
"Happiness is like a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you." - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Butterflies and Metamorphosis
The change from a caterpillar through to the chrysalis and emergence as a butterfly is the greatest change in the animal world. It symbolizes significant change in the course of one’s life, personality, or way of thinking.
The caterpillar stage with its voracious appetite has been linked to insatiable materialism. The chrysalis stage represents fundamental changes occurring on the inside, for example in one’s mentality or point of view. The final adult butterfly stage is seen as the free expression of these changes in the outside world.