaves off trees. Why does it need to eat so much for that little body?
On the other hand, the butterfly doesn’t seem to need much food at all, as it can travel over a thousand of miles at high altitude. In 2019, I climbed California’s Mount Shasta. At the peak there were thousands and thousands of monarch butterflies flying all around us at over 14,000 feet elevation!
In this article, I explore how metamorphosis is a metaphor for human maturation. Websters dictionary first definition of metamorphosis is “A transformation, as by magic or sorcery.” The word sorcery denotes connecting to our divine Source. Let’s take a brief snap-shot of how metamorphosis operates in our lives.
When we are young, we are voracious eaters of life. We are out to get happiness from the world. This leads to suffering. We have an endless appetite to fill ourselves with that stuff of the outer world which is not really fulfilling beyond a temporary high that leads us to want to get more. We become known as consumers of the world’s resources, and by doing so we forget our true nature is to be contributors of good. Our endless appetite for more gets played out in many ways. For now, let’s look at how our consumerism mentality can gets played out in our relationships.
We look for a another beautiful person to love us the way we like. At first they do, so we fall in love and get married. But when they stop loving us in the way we like, we blame them for not meeting our needs. We then get divorced and then look for our next “source of happiness.” Until there becomes a time when there isn’t another to find. We are forced to be alone with ourself. The universe has a way of no longer giving you what you want on the outside when you are beginning to awaken to that which is on the inside.
At some moment in your life process that only your soul knows, you are ready to wake up out of the 3-D nightmare of trying to get that which can never really fulfill you. At this point, many people become ill, have an accident, or get thrown in prison – totally disrupting their outer activity to get something. For a while, they have to give up their worldly goals, and this is a real ego killer.
But remember, this is only happening because the Soul is ready. In fact, it’s been screaming for change for a long while. The suffering of chasing outer fulfillment, power in the form of money, prestige, status, pleasure, acceptance from others, and other false forms of freedom leads to an agony of living a false life that eventually has the person at the end of their rope. They can’t live that stressful rat race life anymore.
With zero energy, there is nothing to do but collapse. Most people, at this point, become quite depressed. To have a big loss and drop into the cocoon state is very common during mid life, but it can happen anytime. From being so out in the world, they close the curtains and want nothing of the world. They no longer have energy for getting out.
Those who tend to fight it, prolong it, and can even temporarily sabotage their natural healing and growth process. Conventional medicine supports this fruitless fight beautifully by making depression and lack of energy “wrong” and having us take drugs to put us into an artificial state that undermines the body’s natural healing process. The body knows how to heal itself, but it takes great trust and listening.
Most people are terrified of depression, of not being able to work. They are terrified because, in a deeper way, they already feel depressed, living a somewhat artificial life. And, they know deep down, their number to change will eventually be called.
Metamorphosis Is a death/rebirth experience that cannot be avoided no matter how hard one may try. But it certainly does not mean you need to lose your body. The only thing that is sure to die is the fear-based ego, who you thought you were and what you thought your life was about that kept you feeling empty, and hungry. From what I’ve seen, the more one fights, the more ill they become. Fighting is not the answer.
The answer, as terrifying as this may seem, is to go with it. Allow your outer world to close-in on you. Allow yourself to be constrained. Feel yourself getting wrapped up in your own sense of limitation. It’s really a gift to help you separate yourself from the world of illusion to find your truth within. To get free, you first must feel this pressure of what’s not free, what is not working for you, what seems to be against you. It’s all pushing you to go deeper within yourself.
You may feel you are encased in the pressure of a hard life that you can’t get out of. Remember, this stage will pass!
There are two phases of the cocoon stage. In phase one, you are depressed because you are still judging yourself for your situation. You have not yet awakened to the fact that you are not your circumstances! No matter what is happening, you are always precious!
Phase two is when you have fully surrendered and have found peace within. This is when your soul starts to download your deeper wisdom and higher intelligence. For example, instead of working for money for survival or to “get ahead”, you get the insight of what your heartfelt desire really is. It will likely be a unique thing only you can do. You might want to help others with the kind of issues you struggled with.
As your outer life continues to be on hold, you continue to awaken out of the fear based dream of what’s “wrong”and begin to realize you are really getting wrapped in love. Miraculously, the universe has been supporting you all the way through this destined alchemical growth process. It’s like all your relations are laying prayer blankets onto your cold and frightened body so you will heat up and burnout-out the fever of the past, and then all that is left is your purest humility, insight, and gratitude for simply be alive.
At some point, usually in a state of total surrender, you may feel your guardian angels loving you, and the whole universe is rooting for you, supporting you with coming home to your divine Self, to your deepest knowing you are loved beyond all human comprehension, and that your existence really matters!
You have come back home to this deep knowing LOVE is all there is. You become this great light of loving, that has burned away all sense of separation. Out of the ego’s ashes, your pure soul is the phoenix – getting ready for flight.
You even learned to love your smaller “chrysalis world” whether that was being laid up in bed, prison, or being a hermit in the forest. But now you can come out. You can enjoy the world in a new way because you know you’re not of the world. You are no longer attached to getting something in particular. You are already fulfilled and sustained by God’s great loving – coming through every pore of your being. Home in the Loving, doors open for you. You are free to enjoy new opportunities!
“Grounded and supported in God’s great loving, I am free to fly”
Additional Questions:
How often does metamorphosis happen for people throughout their lives?
It happens to those people who are having a spiritual awakening, and their first one is often most dramatic. For me, it’s when I had a severe motorcycle accident at age 17 years old, and had to spend three months on my back in a hospital bed.
As we continue to awaken in consciousness, we realize that metamorphosis is often at work, but in less dramatic ways. When life doesn’t seem to be working, like the world is pushing back at you, it’s time to stop trying to force it. Let go of the fight. Take a time out to go within. You may need only few days of down time to allow your personality to morph into the new you who can eventually see new solutions. You can do this without having to catch the flu, but if you do, that is Ok too! We no longer need to resist change until we get hit by a metaphoric sledge hammer because we are learning to surrender our personal self to the wisdom of our Soul’s guidance.
Is Kundalini awakening the same thing as human metamorphosis?
Not exactly, but they co-exist synergistically. We can say the human metamorphosis is powered by the person’s Kundalini (spiritual) awakening.
Are there spiritual practices that support human metamorphosis?
Yes, many. Here’s three that come to my mind.
- Dark room therapy,
- Plant medicine journeys, … and my favorite is…
- Vision Quest – which I lead occasionally at Mount Shasta each Summer.
Written by Joa Janakoayas, MA.