Imaginal cells.
Most people know that caterpillars undergo
a process called metamorphosis, a physical
transformation that turns them into butterflies.
Cells referred to as the imaginal cells are
pivotal to this process.
Imaginal cells are different than the rest
of the caterpillar’s cells in that they
contain within them the genetic coding and
therefore the blueprint of a flying creature,
the butterfly.
As the body of the caterpillar disintegrates,
the imaginal cells remain quiescent, as if
incubating literally with a new imagination.
The immune system of the caterpillar sees
them as different, even attacks them, but
the imaginal cells remain immune to this onslaught.
Slowly, as the body of the caterpillar becomes
soft, mushy, and amorphous, the imaginal cells
begin to connect with each other and start
to use the decaying carcass as its nutritive
soup.
It becomes the culture medium in which they
thrive.
One day, the development and connectivity
of the imaginal cells reaches critical mass,
and then the gene that codes for the creation
of the butterfly wakes up.
Just when the caterpillar thought the world
was coming to an end, it turned into a butterfly.
If we are willing to entertain the idea that
consciousness plays a role in creative leaps
through evolutionary time, then you and I
in the deepest realm of our being are the
imagination of ourselves.
What is our next evolutionary leap?
Rumi said, “When I die, I will soar with
angels.
And when I die to the angels, what I shall
become you cannot imagine.”
What are you imagining right now?
