On a day when our efforts tax us we feel as if entangled in a spider’s web. We had stepped too close - only wanting to peer into the weaver’s eyes. The spider symbolizes an intangible desire - the cusp of our patience and its exhaustion.
For some time I wanted to develop a new character - a warship butterfly - as I call it. The butterfly’s cliche is in its innocence, but in a spiteful rush, this butterfly blows through the breaking point of any web, no matter the strength.
I assure you this is no small feat, for a strand from the web is stronger than steel. However, we must remember that the web symbolizes the connection we have to (and for) each other. The spider is illuminated as a weaver of compassion and the butterfly becomes a bringer of destruction.
Am I simply saying that being entangled in a web is like being entangled in compassion - where we are unable to move and unable to see where each strand ends? Cornell West speaks of something called tragicomic - a celebration of misery - an acknowledgement that we suffer because we have souls - a compassion for the world around us. We might not know what to carry into the next moment, but we can celebrate.
The warship butterfly comes again into view as a celebratory force. Fluttering about, then gliding through webs (stronger than steel) unable to trap a free spirit into bondage.
The web catches us. Through contemplation we learn that we have become entangled in our own compassion. We long to see the weaver, but we learn that the weaver is in fact the self. Like this new character - the butterfly - we break through the webs - we glide and flutter above them. We learn to celebrate our own compassion - the beauty of the butterfly’s wings - realized as we return to the world and affect all around us.
Celebration is a focusing of compassion. Celebration does not require knowledge of what to say in the following moment.
Published: 2 years, 7 months ago
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