For some strange reason, I am so fascinated with the beauty and meaning found in the process of metamorphosis, rebirth, redemption, and just transformation of all sorts recently.

And found this in some third world literature:

"The process of life could be as simple as a snowflake fluttering down from the sky or the extinguishing of a lamp; or two of the most magisterial buildings in the world being reduced to ash in the space of an hour.

But snowflakes on the ground melt into water, and then evaporate into the sky; a day comes when they once again become snowflakes flying in the air. Maybe death is similar, a kind of interlude, so that when you open your eyes again you find that you've already begun a whole new life in a totally different part of the world.

Everything is ephemeral, changing, a void. Yet this kind of transformation and emptiness is eternal. There is a road that seems to wind slowly towards perfect knowledge, and every step down this road is eternity, is rebirth."

[by Wei Hui in "Marrying Buddha"]

Now isn't that just beautiful?

The promise of a new self in the road to self-discovery...