The Butterfly Hours ~ #01 Contemplation

 
 
 
 
 
"What's a butterfly garden without butterflies?"

Roy Rogers 

Lizzy Sider - "Butterfly"

About a month ago, I decided it was time to visit the Schmetterlinghaus (the Imperial Butterfly House), located in the Burggarten, Vienna. The last time I went was a number of years ago. The Schmetterlinghaus is located a part of a gloriously large greenhouse structure called the Palmenhaus.  This visit was initially to take some photographs.

Once I arrived, the visit, not unlike a caterpillar, metamorphosed into something quite different. It became a butterfly hour of profound contemplation on the beauty of truth in love. Growing up with my Father, I learnt the value of being truthful, as it was so important to his sense of ethics, how he behaved as a parent and a friend.

I realised, what I subconsciously always knew, but like most children failed to recognise, that my Father was one of those rare individuals that handled his family, friends and the wider world without deceit. He dealt with life in complete openness, truth and free from illusionary masks. I now understand this is why we successfully survived as a family unit of three. Father taught my sister and me, the value of truth through the profound love of his family. He showed us that love does not deceive, but deals only in truth when we truly care.

The value of truth is measured in part on how we are treat the ones we profess to love. Launching into deceit devalues the truth of love. When we start to deceive, truth goes out the door along with any real sense of love. I see the value of truth in the successful relationships I witness each day.

The lessons on truth, that we learn from the examples of our elders, take us into the world, teaching us how we should handle of neighbours and the wider community. The act of being truthful results in a ripple effect on how we behave outside our spheres of influence and into the wider world. Truth frees us from false illusions that are fed to us each day by the media and the cult of personalities.

We need to weigh up that being truthful starts, not only at home with the family we love, but extends when we step outside of our immediate circles, into the big wide world. When we love the truth, we can better serve the future and world. The world would, perhaps, be a better place if everyone dealt truthfully in all their actions.

So this butterfly hour metamorphosed into one of contemplation on the beauty of truth in love. Like the butterflies my photos in the slideshow, truth is such a fragile thing that needs to be cultivated and treasured. Truth is not only integral to love, but also to happiness. If my Father was still with us, I would say, “Thank you Daddy, another of your lessons very well learnt.”

It is amazing that the journey I am currently undergoing, is freeing insights, externalising issues, and becoming open enough to free all the truths that have affected my life, even more so than now than in the past. The seeking of answers through lessons learnt is all great part of this journey. Sometimes those answers, like truth, have always been there.

This is my contemplated lesson on truth. How you handle your truth is how you treat the ones you say you love. How find your behave with the truth, is up to how you contemplate the lessons you, yourself have learnt. It is also in the lessons, as well as the examples, you pass on. It is up to you.

Maybe I should have titled this post differently. Then again it was contemplation, when it started. On what I contemplated only became apparent, when I checked the photographs, during that walk among the butterflies. How fragile is the truth, not unlike how fragile is the butterfly, when we surrender it to deception.

The Butterfly Hours ~ #01 Contemplation is the first of many hours I intend to spend with the butterflies. I happily returning next day and invested in a yearly pass. That visit is another essay.

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The Butterfly Hours #01 - Contemplation 

YouTube Channel - W. Heron 

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"The wise man knows how to run his life
so that contemplation is Possible."

Gabriel Marcel