Before Enlightenment, the Laundry (& a Tarantula)

August 26th, 2008 | Uncategorized | No Comments

My teens offer countless opportunities (sometimes seen as challenges) to enter doorways of wonder, education, magic and even enlightenment. One of their doorways is to the world of pets. Currently, we have 8 of them. The order goes like this: 2 dogs (Liam, a collie and Archie, a Bichon Frise), 2 black cats (Suzy and Frodo), 2 horses (Max and Chance) and a betta fish (Han Solo … he swims alone). Our most recent addition to the pet menagerie is a Chilean rose-haired tarantula named Petrucchio (after a character in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew). This latest acquisition occurred while I was out of town, of course.

Once you get past the initial visual creepiness, you find that tarantulas are pretty cool. Petrucchio has a beautiful red coat and is incredibly docile while held (yes, we’ve all held him). His maintenance has been minimal – just have to throw in crickets a few times a month and mist him once in a while. He lives in a little aquarium nestled in a corner of the laundry room on the counter where we fold the clothes. With all that said … the fact of the matter is, there’s a tarantula in the house!

I share my laundry room with this tarantula, never expecting to have anything profound like a transformation. I let him be and he lets me be (of course, since he’s essentially blind he can’t do much more), and until yesterday I barely had any attention on him at all … some call this ignoring. When I’m in my laundry room washing and folding clothes, my attention goes to thoughts about my teenagers’ dating habits, the Olympics, global warming, and the Democratic National Convention happening here in my home state of Colorado, etc.

Yesterday, however, there was a shocking scene in the laundry room. The tarantula was on his back, legs reaching for the heavens, clearly in the position that all dead creatures take! I had the thought, “This is not good.” I immediately went into my meditation room and meditated for 45 minutes before I told Alyssa that her beloved tarantula was dead. She was crushed, and refused to see him. Abe, being the heroic teen stud muffin, was willing to go in and confront the dead animal. Instead, he discovered a wonder-filled sight. Petrucchio’s legs were moving, although he was still on his back.

What we thought was death was in fact the beginning of a profound new growth. Thus began a transformative process that mesmerized us all for a few hours.

Let me tell you first hand, growth and transformation aren’t pretty. This spider, and its growth process, while profoundly captivating, was downright eerie. I witnessed change before my eyes. And I don’t think it’s anything like the kind of change I’m hearing from the politicians. This kind of change is blatant, in your face, molten transformation.

In the beginning, a second head was emerging out of the inverted body. Some of you might remember a certain sci-fi movie about aliens … anyway, in the next moment Petrucchio’s entire body looked like it had a Siamese twin growing from its side. At one point the new Petrucchio “popped” out. When we looked in the aquarium again today, there appear to be two Petrucchios. One is larger than the other … the smaller is the old exoskeleton (structure) that housed the animal. Both are perfect in design. We found out this process is called molting; it’s needed in order for new growth.

The new Petrucchio is much larger and shines with an iridescent luster.

As I stared at him, I wondered, “If Petrucchio could have thoughts and could talk, what would he say about the experience? Was it scary? When the new Petrucchio was generating inside the old one, which body did he identify with? Clearly a part of his existence is over. In fact, the old shell is sitting next to him. Did he resist the change?”

Nature is magnificent! What a hell of a design for a life form to regenerate itself and let go of the old.

While my growth and transformation might not be as obvious, sometimes my internal states feel like I’m coming apart … and often when I feel the most uncomfortable I experience a “pop” into a new space, just like what I saw in our pet tarantula. I’m not kidding; I had a real moment in my laundry room. I saw the power in letting go and popping into a new space.

Petrucchio looks magnificent today and is starting a new phase of his life.

I have returned to the laundry … you know what they say … “after enlightenment, the laundry.”