Butterfly Connection

Imaginal Cells « part two »

acuginotti — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:24:10 +0000

The conversations around the role we are playing in this world and how we are playing this role are central themes of our dialogues. Although we do not focus on exploring theories, we obviously are alert of the patterns and insights that come out of our time together. There is a couple of patterns that we have been exploring with participants of these retreats.

It’s the caterpillar’s job to resist the butterfly and the butterfly’s job to become stronger because of the opposition to its advance.

It is the job of the system in place to resist the emergence of a new system – this resistance supports the strength and validity of the new system for the time when the shift happens. During this transformation, one is constantly challenged by the old system - acknowledging that this is at service of the new invites to a place of understanding rather than a place of opposition or duality.

The system emerging will, at its own turn, be build to last and to resist following emergences. We are stepping into this flow that will continue beyond us in the future. We are at the same time aware of our vital importance at this time and our transient influence at the no-time.

Acknowledge the job of the old system in resisting the new invites us to look at this transition as what it really is, a transition, and not a fight. This acknowledgment goes beyond focusing on actions to intervene in the old or the new, it rather looks at the service performed by our choices and actions.

One of the questions we explore in a Butterfly Connection retreat is: what actions am I doing to be at service at this time?

In the case of the caterpillar, its immune system kicks in because it does not recognize the second genome [of the butterfly]. Before the discovery of the second genome, this was a major puzzle.

It is completely normal to be puzzled by a time of major transformation. The old system clearly cannot sustain the current situation and the system emerging is yet not clear to us, difficult to be named using today’s words.

Co-create the language of this new system requires a space of exploration both of the self and while relating in community. To be supportive of local conversations emerging, Butterfly Connection aims to create and inspire spaces for this inquiry, understanding the critical role of the chrysalis, the silent space in between the two worlds, a space where although there is apparent stillness, it is where the real transformation is happening.

Join us in this emerging conversation.

All quotes are from Elisabet Sahtouris.

Imaginal Cells « part one »

acuginotti — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 18:23:53 +0000

When I told Elisabet Sahtouris that we were having a Butterfly Connection in her native Greece, she wrote back saying “it is interesting that your message downloaded right after I wrote two emails on butterfly metamorphosis.” Good timing!

She shared a version of the Butterfly Story which we then obviously shared in our program in Greece.

My favorite metaphor for the current world transition, first pointed out to me by Norie Huddle (Butterfly, 1990), is that of a butterfly in metamorphosis. It goes like this: A caterpillar crunches its way through its ecosystem, cutting a swath of destruction by eating as much as hundreds of times its weight in a day, until it is too bloated to continue and hangs itself up, its skin then hardening into a chrysalis. Inside this chrysalis, deep in the caterpillar’s body, tiny things biologists call ‘imaginal disks’ begin to form. Not recognizing the newcomers, the caterpillar’s immune system snuffs them as they arise. But they keep coming faster and faster, then linking up with each other. Eventually the caterpillar’s immune system fails from the stress and the disks become imaginal cells that build the butterfly by feeding on the soupy meltdown of the caterpillar’s body. It took a long time for biologists to understand the reason for the immune system attack on the incipient butterfly cells, but eventually they discovered that the butterfly has its own unique genome, carried by the caterpillar, inherited from long ago in evolution, yet not part of it as such (Margulis & Sagan, Acquiring Genomes 2002).

If we see ourselves as imaginal discs working to build the butterfly of a better world, we will understand that we are launching a new ‘genome’ of values and practices to replace that of the current unsustainable system. We will also see how important it is to link with each other in the effort, to recognize how many different kinds of imaginal cells it will take to build a butterfly with all its capabilities and colors.

– Elisabet Sahtouris, Ph.D., evolution biologist, lecturer and author of EarthDance: Living Systems in Evolution

A more recent version of that story can be found at Elisabet’s website. Click on the Butterfly to read it.

Butterfly Connection in Greece

acuginotti — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:22:52 +0000

You woke up today and decided to take a moment off and listen to what the world is calling you to be and to do next. You step out of your daily routine and retreat, and in retreating you are basically taking some time to be with yourself and explore a question: what is the call of the world for me right now?

Imagine that you are in a space that invites you to personal reflection and a group of like-minded people are traveling this journey with you – a journey of individual and collective inquiry on clarifying one’s own call.

[[Show as slideshow]]

I have just come back from one of those spaces, a magical olive farm close to Mt. Pelion in Greece, where we were blessed by a full moon, where birds sing softly during all night and butterflies are bringing colour to the vibrant green during the day.

My colleagues and I, still getting to know each other, were in a collective inquiry around questions that matter to support our journey within, a journey to explore our personal talents and to tap into the source of our motivation. We went in silence together and also shared our reflections and insights with the group.

The outcome of this space is very personal, but also flourishes into a strong community. It is as if the strength you gain for being connected to the world resonates with others and perhaps inspires others to find their own connection. Being in connection and knowing your unique way to express it into this world is how you become an instrument.

It is like being in a Jam where you tune your instrument and play with your whole self, connected to your soul. You are a virtuoso in your own talents and play your instrument with grace. Others join in bringing diversity and beauty, and finally we hear collective harmony coming from what emerges from a conversation between people, nature and the universe.

When created together, the music stays with us even when we fly to another place. Just like butterflies, we carry this beauty in us. We call this concert ‘Butterfly Connection’, a personal and community space that happens inspired by the transformation process of the butterfly. You are invited to join us in one!

It’s strange to think that a way of looking at the world which appeared to suit me for the last 5 or 6 years can have been completely changed by spending a week with a group of people I don’t know, but it seems that that is the case!

Becky, participant in Greece

We would like to thank our land hosts for this retreat, Sarah and Maria from Axladitsa-Avatakia — to show us a live example of the power of place.