Elusive Butterfly - a Bold New Interpretation
Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:29 am
Mr. Lind's signature song, "Elusive Butterfly", has been analyzed here from a variety of perspectives. These have included the Freudian, the Marxist, and even, somewhat absurdly, the mystical/metaphysical. However, these viewpoints exclude what I consider to be the most compelling of all - the Darwinian.
It is surprising that such an obvious interpretation has not been explored until now. Then again, all great insights appear evident, once one has the benefit of hindsight. One need look no further than Copernicus, Newton, and Galileo to be reminded of this fact.
Let us proceed, now, to the analysis. It is no accident that the predominant image in the song is a butterfly. Clearly, Mr. Lind chose this symbol because it is a powerful representation of the inexorable march of nature from the basic to the intricate. The inorganic yields to the organic, the simple to the complex, the base to the sublime. From what, after all, does the resplendent butterfly originate? What life form? What is the butterfly before it becomes a butterfly? As we all know, the butterfly, in one of nature's most transcendent miracles, ascends to its winged glory from the lowly caterpillar. Yes, the butterfly originates from a sticky, slimy, clinging worm.
The transfiguration of the caterpillar from a clumsy centipede into a graceful butterfly mirrors man's primeval emergence from ponds of sludge and ooze. We must always humbly remember that man's origin is far from majestic. The great-grandfather of us all was a tiny organism akin to a virus. Yet this germ, in a poetic turn of nature, was literally the germ of life. It was the seed which gave birth to consciousness, innumerable millennniums later.
Which brings us to our next point. What major characteristic (apart from the aesthetic), distinguishes the butterfly from the caterpillar? Its method of locomotion, of course. The butterfly is not tethered to the earth. It flies, it floats, it (in the apt imagery of Mr. Lind) "glides". The caterpillar, in contrast, moves in a torpid crawl. The symbolism here is clear. The crowning achievement of evolution, instilled in man through eons of painful adaptations to changing and indifferent enviornments, is intelligence. It is this prize which allows man to "fly" above the other beasts.
Finally, the song affirms that man is still being transformed by evolution. We do not know everything about our destiny, but we know the trajectory is always upward. In like manner, the singer in "Elusive Butterfly" is unsure of his final destination; he is pursuing "something I'm not sure of". So too is man. Although man's ultimate fate is a profound enigma, natural selection continues to shepherd us through the darkness of the mystery; evolution is our Savior, as it were, from mediocrity and stagnation. The Promised Land awaits our arrival, and it is in man (so to speak) that the gods are truly becoming incarnate.
It is surprising that such an obvious interpretation has not been explored until now. Then again, all great insights appear evident, once one has the benefit of hindsight. One need look no further than Copernicus, Newton, and Galileo to be reminded of this fact.
Let us proceed, now, to the analysis. It is no accident that the predominant image in the song is a butterfly. Clearly, Mr. Lind chose this symbol because it is a powerful representation of the inexorable march of nature from the basic to the intricate. The inorganic yields to the organic, the simple to the complex, the base to the sublime. From what, after all, does the resplendent butterfly originate? What life form? What is the butterfly before it becomes a butterfly? As we all know, the butterfly, in one of nature's most transcendent miracles, ascends to its winged glory from the lowly caterpillar. Yes, the butterfly originates from a sticky, slimy, clinging worm.
The transfiguration of the caterpillar from a clumsy centipede into a graceful butterfly mirrors man's primeval emergence from ponds of sludge and ooze. We must always humbly remember that man's origin is far from majestic. The great-grandfather of us all was a tiny organism akin to a virus. Yet this germ, in a poetic turn of nature, was literally the germ of life. It was the seed which gave birth to consciousness, innumerable millennniums later.
Which brings us to our next point. What major characteristic (apart from the aesthetic), distinguishes the butterfly from the caterpillar? Its method of locomotion, of course. The butterfly is not tethered to the earth. It flies, it floats, it (in the apt imagery of Mr. Lind) "glides". The caterpillar, in contrast, moves in a torpid crawl. The symbolism here is clear. The crowning achievement of evolution, instilled in man through eons of painful adaptations to changing and indifferent enviornments, is intelligence. It is this prize which allows man to "fly" above the other beasts.
Finally, the song affirms that man is still being transformed by evolution. We do not know everything about our destiny, but we know the trajectory is always upward. In like manner, the singer in "Elusive Butterfly" is unsure of his final destination; he is pursuing "something I'm not sure of". So too is man. Although man's ultimate fate is a profound enigma, natural selection continues to shepherd us through the darkness of the mystery; evolution is our Savior, as it were, from mediocrity and stagnation. The Promised Land awaits our arrival, and it is in man (so to speak) that the gods are truly becoming incarnate.
There's profundity for you.