Are you thinking like a larva or a butterfly?

April 22, 2020 | 26 comments

Are you feeling like a butterfly today with thought freely flitting from one inspired idea to another, moving here and there with ease and delight, feeling lighter than air, and making a beautiful splash of joyful color wherever you happen to be?

Or do you feel more like a larva trudging along inch by inch having to settle for limited options and doing little more than feeding a physical body and passing time?

The difference between feeling the freedom of a butterfly and slogging along like a larva is the difference between living with faith in God versus living in a belief of life in matter.

The mind-set of life in matter is drudgery! Life in Spirit is a joy.

Mary Baker Eddy wrote about a chrysalis state of thought the human mind goes through in passing from a mundane sense of life in matter to the higher understanding of Life in Spirit. She stated,

“Faith is higher and more spiritual than belief. It is a chrysalis state of human thought, in which spiritual evidence, contradicting the testimony of material sense, begins to appear, and Truth, the ever-present, is becoming understood” (Science and Health, p. 297).

Faith in God, or Life in Spirit, liberates the human mind from the mundane beliefs of life in matter.

When thought is filled with faith in the infinite, eternal and absolute goodness of God, days are brighter, outlook is happier, experience is healthier. Things go better.

Just as a larva in chrysalis state is transformed into an incredibly beautiful creature that flits and flies about with unbridled freedom, thought inspired with faith in God, finds its spiritual pinions in Mind and soars and sings to the heights of heaven with unbounded joy and delight.

Be a butterfly thinker, not a larva slogger.

26 thoughts on “Are you thinking like a larva or a butterfly?”

  1. I love this message, especially as I have been feeling a bit like a larva slogger a few times lately, especially with occasional difficulty in moving. However, yesterday as I was taking my daily stroll by a local stream I stopped at the side of the stream to watch the water. The sun was glorious and the surrounding fields and trees were green and lush. Suddenly a Red Admiral butterfly danced by me and around me and eventually landed by my feet. I stood still watching it, marvelling at its glorious colours and felt my thought lifting. Eventually it moved away and I continued my stroll feeling so grateful for the beauty of God’s universe. Evan your message today has really spoken to me and I feel so grateful for SpiritView – as I do every day!

  2. Thank you Evan for your devotion to Truth. I was not able to sleep and I was reviewing all seven synonyms for God as taught by our Leader, Mary Baker Eddy, when a light flashed on my cell phone and there appeared your beautiful healing message. I’m so grateful for the many blessings that Christain Science has provided me through out my life. With God what cannot we do. His love for each each one of us is so strong and as we learn in Mrs. Eddy’s writings. about God’s omnipresence omnipotence and omniscience we can never be without alone. My heart is singing and my vision is lifted from poor, defective mortal thoughts to the higher, soaring thoughts of God. My thoughts are becoming spiritually aligned and I too am soaring with the Love and Lightness of Love. Blessings to you and thank you for this precious message.

  3. Oops I left out a word in my post. It should read “we can never be without or alone”. Sorry for any confusion.

  4. Just love this post. Thank you Evan, and Linda,
    Makes me think of birds and butterflies – “soaring aspirations ” and dancing with joy. Much appreciated

  5. Our daughter had live butterflies at her wedding because at the wedding place rice was no longer
    used. They were flown to us in a cooler to keep
    them calm and kept in a refrigerator until passed
    out to the guests.
    Weddings have many things to think about, mine
    was the butterflies. Would they wake up and fly
    out of the boxes on time? Every butterfly did.
    Part of the demonstration was that we were on
    an island and they were coming from across the
    country.
    Perfect timing for “a beautiful splash of color.”
    Love provided perfection. And only one species
    was allowed on the island and that was the one
    the company had ready.
    Hope this demonstration of beauty fits.

  6. Gratitude to all for the lilt, light, and love of your messages- so life-giving, life-filled… Shalom

  7. I am reminded of the phrase ~ “Just when the caterpillar thought it was the end of
    the world, it became a butterfly”. Butterflies and God’s beautiful world have so
    many lessons to teach us. : )

    1. Love the poem, Kirsten. Thanks for sharing it.
      Thanks to Evan and Spiritview for this wonderful analogy.
      What an amazing time we are in. Such opportunity to grow even more in our spiritual understanding and growth.

  8. Great perspective – thanks Evan.
    More like a larva under lockdown but must be more aware of those butterfly moments. Today’s sunshine helps!

  9. One can be aware of butterfly moments even in lockdown which is a time to ponder all the good we have. Many thanks to all and Evan.

  10. Exquisite message from Evan eliciting sublime responses
    Thank you each & every one, beginning with Evan!
    I’ll hold onto the image of moving as a butterfly, effortlessly !

  11. What a beautiful and uplifting message and comments. Thanks to all, especially, Kirsten, for the lovely poem

  12. Thank you, Evan, for this helpful and timely message. I love this thought: Whisper ” I love you” to a Butterfly and it will deliver your message. And I’ve enjoyed this lovely book: “hope for the flowers,” by trina paulus. According to product information, it is “Hope’s theme (is) of life, moving through seeming death to a new and more beautiful life…”

    Have a Beautiful, Uplifted Day!
    Love, Bea

  13. Thoughts which soar high with joy and gratitude are equipped to face any discordant or seemingly hopeless situation. Thanks for the very lovely inspiration Evan. It truly says so much and enables us to keep ourself above the material situation faced by the world and soar high above this picture to see the bigger brighter reality of God’s goodness which is the only reality.

  14. From a reader who wasn’t able to post successfully on her own:

    Good morning. I appreciate these messages that today give me enthusiasm to do some gardening that I’ve been thinking about all these weeks of sheltering-in-place. I’ve been joyfully busy indoors 24 hours a day praying, studying, cooking, laundering, cleaning, working from home and caregiving while our hired caregivers are in their own homes. Each day is filled with routine tasks but the butterfly adventure of living God’s grace has given me and my family new and improved views and ways of doing things and appreciating each other. I followed a recipe I was given two years ago to bake bread and rolls. I couldn’t buy less than 20 pounds of flour when I went shopping so I’m using it. I thank God that each of Her children have all we need every moment wherever we are – including joy and inspiration, encouragement and gifts from and for each other. Thanks Evan.

    1. Evan, please say a loving thank you to your dear reader, who told you this wonderful comment. It is very helpful to me and touches my heart a lot. Some of her/his doings I do too. But I wished that I could eccomplish more of that joyful work in order to reflect our loving Father-Mother God much more. I know prayer is surely enabling me to do so. Thank you Evan for posting this!

  15. This is just what I needed today! It helped me immediately to rise in thought and leave the larva thought behind and reach for the freedom of butterfly thought! I am so grateful that your imagery was readily available to uplift me! Thank you so much, Evan.

  16. Wow Evan, I love that paragraph saying ” When thought is filled with Faith in the infinite, eternal and absolute goodness of God, days are brighter, outlook is happier, experience is healthier. Things go better.” That is very helpful. Thank you Evan for your today’s so inspiring SpiritView!
    I am also very grateful for all comments and the lovely poem up here!

  17. Thank you Evan for this uplifting message!! Everyday I look forward to the daily count of how many Monarch caterpillars are munching away on the California milkweed in my garden. Right now there are 3 in the pupa or pupal stage where you can see the wings beginning to develop. How heavenly it is to witness the spectacular butterfly emerge after its amazing transformation. To leave the old for the new, being receptive, listening, and humbly going forward are daily lessons. I am so happy reading Spiritview each morning! I also delighted in hearing the poem on the butterfly, beautifully written.

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