IMAGINAL by Burt Kempner

​Our continuing evolution isn’t just a central question of our times.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the only question.

I recently attended a two-day seminar on sacred activism. The instructors used the example of the butterfly as a teaching story. A caterpillar, they said, reaches a certain stage in its development where the status quo is simply not enough. So too the awakening activist.

The caterpillar instinctively knows it’s now time for a change and spins a cocoon around itself. This is transformation, and many activists believe transformation is sufficient to advance the species to where it needs to be. But it’s not. Our once-recognizable caterpillar has now dissolved into a protein-rich, soupy liquid. If it remained in that state, it would be a dead end. But now a group of specialized cells called imaginal discs leap into action. Some will form butterfly wings, others antennae, still others the thorax, etc. This is transmutation – the birth of a radically different animal. Freed from its protective but limiting cocoon, the butterfly triumphantly flies off to glorify the day.

And what of its human counterparts? For those of us searching for a sane and survivable new world, what will turn out to be the imaginal cells that propel us to the promised land? The caterpillar possesses these remarkable discs, but they are dormant throughout that stage of its life. So what activates them? There are numerous scientific explanations, but because this is my article I get to say it’s a divine spark. ∎