Evolution of Consciousness

Evolution of Consciousness

Just as a caterpillar goes through an evolution process, so too can the human consciousness. However, for humans it is not an automatic process that we all go through, but rather an evolution that we must consciously choose to undertake.

When the caterpillar is ready to undergo its metamorphosis it builds a cocoon around itself. Within that cocoon begins a process whereby the caterpillar digests itself from the inside out, causing its body to die. Using its digestive juices, the caterpillar turns his old larval body into a food source. A few of the caterpillar's old cells begin a regenerative process to rebuild itself into a new body, and finally it is reborn as a butterfly.

The metamorphosis of the butterfly provides a good analogy for the process of Enlightenment through Self Awareness, and transcending the Ego. Meditation can be thought of as our cocoon. This is where we enter our process of dissolving ourselves and our ego from within. We learn to become aware of our thought processes, and the ways in which those thoughts produce harm to ourselves and to others. We learn to recognize the many ways we create our own suffering and in doing so can bring about a change within our own consciousness.

This change amounts to a letting go of, or a kind of death, to the ego. We learn to recognize that our many selfish wants, desires, preferences, and views are never truly being fulfilled in a way that brings about happiness. We realize that our Ego is really nothing more than a collection of thoughts we have about ourselves, thoughts that we have allowed ourselves to use as a way of defining who we think we are. Thoughts of no real substance, nothing more than bits of energy floating through our mind.

When we allow this sense of who we believe we are, and all of our preferences, and desires to fall away into a sort of death of the self, what emerges is a completely different, more evolved state of consciousness. One that is whole and complete and no longer defined by a false view of the self. This new state of consciousness is nothing the Ego can properly comprehend, just as a caterpillar has no way of comprehending that it will one day be reborn as a butterfly.

The single greatest hindrance to this process for most people is fear, the fear of losing our sense of self. Our very identity is for most, every bit as fearsome as death itself. Unlike death however, which is unavoidable, if we let fear dominate our ego, this transformation will not ever manifest. Like most fears, when we actually face them we find them to be of little to no real substance. Our sense of self, our story of who we think we are, is really nothing more than a collection of thoughts we buy into so deeply that we believe them to be the very core of our selves.


It is only once we have completely dissolved the Ego that we come to realize our true nature. We become the butterfly. Our true nature emerges.

Michael L. Fournier