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       # 2016-12-01 - Hope For The Flowers by Trina Paulos
       
 (IMG) Book cover image
       
       I read this together with a loved one and was charmed.  The
       experience is difficult to articulate here, but it reminded me of
       being read to by a librarian in the children's section of Josephine
       County Library.  Interestingly enough, Hope For The Flowers is kept
       in the adult section of the Eugene Library.
       
       I appreciated the cute illustrations and humorous language; simple
       and endearing.  The main characters are caterpillars named Stripe and
       Yellow.  They are drawn with beady little eyes.  Their surprising
       range of emotion reminds me of emoticons and other minimal symbols.
       
       My favorite line is when Yellow speculates "If i have inside me the
       stuff to make cocoons, maybe the stuff of butterflies is there too."
       One could call it a working hypothesis.  Or, one could call it faith,
       hope, and trust.  Nomenclature aside, this line goes beyond wishful
       thinking because Yellow had the courage to act on it.
       
       The story seemed to be an allegory for the conflict between a
       material and a spiritual focus in life.   The main characters gain
       temporary relief by dropping out of the rat race.  However, in the
       long term they are not satisfied by their happy little bubble.  Here
       they part ways, one returning to the materialistic path and the other
       embarking on a new spiritual path.  Invigorated from their respite,
       they are both successful in their prospective endeavors.  The
       materialistic path results in destruction.  This misuse of the
       climbing instinct was a cruel hoax on caterpillars in general.
       
       Butterflies are a classic metaphor for transformation.  I will avoid
       the question of an afterlife, but the metaphor brings two
       associations to mind.
       
       The first association is the song Following The Moon by Osprey, which
       includes the lyrics below.  In the song, our hearts are beating for
       freedom, held in the temporary safety of this body.
       
       "We can build a cocoon together ... Somebody clipped your wings, but
       listen how the caged bird sings, for freedom, can you hear it, it's
       your own heart beating."
       
       The second association is the book Yoga Lessons For Developing
       Spiritual Consciousness by Swami Mukerji.
       
       "It is quite necessary that we should pass through certain
       experiences, that we rise from ideal to ideal.  We create our own
       fate. Our sufferings, our joys, are so many projections from
       ourselves. We alone are responsible for them.  Like the silkworm we
       build a cocoon around the soul and then feeling "cramped," we set to
       loosening the bonds."
       
       The tale ends in the formation of a new "pillar."  Extrapolating from
       the allegory, the materialistic path could be considered an
       inevitable part of life, absurd but necessary for our evolution.
       
       author: Paulus, Trina
 (TXT) detail: gopher://gopherpedia.com/0/Hope_for_the_Flowers
       LOC:    PZ4.P327 Ho
 (HTM) source: http://archive.org/details/HopeForFlowers-English
       tags:   ebook,counterculture,fantasy,fiction,graphic novel
       title:  Hope For The Flowers
       
       # Tags
       
 (DIR) ebook
 (DIR) counterculture
 (DIR) fantasy
 (DIR) fiction
 (DIR) graphic novel