Hidden Wings: Emerging from troubled times with new hope and deeper wisdom - part 4

Hello, and welcome to the latest instalment of the DLT eBook Club, a virtual book study group from Darton, Longman and Todd designed to help us connect, interact, read and reflect together during this time of social distancing and self-isolation.

Each week on this blog, one of our brilliant authors will present five extracts from one of their DLT books, followed by some prompts for reflection and online discussion. We will post a link to the blog on Facebook (@dltbooks) and Twitter (@dlt_books); if you use either of those platforms, please follow us and feel free to post your thoughts there in response to each day’s reading. Not all of our authors use social media, but when they do they will drop into the discussion from time to time to add some further thoughts or answer any questions.

It is not essential to have read the full book in order to take part in the DLT eBook Club, but we hope it might make you want to do so. Please look out for links to our new eBook site, www.dltebooks.com, from where you can buy that week’s featured book and many others, all at half price until further notice.

 

The first title to be studied in the DLT eBook Club is Hidden Wings: Emerging from troubled times with new hope and deeper wisdom by the wonderful writer and spiritual explorer, Margaret Silf. You can find Day 4 below. Margaret started writing Hidden Wings at a point of deep concern for our world, not long after the result of the UK’s Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump to the US presidency. She anticipated some of the chaos and deep social division that would follow and, through the analogy of a caterpillar entering the devastating, world-altering stage of the chrysalis, before emerging – transformed – as a butterfly, considered what it might mean for us, spiritually, to enter a similar phase of chaotic transformation. How might we emerge at the end of it all?

Now, her book seems even more prophetic than we thought at the time.

If you wish, you can buy an eBook copy of the book here, or a physical copy (supply chains allowing) here. We hope you enjoy the DLT eBook Club.

 

The imaginal cell continues the story of life in CaterpillarWorld in her own words …

Dancing in the dark

However deeply you trust the dream inside you, nothing makes it easy to deal with the darkness here inside the chrysalis. You might think, if you see us just hanging here from our twig, encased in our protective wrapping, that nothing is happening inside. Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, the highest expenditure of energy in the whole cycle of our metamorphosis happens in the chrysalis. The stage that seems the most inert is in fact the most active. There is a lot of dancing in the dark. The imaginal cells are on full alert, striving towards all that they are destined to become, gestating the various parts of the future butterfly. We intuited all along that this was the case, even back in the egg, but now our faith in the future is vindicated. Something truly miraculous is underway here.

This reality brings responsibility. If the future really rests in our hands, if it is going to emerge out of our own bodies, then we must ensure that this future is truly the future that we most deeply desire. It must be a future that works for all creation, and not just in the self-interest of one segment of the planetary community. This will call for some clear and focused discernment. What kind of future are we bringing forth? For us, the imaginal cells in the caterpillar world, there is not too much scope for choice. The kind of butterfly (the imago) we are destined to become is already coded in our DNA.

For you, our human cousins, likewise, when you procreate, the physical nature of your offspring, and even some of their psychological nature, is pre-coded in your DNA. But for you another, more far-reaching, invitation awaits: the invitation to engage in a process of spiritual evolution that will bring you, and potentially all earth-dwellers along with you, to a higher state of consciousness. The choice of how that higher consciousness will unfold – or indeed whether it will unfold at all – lies in your hands, your choice.

That’s a big deal. A huge responsibility. All we can offer you, by way of support in your choosing, is the experience of our own metamorphosis, and the assurance that the emerging future can only come to fullness through the trauma of the meltdown in the chrysalis. Life will take you into chrysalis times too. Maybe you are, even now, on the brink of a global meltdown. How you navigate such times, in the best interest of all creation, will define all our futures. Let us help you to the extent that we are able to do so. Let us at least inspire and encourage you to trust the greater process that is happening in us all.

Once upon a time a child was born in an unregarded village in the Middle East, to a young couple who would soon become refugees. Ancient story tells us that at the time of that birth, the lowest of earth-dwellers became aware that some new thing was coming to birth. They read the signs of the times, tuned into the vibrations of the imaginal cells of their own period, and said to each other: ‘Let us go and see this thing that is coming to pass.’ The story goes on to imagine the wise ones of that time setting out in search of the new possibility, by following the stars. It’s interesting that the whole story is set in the context of the darkest night. There is an energy moving in the night-time of our darkest fears that can, if we embrace it and trust it, lead us to great treasure hidden in the shadows, illuminated only by the stars.

Now, two millennia later, you are being invited to make that journey, to see the thing that is coming to pass in your own turbulent times. The darkness is terrifying, but it is the only way to see the stars that will lead us all beyond ourselves.

How can it be that in this state of dark helplessness, enormous energy is in fact being expended? You will remember all that energy that the caterpillars used to chew their way through creation? And you will remember how all of a sudden we stopped our chewing, to hang upside down from a twig, apparently doing nothing except just being. All that energy has to go somewhere. Energy, so the second law of thermo-dynamics tells us (amazing what we pick up on SpiritFM), cannot be either created or destroyed. So all that consuming energy is now active in our chrysalis. A new kind of dance is in process. This is the creative dance that is birthing the butterfly, just as once the mating dance of our parents birthed us.

You, our human cousins, have an abundance and super-abundance of energy among and within you. Just imagine how much energy it takes to fuel your own consumption, alongside all the creative endeavours you engage in. Imagine how much energy is invested in writing a symphony, training for a sports event, or developing the next generation of smartphones. If your world were to fall apart, where would all that energy go? What if you yourselves are on the edge of your own chrysalis? Can you trust that if this were so, all that energy would not go to waste, but would be transformed into taking you to the next stage of your evolution – perhaps a spiritual evolution, that will lead to your becoming fully human, and the best version of humanity you could possibly be?

Wouldn’t that be worth the risk of dancing in the dark?

Embroiled in the chaos

Chaos is not something any of us desires, and yet ancient wisdom tells us that chaos, not order, is the raw material of creation. For us, in CaterpillarWorld, this is a strange new concept. We haven’t been here before, and we are very interested in what we hear of your human experience. It may help us to navigate our own chaos. Or it may provide us with warnings of what pitfalls to avoid. You probably know in your personal experience how it feels when things fall apart, and because you are blessed with memory, and powers of reflection, you may be able to see how those times of chaos actually took you to a new place that you couldn’t have arrived at if everything had gone to plan?

All these musings gain new weight, however, when I take some time to explore what your human scientists are saying. Chaos, it appears, is so important to them that they even have a theory for it – Chaos Theory. Well, you don’t need a degree in Physics to tell you that ordered systems have a habit of breaking down into disorder. Even mindless little caterpillars know it, now that they are experiencing exactly that kind of breakdown of their own neatly ordered system.

This is where your human science really helps us. It tells us that our entire little CaterpillarWorld is actually a self-organising system. A collective thrill ripples through our ranks when we discover that. It sounds like it might be going somewhere, but what does it mean, and how will it affect us?

The main thing it means for us is that what appears to be the end of our world is in fact just the beginning of the next world we will inhabit. It’s a real life-after-death thing and it has us all on the edge of our leaf, wondering – ’What next?

It tells us that our old order, CaterpillarWorld, is disintegrating (we already got that message!) but that all the parts that made it what it was, and all its internal logic and intelligence are already re-shaping themselves into a new order. Apparently it’s not something any single cell can achieve. It depends on the interaction and inter-connection between all the components of the system. And didn’t we already realise that ‘we are all in this together’?

The bad news is that when this kind of change is happening there is a time of total instability. In fact the energy released by that chaotic instability is the very thing that will fuel the new beginning. But that isn’t such good news when you are embroiled in the chaos with no apparent way out of it. And that’s the thing. The way out of the chaos is already being fashioned in the heart of the chaos itself. Hard to believe. But these patterns, as I’ve said before, are universal. Surely they apply to CaterpillarWorld as well. Surely they apply to your human world in its present chaos?

So the good news is that all this mess, these disintegrating caterpillar cells, this gloopy soup, is the very place where the new order is gestating. But the new order we discover is destined to take us to a higher level in our evolution. My imaginal imagination soars at this point, and I have a momentary vision of flying caterpillars. Ridiculous …?

In our new order, we will do so much more than we can begin to imagine. I so want to be part of that new order, and my deepest self tells me that I am, indeed, carrying my own part of that new order within me. A wise teacher once told our human cousins, when he was about to die, ‘I am the first of many brothers and sisters. You will do much more than I …’. Friends, we are on an evolutionary trajectory here. Let’s trust it. Let’s not become so immersed in the chaos that we lose sight of this promise that it is holding out to us.

Did you hear that other bit of news? That sometimes a very small change in initial conditions can make a mighty difference. For example the tiny change in air pressure caused when a butterfly flaps its wings, can become intensified so much through feedback loops that it can result in a tornado on the other side of the planet. Can you imagine the celebrations in CaterpillarWorld when your scientists called this phenomenon The Butterfly Effect? Just imagine! If one little butterfly can cause such a huge change, how much more can a human cousin achieve.

But it depends on how you choose. So please, for all our sakes, choose your next step wisely.

A big question now presents itself: What do we do in this situation? These tips might be helpful, from our caterpillar experience:

·       Don’t try to hang on to what is passing away. Listen to what your own inner imaginal cells are trying to tell you about the promise of a future you can’t yet see.

·       Welcome interruptions to your settled state. However uncomfortable these may be at a personal level, they may be the heralds of huge and important change in the bigger picture. Trust the process that is unfolding.

·       Don’t try to go it alone. We are all in this together. We need to support each other, nourish each other, be there for each other.

·       Believe in your butterfly.

All of this mysterious and wondrous process can only happen out of chaos. The worst thing you can do is to try to ‘fix’ the chaos, using the methods that you developed in your caterpillar state. That would be like trying to stick a breaking egg back together when it is striving to hatch. It would stall the entire process of evolution.

Ancient wisdom catches the spirit of this process: ‘When I was a caterpillar, I thought as a caterpillar, lived like a caterpillar, behaved like a caterpillar. But now I am becoming a butterfly I need to leave behind my caterpillar ways. Now I can only see a dim possibility of what I am becoming, but soon I will know the full reality. Now I can only see my caterpillar parts, but soon I shall emerge into the completeness of my destiny.’

Talking points

‘The stage that seems the most inert is in fact the most active.’

As large swathes of the global population find ourselves in lockdown in the struggle to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus, we  have the chance to put this assertion to the test. Like the chrysalis, our lives have been upturned and we feel as though we are hanging helplessly and passively, impotent to change anything or do anything. However, amazing things are actually happening in this inert period. People are discovering possibilities of creativity and inter-connection they never knew existed. Challenging questions are being faced that have perhaps been avoided for too long. Scientific endeavour is in overdrive to unlock the secrets of the new virus and develop a possible vaccine against it. International co-operation has finally breeched many of the barriers and borders that used to divide us. Even politicians have set aside partisan arguments and are working together for the greater good. Unprecedented times indeed! ‘The imaginal cells are on full alert.’

This is the energy of the darkness, and we are learning to dance in the dark What evidence do you see of this in your own context? How might it give you hope? In what particular ways do you feel your own imaginal cell, and those close to you, are on full alert?

Like the caterpillars, we are experiencing at first-hand what it feels like when things fall apart. ‘All of a sudden we stopped our chewing, to hang upside down from a twig, apparently doing nothing except just being.’  Just four weeks ago the ExCel exhibition centre in London was hosting the hugely popular Baby Show, and now it is being fitted out as a field hospital for COVID-19 patients. You probably feel dismay at the chaotic upheaval in your own world, but can you trust that this might be the very situation that is birthing new beginnings for human life on earth?

If the future really rests in our hands, then we must ensure that this future is truly the future that we most deeply desire. It must be a future that works for all creation, and not just in the self-interest of one segment of the planetary community. This will call for some clear and focused discernment. What kind of future are we bringing forth?

Life has most certainly taken us all into a chrysalis time. We are indeed on the brink of a global meltdown. The way we work through this will define all our futures. Take time to reflect deeply on what kind of future you desire for humanity and how your present choices may shape that future.

My imaginal imagination soars at this point, and I have a momentary vision of flying caterpillars. Ridiculous …?

Flying caterpillars. Yes, we call them butterflies.

Spiritually evolving human beings – a ridiculous dream, or a glimpse of our destiny?

The best of times, the worst of times?

Breaking news, March 28th

·       A harassed doctor, trying to do her job and also to feed a family of five, starts baking her own bread, but can’t get flour. A neighbour texts to ask whether she needs anything from the supermarket. She replies that flour and yeast would be wonderful if there is any on the shelves. A while later the neighbour returns. There was no flour or yeast on the shelves but she had made a detour to the local bakery to enquire about where to find supplies, and now she stands at the gate with a bag of bread flour and a supply of fresh yeast. The baker refused to charge for it. It was his way of thanking the doctor for all she and her colleagues are doing to help us through the pandemic.

·       Gun sales surge, especially in the USA, as the pandemic spreads, some retailers reporting an increase of up to 800% as people panic-buy ammunition.

What can we learn from these news items to help us reflect on how we would want humanity to evolve in the future?

Margaret Silf, March 2020