Rebirth and spiritual transformation

What means to be transformed? What means rebirth? What are the possible horizons for transformation and spiritual rebirth?

Rebirth and spiritual transformation

Transformation means changing form. In other words: it is a process of metamorphosis. In nature we see many kinds of metamorphosis. The changes of state that water goes through according to temperature, can be considered transformations. There are, however, examples of much greater impact, like that of the caterpillar that transforms itself into a butterfly, cited by various spiritual schools to symbolize the passage from an earthly being to a celestial being, completely different from the first. It is a real transmutation: the caterpillar rests on the earth to try and glimpse the heights. The butterfly opens itself upwards and perceives a new and ample space for a new life.

Three phases can be considered in this process of spiritual transformation: the state of natural consciousness – the caterpillar; the embryo of a consciousness focused on inner self-knowledge – the cocoon; and finally, there is no longer any caterpillar or cocoon – the butterfly is free to fly.

The first phase – that of the caterpillar – symbolizes daily life, with its concerns for survival, in the midst of a cauldron of thoughts and wills, feelings and desires, actions and reactions, in total disharmony.

The second stage – that of the cocoon – is a period of unmasking the self and deepening self-knowledge of the real being. It is the intuitive certainty that there is something that goes beyond a daily life devoid of inner meaning: a spiritual principle that transcends your natural consciousness. Recognizing this possibility is like lighting a small candle in a dark room – and so you begin to have glimpses to observe your blind spots and begin to see that you are much more than just an “I”: you are a small world connected to the universe. From this light you begin to observe yourself objectively, without judgement, and you realize how you create and maintain your attachments in a repetitive circle of subconscious habits and automatisms. You reach the limit of the possibilities of your consciousness: this way begins your search. Soon you begin to feel the beginnings of a new spirit, the embryo of a new soul.

This is how you prepare yourself to “become a butterfly”. This is the phase we are going to talk about in more detail.

At the beginning, the chrysalis or cocoon does not really know what it is, nor does it have the strength to fly. For it, a profound transformation begins: it no longer crawls in search of food in order to survive, but it still does not know what it is to be a butterfly. She turns inward and asks herself:

What is my function in this world? What tools do I have to live in it? How will I interact with the other beings that live around here?

Suddenly, she realizes that she died as a caterpillar, she turned inwards to her cocoon which, in turn, ceased to exist to make way for a new life: the butterfly. It was transformed, transmuted, transfigured and reborn!

This is the path that we open up as we go along.

First, we go beyond our natural consciousness, based on merely cultural values, assimilated in our education or beliefs inherited from the family. Our soul is still mortal, but we have stopped crawling after survival and have become searchers. We are still caterpillars, but now we crawl after spiritual food, after transcendence. We ask questions, we seek answers in the various schools of consciousness. We learn to turn inwards, into our cocoon. We can stay for years in this restlessness, between the known past and the unknown that is to come.

It is this restlessness that moves the chrysalis to understand that the butterfly flies because it has thrown itself into the unknown, already with a new soul. And the unknown is the unspeakable, the ineffable, and the eternal – that has no beginning or end. In fact, the unknown is the return to Unity. Unity of body-Soul-Spirit. Unity with the world as a whole. Unity with all beings. Unity with the original One.

This does not mean that you must wait for this transfiguration process, as if the rebirth of your inner life could just happen one day, or through a mystical experience or images. On the contrary, this transformation requires a daily effort that generates new insights from the spark of the Spirit.

The transformation is a consequence of the birth of a completely new consciousness, which perceives itself as part and whole – like a drop that dissolves in the ocean and is the ocean itself. There is no longer the old consciousness of separateness of yourself in relation to everything that surrounds you. The human being, as a child of the Earth (the cosmos), is a small world or microcosm. In this transformation, the microcosm joins the world and humanity, the cosmos, and the macrocosm (the Universe). And in the center of everything, the microcosm, the cosmos, and the macrocosm, is the spark of the Spirit, which is omnipresent.

This new human being thinks, feels, and acts in unity with other human beings who, like him, already have a new soul, connected to the Spirit. And it is in group unity that he will form communities aimed at developing his main characteristic: To serve with Love, in total freedom. To serve at all levels: the personalities, the souls with natural consciousness, the new souls, the Spirit-Soul.

As we read in the book Transfiguration and Transmutation [1]:

The divine life wants to spread, wants to share, wants to give itself, because the divine life is love, and love is the key to freedom. It is love that gives, expecting nothing in return, and in this giving is hidden the reality of transfiguration. For what else is transfiguration but giving the old so that the new can be born?

 

References

[1] FREIJO, Francisco Casanueva. Transfiguração e Transmutação [Transfiguration and Transmutation]. 1. ed. Jarinu, SP: Pentagrama Publicações, 2017.

[2] DE PETRI, Catharose. O Verbo Vivente [The Living Word]. 1. ed. Jarinu, SP: Editora Rosacruz, 2006.

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Date: November 2, 2021
Author: Grupo de autores Logon
Photo: Pixabay CCO

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