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A glance at HOPE’s logo reveals a rainbow, a butterfly, and
the word, HOPE The rainbow is a universal symbol of beauty,
and, in most cultures, the butterfly is a symbol of miracle and
transformation. I want to explore that symbol with you.
First, though, a word about hope… it means that “things can make
sense regardless of how they work out” (Vaclav Havel). For this
reason we can say that hope is the attitude of meaning that goes
beyond optimism, which is always at risk of failure. In the mind
of the mystic, Alice Miller, hope is a
memory of the future.
Now I would like to tell you how the butterfly became a part of
HOPE's logo. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross told a group of which I was
a part the story of how she was called to work with end-of-life
issues. In 1945, she was a Swiss practicing child psychiatrist who
was called with other professionals to come and help the few
survivors of a Nazi death-camp for children.
The survivors told them that whenever children were taken to the
last building in the two rows of barracks, they were never seen
again. With hearts in mouths, the investigating team went to each
of these wondering if they would see any evidence that children
knew what was in store for them.
They were stunned by identical findings in these two buildings...
no signs of fear... butterflies everywhere... drawn in the rough
pine surfaces with the only instrument the children had--their
fingernails! They had left behind an extraordinarily wonderful,
powerful symbol of hope that could only have come from a memory.
Were they saying that they were caterpillars on their way to
becoming butterflies?
What did they know about this transformation? I have no doubt that
they knew in their souls what a caterpillar "knows" when it
pupates—turns its skin into a hard plastic shell within which a
miracle takes place—it becomes a butterfly.
Science and its microscopes have found out what happens inside the
pupa. The truth of it is hard to believe…. The caterpillar, with
its soft, segmented body, has eyes suited to seeing leaves, mouth
parts suited to chewing those leaves, six feet in the front and
six in the back and little stubs in between for crawling on those
leaves, and a digestive system designed to break down those
leaves. It has no cells the butterfly can find useful, for the
butterfly needs feathery antennae to be able to smell its sexual
partner a mile away, eyes that can see flowers, a soda straw mouth
to sip nectar, long slender legs to stand on flower petals with,
and wings to get it from flower to flower and to its mate.
The caterpillar must reduce itself to basic raw materials from
which the butterfly can develop its own specialized cells. So the
digestive tract of the caterpillar opens up and floods the body
cavity with digestive juices that dissolve every last
caterpillar-cell, leaving nothing but a thick stew of chemicals in
water!
So, where do these butterfly cells come from?
When the butterfly egg set out on its journey, it created small
clusters of cells with the memory and knowledge of what it takes
to be a butterfly. These cells float around in the body cavity of
the caterpillar, dormant, waiting for special signals to wake them
up. And they are totally resistant to the actions of the
digestive juices that will create their nourishment once they
wake.
Those who have studied this process call these clusters “Imaginal
Disks.”
The disks know exactly what to do when they wake, and they do it
with exquisite precision. However, one last challenge remains...
the finished butterfly must struggle to break out of the tough
shell of the pupa in order to develop the muscles that enable it
to stand and to fly. There is no helping it; for to help it kills
it! Once free, this beautiful winged creature can fly, feed, mate
and lay eggs that hold the mystery.
Those who have studied this process call this creature “Imago."
As you can see, the root word of both
imaginal and
imago is
image. Keep that in mind.
The children’s message tugs at the heart strings. Its profoundly
powerful, mystical qualities boggle every mind from the most
sensate and concrete to the most esoteric. Thousands of children
came together to share that message for all humankind. It is not
just a story about caterpillars and butterflies.... It is a story
about human potential.
What does it mean for us at this time? The caterpillar contained
within itself an image of its own
becoming, didn't it? Do we have such an image?
The meanings are more figurative than literal; so let us look at
the whole process of transformation as it might apply to us.
First, our highly complex and differentiated bodies will not
transform; rather, our minds
will go through the process. What might be the mental analogy to
the physical caterpillar...? The caterpillar is a highly
specialized eating and growing machine. Our collective mind has
been feeding on knowledge and growing exponentially with it for
thousands of years. Now, we are obese with knowledge. We have
developed the tools by which we can spread it around the world,
the latest of which is the Internet. We can hardly move because of
it. This is not an accident... we are spinning a cocoon of
thought.
The cocoon will camouflage us. It will protect us. We will go into
our minds to discover our potential for transformation. We will
have to let all of our thought structures disassemble themselves
into the atoms of thought—memes. We will have to trust that we
have a thought equivalent of an imaginal disk that floats in each
of us, knowing our full potential. The disk-equivalent for a human
is the soul. Soul is of the body, and it holds the ability to
know the transformative,
transcendent mind—spirit. The soul, like its namesake, Psyche—the
butterfly—will have to struggle to find its way out of its
confinement. It has all the inner strength it needs for the task
at hand, and its knows that the One who gave it the strength is
fully present to its struggle, cheering it on.
What the children knew sixty years ago we better known today
because people everywhere see the value of struggle. I see this in
HOPE group meetings. I see it when souls struggle against
medication that numbs and paralyzes the brain, inhibiting mind,
soul, and spirit. I see it in new mental and physical conditions
that tax the old systems which focus on trying to fix something
that seems to be broken. More and more, I sense the call for
HOPE's support that nurtures and encourages the emergence of
the Psyche—the butterfly. More and more I am happy to have been an
instrument of HOPE's Way—a "Psycho" therapy—helping to heal
soul wounds—in remarkably brief encounters.
HOPE Guide Training Programs top
“HOPE in Action”
In 1991, Ken met Margot Taylor Fanger, LICSW,
at a conference in Council Grove, Kansas. Margot was an author, a
master neurolinguistic programmer, and a social worker-counselor
with the Harvard Community Health Plan in Cambridge, MA. They met
again the following year, and decided to team up to develop a
definitive training program for people who want to understand and
learn how HOPE works. Together, they knew a great deal about
the “how” and “what” people can use to guide themselves as they
seek to effect important life-changes.
Margot had to stop this work after three years, and, in 1995, Ken
teamed up with the educator-artist, Gus Jaccaci ,to develop
SoulCircling that addresses the discovery of the “who” of
ourselves—our soul. Life is the journey of a soul, and HOPE
Groups help us open a dialog with our soul. SoulCircling thus
became the introduction to the HOPE Guiding process.
1. The
SoulCircling introduction to running HOPE groups; a one-day
intensive for commited persons who wish to start groups in their
own areas.
2. Training
Level One; a one-day intensive teaching the story of HOPE It
provides the basic tools with which Ken started his first group.
It teaches the physiology of emotions, communication skills, and
rapport building.
3. Training
Level Two; a two-day intensive teaching story-telling, more
communication skills, the use of journalling and drawing, and
guided imagery.
4. Training
Level Three; a two-day intensive which puts all of the training
experience to work. Each participant in turn guides the whole
group for one full hour as a HOPE group meeting,
including a guided
imagery!
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HOPE's product line of books and tapes has been up on the web
site at www.hopehealing.org/products.asp. In addition to Ken
Hamilton's SoulCircling: The
Journey to the Who and The
HOPE Guide's Book, we have John Patrick Davis'
wonderful autobiographical poem,
Chrysalis, and Christa Gapp's rich healing experience,
The Word Healed. Ken
Hamilton's seventeen guided imagery tapes that cover such topics
as the "Inner Guide," "The Tapestry of Life," "Putting Chemo to
Work," "Inner Strength in the O. R.," and Deep Relaxation" can
also be purchased their. If you would like a free catalog listing
and describing each item, please drop us a line, leave a phone
message or send an e-mail.
HOPE's projects include SoulCircling
workshops and retreats, HOPE guide trainings, developing
interactive CD-ROMs and DVDs. All of these need promotion. Ken is
an acclaimed speaker talking on valuable subjects, and his gifts
need promotion. To help achieve these ends, HOPE has hired two
people part-time. They share with us a passionate interest in
HOPE
Stephen F. Stofanak is the founder and president in TSI Systems.
Inc., which provides project and change management consulting,
training, and coaching to organizations such as Fairchild, The
Jackson Laboratory, American Electric Power, American Lung
Association, and Cornell University. Previously Stephen spent 23
years with Digital Equipment Corporation where he was instrumental
in developing Digital's Program Management Methodology. As
Change Management Consultant for Worldwide Manufacturing and
Logistics at DEC, he established the program office that was
responsible for twelve worldwide re-engineering projects that
significantly reduced expenses and improved customer
satisfaction. Stephen is the President of the Board of
Faithworks, a non-profit organization in Lewiston, Maine and
speaks frequently on project management and organizational change
at various local management forums.
Lois Roberson, a native of Northeastern Ohio, moved to Maine 4
years ago from Texas. She has served in healthcare for over 3
decades as both an Administrative Assistant and a Medical
Technologist, B.S., MT(ASCP). She has also been a
student/practitioner of both Astrology and Numerology since the
early 70's. Her experiences in these areas as well as the
"happenings of life" have led her to an awareness of the
importance of "attitudinal healing" and a desire to learn more. |
