The Z-pattern of an IC butterfly

theory
#1

This is from my daughter’s home reading book yesterday. Does anyone else see what I see?

lifecycle-butterfly.jpg600×600 39.2 KB

  1. Signpost 1 of Developing a Plan: What is an egg other than a developing plan for a creature? And it makes us conceptualize how life works.
  2. Signpost 2 of Playing a Role: The caterpillar is all about playing his role, eating as much as he can to support the next stage. On contact with it, we play out our own lifecycle roles as humans: the child’s wonder “Look at this cute caterpillar on my hand!”; the squeamish parent “Gross! Put that down and go wash your hands!”; the humouring parent “I’ll get a container and help you catch some more!”; the annoyed caretaker “those caterpillars are everywhere this year, we need to squish them before the ruin the trees”.
  3. Signpost 3 of Changing One’s Nature: um, chrysalis, enough said. (And as nature’s best example of transformation, it influences our own sense of Becoming.)
  4. Signpost 4 of Conceiving: the butterfly affects everyone’s conceptions … “Can you conceive such beauty? And to think that beautiful creature started out as a lowly caterpillar…”

Overall, it affects the way we think about life. Perhaps that is the Author’s intent?

3 Likes
#2

Nicely observed, Mike! And I think I might be “getting” who you mean by “the Author”?

3 Likes
#3

Thanks @keypayton! I definitely have an idea about who the Author is (which I’m sure you figured out, the capitalization was my hint). Although I feel that kind of mystery is up to individual interpretation. For example, I wouldn’t argue with someone who suggested that such natural lifecycles could have shaped the way the human brain is hard-wired to think…

3 Likes
#4

I’ll admit I saw what you were going for but couldn’t figure out why it would be an internal quad. There’s so many capitalized Dramatica story appreciations on this board, I guess i didn’t notice the capital A. Now that I see that part, it makes sense. I’ve wondered a couple of times about a connection between the problem solving process Dramatica describes and “the Author” before but decided not to wonder about it on here. I like the thought process though.

2 Likes
#5

This seems like as much of a stretch to me like making barcodes out to be marks of Satan. Humans are experts at pattern matching, but sometimes, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

#6

@mlucas This is beautiful. I’ve noticed a few patterns of my own as well. But I guess this isn’t the right platform for that discussion. Mine concerns a RS/OS. And the complete set is a quad too! It involves the Author in three forms and the individual to complete the quad. Very deep stuff. Thanks for this post. I love it!

1 Like
#7

This is the next step…seeing Dramatica in everything you see (because really you see everything through Dramatica…)

1 Like