Imaginal Cells: Pressure Required
The Catalyst for Transformation and Emergence
The bottom of this post includes an invitation to my upcoming July retreat—online and in person, and a recent reflection and meditation on suffering. I had hoped to get this post out sooner, but I’ve been sick for a few weeks and finally feeling like myself.
Dear friends,
As a child, a beloved cousin sent me a cocoon to attach to a plant in our home. I faithfully did so, checking the fragile structure daily in eager anticipation. Day after day, nothing happened until I grew bored. Until, that is, mom called for me to come. Together we watched a giant, gorgeous moth emerge, slowing moving its wings to dry them.
Unlike moths, caterpillars don’t spin protective cocoons. Instead, securing themselves to the plant with a silk thread, they shed their skin one final time revealing a hard chrysalis shell. The disintegration into mush begins.
Unsuspecting caterpillars have dormant butterfly cells, known as imaginal cells, within them all along. These cells, biologically unrelated to the caterpillar, awaken and multiply during metamorphosis.
Sensing danger from this unrecognizable threat, the caterpillar cells attack, prompting the imaginal cells to multiply even more rapidly. Seeking each other out by resonance and vibration, the imaginal cells cluster and continue expanding. The caterpillar cells work harder to quash the rebellion, further strengthening the resolve of the imaginal cells until a tipping point is reached. Only after this intense struggle does a butterfly emerge.
The emergence of something new arrives because of—not in spite of—the pressure from the status quo. The same is true for individuals and societies.
A life well lived is one where we shed many layers, releasing versions of ourselves that served us in the past but have outlived their usefulness. At some point, however, we may believe we have no more skins to shed.
Rigidity may emerge: we are who we are and that is that.
But if we’re paying attention, something truly remarkable happens. Some essential part of ourselves awakens and begins to grow, pushing up against the grain, challenging long entrenched ways.
Pressure may arrive in the form of grief or a diagnosis, a rejection or abandonment, social unrest or a financial uncertainty. It may be easily ignored at first, until suddenly you realize what once worked no longer does.
If it ever really did.
The response may be increased pressure to conform, threats to meet expectations, gaslighting what you deep down know to be true. It may come from within ourselves or from those outside. We may be told we are being unreasonable or asking too much, that we are too demanding, too selfish or have no right to exist.
We may even believe it. We may resist with all our might, sometimes creating more suffering in the long run by our fear of its power to upend our lives. This thing that feels so strange and undeniable at the same time.
Pressure only serves to strengthen the rising reality of imaginal cells, individually and collectively.
Conditions designed to diminish us are catalysts for growth, strengthening our essential self until there is no going back.
What we fear blocks what is just beyond our view. The fear itself becomes the monster under the bed.
We need only look.
What if we knew our fears beckoned the way forward?
What if we recognized every attempt at control as the throes of an old regime seeking to reclaim that which is already mush? The nascent pulsing of who we already are grows more powerful with each attempt at suppression.
What if we knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that every attempt to turn the clock back was simply waking more of us up?
What if we trusted in the unknown and in the becoming?
In truth, we already do. The truest part of us knows this deep in our bones.
The only thing left to do is to change is our story. Shifting our frame shifts everything.
See through the charade. Allow every setback, every limit, every challenge to strengthen us. Rejoice in the struggle, knowing it is essential for the unimaginable beauty that is emerging.
Who are you, really? Who am I? Who are we? Far more than we think. Or imagine. But our imaginal cells know.
Find others through their vibration. In Jesus’ day, words mattered less than one’s vibration, one’s energy shining through every cell. Shem is the Aramaic word. People were drawn to Jesus’ shem, the light of who he really was radiating through every interaction, every gathering. Drawing people in.
People began to see themselves, and each other, more clearly. The movement spread like wildfire. The impossible became possible. Powered by love, they turned the known world upside down.
We too are beginning to see more clearly, beginning to wake up to the truth within and beyond. Our courage, our joy, our resilience and our faith in what is emerging, within ourselves and within our society is essential.
Today we live in the upside down. Individually and collectively.
Many of us live in bubbles, isolated from others who think, act, live or look in ways unfamiliar to our own. People act out old patterns, re-wounding themselves and others in unhealed pain run amok. Too often what is valued doesn’t bring joy, what is worshipped leaves seekers empty. It is too easy to chase news like junkies, give in to the endless curated the distractions or live overextended and exhausted. The levels of ill-health, unhappiness and confusion are at an all time high.
The world is on fire. And for too many, that’s just the way it is. Even those who do care, can feel powerless against the system, the powers that be, the enormity of the problems.
It is easy to lose our sense of sovereignty. What can we do?
Everything.
We can wake up. We can partner with this amazing, potent energy of the imaginal cells. Within ourselves. Within others. Within our world. Seek out what resonates with what is truest within you, what raises your vibration, what calls you to align with the beautiful, the new, the emerging. You likely already are. And so many across the world are joining with you.
If we can do one thing each day. Be present in nature. Go out of your way to see someone, really see them. Sign up for a gathering that inspires you. Read what opens you. Reflect on what is ending and have courage to name what you yearn to birth. What yearns to be.
We can help each other remember:
It won’t look the same. It won’t feel the same. We cannot fully imagine it, for it is as different from what we have been as a butterfly is to a caterpillar. But we can trust. We can have hope. We can make space for what is emerging within us. And among us. Love is drawing us unto itself. All of us, together.
The pressure pushing back has a purpose. It is necessary. See it for what it is. Not the enemy but the fertilizer. Follow your heart more than ever in this time. Like your life depended on it. Because in so many ways, it does.
If you wish support on your journey, consider signing up for the retreat, joining a live zoom or booking a time to explore soul coaching. Soul coaching information is found here. Retreat and zoom information can be found below.
I always love to hear from you. What is inspiring you these days? Know that I hold you in love always.
With love,
Elizabeth
If you feel moved, please share this post with others.
After his resurrection, Jesus breathed on the disciples the breath of the Spirit, the breath of peace—helping them come home to God in the midst of their suffering. Only then were they able to let go of what was not to be and embrace what was: the unexpected gift of new life coming forth from death. The breath of the Spirit frees us to let go of writing our own ending to the story, opening us to the surprise of the present moment. Detachment, in the end, is the key to freedom and joy.
From We Walk The Path Together: Learning from Thich Nhat Hanh & Meister Eckhart by Brian Pierce
July 10-13 Retreat in the beauty of Colorado Rockies & an online option for those who cannot attend in person
“There’s a place in the soul where you’ve never been wounded.”
- Meister Eckhart
Mystics like Meister Eckhart invite us to find within ourselves a place of safety and trust that lies beyond the ups and downs of daily life. What often prevents us from touching this place are the stories we tell ourselves that keep us too small. Looking with compassion at these stories of past events and larger cultural messages can open us to a life of more freedom, peace and joy.
Please consider joining me and my colleague, Ian Cummins, for three days in the beautiful Colorado mountains near Nederland for a time of:
“Reimagining our Stories: Discovering our Hidden Wholeness”
It will be a time for learning from the mystics, personal reflection, thoughtful conversation and the healing power of nature as we let go of what is no longer needed and learn to touch that place in our soul where we’ve never been wounded.
You can learn more and register HERE.
We’re also happy to announce that we now have a few $200 scholarships available! If this would make it possible for you to attend, please message me below.
I hope you can join us!
Access recordings of earlier sessions by selecting the titles below:
May 6 Crisis Contemplation, Collective Trauma and Resilience Meditation and Reflection Recording
May 20 Suffering’s Reality, Limits and Paradoxical Invitation Meditation and Reflection Recording
Choosing Love in Suffering Meditation and Reflection
In the meditation and reflection below, I explore our relationship with suffering.