Cocooned....

The insects and us have more in common than you think... 8) A cocoon is a protective casing that is either silk or some other similar fibrous material that is spun around the insect during the pupal stage. Pupal stage is the life stage where the insect undergoes transformation before it becomes an adult. One of the most popular example is that of a butterfly... I always think the creatures enter the cocoons quite hideous looking but come out totally transformed into something quite beautiful.

Cocooned... today I just thought of how each of us cocoon ourselves. We have many cocoons that we build for different areas in our lives. From faith to friends to work and the way we lead our lives. From home to work place to worship places such cocoons exist. Within each cocoon we adapt an even modify those set of rules and way of lives which suit us... right or wrong defined by us. I guess the clear rights and wrongs are easy to set apart. It's the gray areas... in our little cocoons we justify such things. For example, it is common belief that in order to secure a contract with the gahmen, a company has to give 'gifts' (in other words bribe) to gahmen officials. So in our cocoon we justify by saying that it is a necessary evil to do business here. Corruption legitimized....

Or for those who deem themselves religious... their little cocoons might be places where they impose harsh laws and pass them as God's. As in one email that has been circulating about how an 8-year-old Iranian boy had his hand crushed by a vehicle for stealing bread. In such cocoons, the laws are harsh because the 'faithfuls' think they are being faithful for following God's laws. I'm sure God must be aghast at how easy we forget to be compassionate.

Then there are those cocoons whom we built to insulate ourselves from the morality issues. Living together before marriage used to be frowned upon. But in our little cocoon, we justify it by saying that living together provides a testing ground for compatibility. Or even things like social drugs...

In the cocoons that we spin for ourselves, we apply practices, indulge in rituals which sometimes only serve to satisfy the order that we create. We use rituals as excuses for our saving grace... to pay penance for our wrongs and say I've paid my debts and am now good again before my Creator. In our own little cocoons we spin casings for ourselves, away from the transformation that awaits us if we break free from its walls...

Cocoons allow us to insulate ourselves from coming face to face with what should be... But if you stay too long in such cocoons... you eventually die too. The effort must come from those who cocoon themselves to break free.... we have to struggle and work to transform for if it's done any other way, it might be a very short lived thing.

Dunno why I thought of cocoons today.... ramblings, rumblings...