I want to coin a new term: larva brain.
We talk about our reptile brains; this is like that but different.
The larva brain is a sort of layer over top of the organic brain. These larva are parasitic, feeding off the electricity of a brain that’s freaking out. It’s the larva brain that impairs our ability to see the present moment clearly by distorting our perception of reality through a fear lens. It’s the larva brain that stands between us and being present.
It makes me think of the Caterpillar and the Butterfly. There is an inner struggle in the metamorphosis from larva to caterpillar. We see the larva as only being a stage on the way to becoming a butterfly. We assume that the outcome defines the purpose of what comes before it. Surely, the larva must know that one day it will emerge as a beautiful butterfly and celebrate it’s joyous rebirth!
But to the larva, this is a fight to the death. It actually tries to fight off the imaginal cells of the butterfly. The larva has no intention of becoming a butterfly. The butterfly is the enemy.
We can read that onto our current period of world-historical evolution. Right now, the folks identified with the larva of what is fading away are waging all out war against any hint of a butterfly. “Butterflies are ugly!” they shriek! “Butterflies are destroying the larval way of life!” “Butterflies are the enemy within!”
So, imagine that wetiko mind = larva mind. Imagine wetiko was a necessary pre-condition for what comes next.
Because the primary lesson of the Caterpillar and the Butterfly is that the larva is doomed, no matter what. It is the nature of the larva to attack the imaginal cells of the butterfly. And it is also in its nature to dissolve into a goo that eventually nourishes the development of the butterfly.
So, if you are aligned with the butterfly - with what comes next as part of the natural evolution of all systems - then there is no need to fear the last gasps of the larva. This is mostly a defensive game. This is why imaginal cells develop something like a cyst - solid but also smooth, giving nothing for the autoimmune system of the larva to attach to.
The goal is to develop these safe havens and to pull as many butterfly-aligned folks out of harms way and into the protection of spaces where full humans can show up; where the main project is reclaiming our humanity. These are spaces that know that it will take awhile for folks processing the trauma of generations to relax into the process of healing; to lean into the experience and let it wash over and thru you. The impulse to run is strong.
Gandhi said “first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” We are at the stage where they start to fight us.
They are on a full frontal assault against “woke” (i.e. enlightenment, wisdom, understanding) and “dei” (the radical idea that there is more than just vanilla in the world, that equity is an important value, and that we are all stronger when the best of each of us is welcome and included in the community). They even have the gall to propose that empathy - the core value of all the great world religions and philosophies - is the the problem.
This is the truth that will shield us all from whatever evil (harm) comes our way: we are all in this together. “We are part of an interconnected web of being” isn’t just a bumper sticker - it’s a scientific and spiritual truth. No contradiction. No false dichotomy.
No unnecessary delusion.
And what goes around comes around. Wetiko always kills itself. The larva always turns to goo. As Toynbee said, “civilizations die from suicide, not murder.”
Where the societal becomes personal is in the larva brain; that invasive layer between your organic brain and the world it evolved to explore.
It brings to mind a super-creepy image of wetiko larva squirming around in the folds around ridges in my organic brain, provoking my fears and overwhelm then feeding on my distress. That’s where all those whispered shoulds come from. The “but what if you’re wrong” and “it’s probably because of something bad you did.”
So, how do I learn to wait patiently? How do I learn at the bone level that the larva is simply turning into goo - delicious, nutritious goo! That is the nature of larva. How do I reminder myself again and again as many times as it takes that I am part of the butterfly. How do I learn to listen to all that larval chatter with a sort of “ah, honey… you poor thing” attitude? And to not buy into the crazy fear story that it keeps trying to sell me, each and every time it tries to sell me out again.
The good news is the poor thing is punch drunk. Look at it spinning around like that! It doesn’t have much longer now.
Can this be my cautionary tale, my perpetual reminder to learn easy rather than learn hard? From my lips to god (or whoever’s) ears.