Divine Love and Wisdom (Rogers) n. 354

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354. Everyone can, from the visible phenomena in nature, confirm himself on the side of the Divine when he observes caterpillars, which to gratify some urge, seek and aspire to change the state of their earthly existence into a state more analogous to a heavenly one; which therefore creep into places and wrap themselves as though in a womb in order to be reborn, and there become chrysalises, pupae, instars, nymphs, and finally butterflies; and then, having undergone this metamorphosis and put on beautiful wings in accordance with their species, fly away into the air as though into their heaven, where they play amiably, mate, lay their eggs, and provide themselves a posterity, and meanwhile sustain themselves on pleasant and sweet nourishment from flowers. What person who, from the visible phenomena of nature, confirms himself on the side of the Divine, does not see a kind of image of people's earthly state in these creatures as caterpillars, and an image of their heavenly state in them as butterflies? People who confirm themselves on the side of nature, however, see these phenomena indeed, but because they have rejected from their minds any concept of people's heavenly state, they call them mere instincts of nature.


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