The caterpillar «once was» because its former shape now belongs to the past. The butterfly, however, is not yet visible. Within the chrysalis, Life passes through a liminal condition: it no longer coincides with what it was, but has not yet manifested what it is becoming.

This is not non-existence, but unmanifest existence. Life temporarily withdraws from view, relinquishes a form that has become insufficient and concentrates its activity within transformation.

This interval belongs to every authentic process of becoming. Before a new form can emerge, the previous identity must dissolve, while the future one must be allowed to remain without an image for a time. This suspension may be experienced as absence, loss or disorientation; yet, precisely when nothing appears to be happening, Life is working invisibly.

In the ART OF THE SPIRIT, inhabiting the chrysalis means neither forcing a new identity before its time nor mistaking the absence of form for the absence of Life. What is not yet visible is not non-existent: it is maturing within the realm of possibility.

«Once upon a time, there was a caterpillar» does not therefore conclude the story. It announces that the familiar form must give way so that unmanifest existence may come into the light.