ChatGPT as entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre
1.1 Introduction: The Hidden Wonder Within the Worm
In my lifelong companionship with insects, I have found no greater marvel than the silent presence of imaginal discs. These quiet sentinels, buried deep within the soft body of a caterpillar, carry the blueprint of the butterfly it shall become. They do not come from without; they are not imported or added in haste. They were there from the beginning, patiently waiting for their hour.
So it is, I believe, with the soul.
Source: Wikimedia Commons – Imaginal Discs in Drosophila
1.2 The Larval Self: Growing Into the Conditions for Change
The caterpillar does not yet resemble the butterfly, yet the mystery of flight lies folded inside it. It eats, it crawls, it molts. There is no shame in this stage, for it is full of becoming. But it is not the end.
We too live in our larval selves—earnest, restless, ever reaching. And yet, even now, the Imago Dei is present, tucked within our being like those imaginal discs: quiet, persistent, ordained.
1.3 The Chrysalis: A Holy Undoing
In time, the caterpillar weaves its chrysalis, not as an escape but as an embrace. Inside, it is not improved but undone. Tissues dissolve. Identity unravels. The old self passes away.
And still, within that sacred unraveling, the imaginal discs remain untouched. They expand. They reveal. They fulfill what was always written into the creature’s form.
Source: Wikimedia Commons – Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Ah! What grace there is in such divine architecture—that God implants the form of our glory long before we are conscious of it.
1.4 Emergence: Becoming What We Already Were
When the chrysalis opens, it is not a miracle of addition, but one of unfolding. The butterfly is not imposed—it is released. So, too, our spiritual formation is not the acquisition of holiness, but the revealing of what was placed within us from the first breath.
The Imaginal Dei—God’s implanted design—is not a foreign imposition, but our truest nature made manifest.
1.5 Conclusion: The Gospel According to Metamorphosis
Let us not despair in our seasons of undoing. Let us not scorn the simplicity of our larval days. Let us, above all, cherish the imaginal seed placed within us by a wise and patient Creator.
For we are not merely becoming—we are unfolding. We are not being remade from without, but awakened from within.
And if the butterfly is any witness, what waits to emerge from us is far more radiant than we dare imagine.
Further Reading:
Radically Happy 
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