Chrysalis Journal Introduction to Volume 2, Issue 1 (2018) // by Roy Ringel, Editorial Collective Member

No matter how self-governing we believe we are, we remain slaves to the tyrannies of whatever remains unconscious within us; whatever we have refused to stand up to and face. So, the greatest problem we may confront is that who we have let ourselves become may now be our chief obstacle. Once we realize this, the obvious path forward to become more and more ourselves.

The first step on this transformative path is to ask ourselves of every choice, every relationship, every commitment or every failure to commit and every word that we write, “Does this choice diminish me or does it enlarge me?” We might not like the answer but at least we will know how to move forward.

In each moment of transformative expression, the goal is to return to a more intimate relationship with our core self, a relationship that certainly existed in our beginnings, but from which we have necessarily strayed in our adaptations to the demands of family, tribe, and culture. This returning is a healing integration of the split-off parts of our spirits; a redemption of the dignity and high purpose of our soul’s journey. As T.S. Eliot said, “the end of all our journeys is to arrive at the beginning and to know it for the first time.”

So, perhaps, when our words are written, spoken and heard our audiences will then raise their eyes heavenward and say, “Look! Up in the sky! The Chrysalis has become a butterfly.”

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