How does a caterpillar change into a butterfly?
What goes on in a chrysalis? Transformation by a complete dissolution of the caterpillar. A complete reorganization of the cells into a whole new pattern.
Letting go of everything that is part of the past.
Even the baby and the bathwater.
Everything. Big ask.
How to even get one’s head around the concept, let alone to actually accomplish it.
So first: what am I letting go? Everything! Everything?
Not possible. Ok. What?
Patterns of behaviour?
Attachments?
Addictions?
Cravings and aversions?
Possessions?
Relationships?
Internal components of my personality?
Values?
Beliefs?
Am I to be a shell? A mass of incoherent cells?
How deep is down? Where is the underworld?
Here I go.
I stand before this project stopped in my tracks.
Overwhelmed. No clue how to proceed.
My housemates insist that if they are to be supportive I need to write longhand in my book and have no screens even for writing.
So I write-Lost. No clue what ‘Found’ might look like. Got to watch out for religious types who might want to enlist me to their cults. They know when people are vulnerable.
Death.
OK. It is secondary perhaps (In The Final Run© it becomes primary) a central part of the experience, not to be rushed but to be embraced.
Come dance with me.
Rest
To calm all one’s senses. Conscious breathing. Feel the rejuvenation of each part of our body, mind and spirit.
The mind, empty, just focused on breath. The body absorbing the Pranic energy of healing. The Spirit just happy to be less frenetic. (But wait I really need to clean up the basement)
One could expect to be a bit angry observing the stupidity and greed at play in the world and in our own lives. Most often it is because of unconsciousness, occasionally it is because of evil intent. There are scales of both unconsciousness and evil intent. Any and all of us exist on these scales. So, as we warrior up and sally forth with a variety of skills and consciousness in the full knowledge that we have no clue how this will play out it is both good to listen to the experts and to know how to empathize with everyone even the dicks and whilst doing this remember not to be a dick about it.
martingolder 
Hello, Martin. It is lovely to find your blog on this cold Winter’s night. Tonight, my husband told me I have no mechanical empathy. In some ways this could be a compliment. However, I consider myself to have a reasonable level of empathy with people and it concerned me a little that my lack of empathy with machines could be a significant personal shortcoming. I am also currently doing a course in Freelance Journalism and I thought this thing of mechanical empathy was worth exploring further and hence I came to your blog,.
I was fascinated to read your description of the caterpillar’s radical transformation into a butterfly and you stopped me in my tracks. It was incredibly powerful. I have been through a number of radical transformations in my life and a few friends are doing so atm as well. It is a great analogy. I am looking forward to reading more.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Thank you for you kind comments. Did you try ‘The Guillotine Index’?