A bright friend just told me a very cool story. It’s about the caterpillar. Apparently caterpillars, as they morph into butterflies, are forced to undergo the most mysterious transformative process. They turn into a strange gooey liquid substance. Swimming throughout this goo are these intelligent, creative cells termed ‘imaginal cells’. The role of these cells is to link up and bring into life the beautiful structure that we all know as a butterfly. In concert, without knowing it, these little cells work together to create elegant order out of chaos. Without these smart little buggers no butterfly could even exist. How great is that?
The metaphor is clear and inspiring for those of us who are quietly (or loudly) doing our part to bring into existence a life-serving sustainable economy out of the amorphous social goo left by our parents and grandparents.
For hours after hearing this, I pondered the implications. I thought with great pride of all the amazing folks I meet day after day, following their own inner guidance to unwittingly participate in a social transformation more breathtaking than any they might’ve imagined. How great would it be if all of us, in unison, were able to see the larger picture, and have faith in the elegant butterfly that awaits!
Sigh…..
And then a horrible thing happened. I sat down to write my blog, but wanted to first do a quick fact check. I typed “imaginal cells” in google. I was drawn to an over-the-top purple and blue new age spiritual site. On this site, a well-meaning middle-aged healer-type woman rhapsodized about the this same concept in grandiose crystal-bearing terminology. I winced.
Cold sweats. I felt like a chubby 7th grader, pantless in the lunchroom in front of the cool kids. Soon the whole idea seemed like some trite new age parable designed to instill hope in the shiftless. What if I am that new age goo peddler to rest of the world? What if being a new age self-help guru is my ultimate destiny? Why else would I find the parallells so disconcerting? Gasp. Perish the thought.
And then I laughed and asked myself…. “What would an imaginal cell do in this situation?”
And with that thought I sat down to write this blog. Hope you enjoyed it. Now…go imagine, damnit. The world needs you, goofy new agey metaphors and everything.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Good post! I’ll only comment that a new age self-help guru is not a bad destiny. Be so lucky that you’ve identified a destiny. Some of us still wander aimlessly, unsure of our potential and capabilities…
I did find interesting your mention of “In concert, without knowing it, these little cells work together to create elegant order out of chaos.” Though that’s a specific reference to science, the idea has been applied to free markets. Adam Smith, the grand papa of economics, asserted that in a free market, each person (profit maximizing entity) acting in their self interest will bring the greatest benefit to society as a whole. Further, these people will tend to produce things that their neighbor finds favorable (think of your ability to purchase wind power — call it the invisible “green” hand). I’ll provide the caveat that this is a highly contested theory.
Back to being goo.
Beautiful idea. Cells that can ‘imagine’ flying. Because nothing in the caterpillar’s experience has indicated to it in any way that flight was in its destiny.
Also interesting that for the imaginal cells to have their ’say’, the form of the caterpillar has to change into goo
Maybe for humans it is a healthy, perfectly natural thing when we let go of any preconceptions we have about who and what we are, stew in our goo for awhile, and imagine flying. We must have imaginal cells too, right?
John, great post! Did I know that you had just written about Imaginal cells? The other interesting aspect of the process of transformation is that the “goo” reads the cells as virus and begins attacking and killing them out. The rapidity of the cell’s production is the only thing that allows the clustering to occur and the cells to overtake the goo and this give birth to the new form. It reminds me of the captives in Plato’s Cave who after being told that the shadow is not reality, rise up and kill their releasers. In part, is it the role of the Imaginal cells to inspire and dissuade fear?