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Plight of the Emperor Moth
I once had an emperor moth cocoon for nearly a
year. The flask-shaped cocoon was unusual and
strange in its design. At the top of the cocoon
was a tiny opening through which eventually the
creature inside was to force its way through. I
waited with anticipation. After forcing its way
through this opening, a vacated cocoon would be
as perfect and complete as one inhabited, and no
rupture of the fibers would take place as the
insect emerged. The great size difference
between the opening and the emerging insect made
me wonder how such an exit could be performed.
This exit would be a struggle. It had been told
that the pressure on the moth’s body while
passing through the opening was in fact the
mechanism by which the fluids are pressed into
the vessels of the wings. So I waited and
watched. Soon I was able to witness the
emergence of my moth from its prison. During an
entire afternoon, I watched it patiently
striving and struggling to get out. It never
seemed to be able to get beyond a certain point,
until eventually my patience wore thin and
imagining that the fibers of the cocoon were
drier and less elastic than had the cocoon been
left all winter on its native heather, I
resolved to give it a helping hand. With a small
and delicate pair of scissors, I barely snipped
the confining threads and immediately and
seemingly perfectly, out crawled my moth,
dragging swollen body and shrivelled wing. In
vain I watched and waited for those wings to
expand into the beautiful displays that I knew,
but instead they remained in miniature, with
exquisite spots and markings and diverse colors
barely visible. My false tenderness had proved
its ruin. It never amounted to anything more
than a stunted abortion, crawling painfully
around during that very period of life when it
should have flown through the air on beautiful
magnificent wings. I have thought of the moth
often, particularly when watching those in the
midst of struggle - pain and sorrow and
suffering. I would fain cut short the discipline
and give relief. How short-sighted we can be.
The difficulties we struggle with in life are
perhaps designed just as the small opening on
the cocoon of the emperor moth - it is often the
mechanism by which the flow of life and love is
re-routed to areas where it is needed. At the
time we may simply feel the pain and difficulty
and not pay attention to the tangential effects,
but the design is perfect. All we have to do is
to trust and to not shrink from the pain or
difficulty. If we snip the fibers, then we are
as my moth and destined to drag around without
achieving what was meant to be. - Adapted from
tract, author unknown |
