The Pain of Transformation

by J. Paul Gomez January 07, 2021

I get my news from a variety of sources, one of them reddit. Yesterday, I Learned from /r/TIL that if a sea sponge (Phylum Porifera) is forced through a sieve to disintegrate it down to its cellular level, those cells, if left alone in its natural environment, will recombine into a sponge again.

Isn't that the most amazing thing? It's almost as if a Star Trek writer penned it. I could have never imagined a living creature capable of such a seemingly supernatural feat!

But as the old Reddit adage goes- the real stuff is always in the comments. I learned from a commenter that pretty much the same thing happens with a creature that is quite familiar and very popular among us land dwellers- I'm talking about the majestic Monarch Butterfly.

Reddit user u/Blockacheese wrote, "The article says that sponges are the only animal that can reassemble after disintegration, but when a monarch caterpillar forms a chrysalis it completely disintegrates into a goop." Unfortunately, this hidden gem of a comment garnered a mere 2 upvotes and did not see the light of day. I did a quick research to see if there's any truth to this and this is what I found.

This How Stuff Works article described it best. "The transformation itself is amazing. Think of it as recycling -- if you drop a plastic bottle off in the recycling bin, it can be melted down into an entirely different shape. This is what happens inside the chrysalis. Much of the body breaks itself down into imaginal cells, which are undifferentiated -- like stem cells, they can become any type of cell. The imaginal cells put themselves back together into a new shape. A few parts of the body, such as the legs, are more or less unchanged during this process."

The esoterically inclined Freemason can easily align this peculiar transformation process with a plethora of meaningful symbolisms such as the ouroboros devouring itself, the rising phoenix, and even the trendy memento mori.  

I think the topic of Transformation is a fitting topic in lieu  of yesterdays shocking events that happened at the U.S. Capitol. A dark episode that exposed painful facts about us humans in general. I like to think that even though America and democracy may seem to be breaking apart, the upheaval is but a necessary process in her transformation journey. Out of this chaos will emerge a new way of thinking further refining the democratic system for the better, at least we hope.

To our American brothers and sisters, I can offer nothing more than to say relax and sit tight. Remember that cooler heads will prevail and that violence leads to more suffering on both sides.

With that I leave you with some of my previous works that I think are relevant to the events that are continuing to unfold. Have faith.

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