Transformed by Birth by Britta Bushnell

Author:Britta Bushnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781683644132
Publisher: Sounds True
Published: 2019-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

9

What Happens in the Cocoon

Birth transforms an individual into a parent; one identity dies, and another is born. It is often said that the opposite of death is life. Really, life is what happens between birth and death. Birth and death are the bookends of life, and as such, stand in a somewhat awkward partnership of which most of us are unaware. In the West where denial of death is the cultural norm, it can feel not just uncomfortable to think about death in relation to childbirth but also as if something is wrong with us if we do.

But a butterfly does not grow wings without dying to its caterpillar self. Inside the cocoon, the caterpillar is reduced to goo. While the nervous system remains, the structure of the caterpillar — that which makes the caterpillar recognizable as a caterpillar — dissolves. This occurs unseen by the outside world, hidden inside the chrysalis. Then slowly, over time and with a certain amount of magic, that goo begins to reform into something new that has never existed before. The caterpillar morphs into a creature with wings and antennae. It becomes something full of color and gifted with new abilities like the capacity to fly! This is no small feat of nature. Still, this transfiguration is not possible without the death of the caterpillar to its life as a caterpillar.

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