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/lit/ - Literature

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21804700 No.21804700 [Reply] [Original]

Can someone please help me unpack all the symbolism here?

So on a surface level, it is very easy to interpret: the nascent caterpillar emerges from the egg/womb and finds itself in a world filled with earthly delights. The caterpillar experiences endless hunger - the condition of the flesh; as more is eaten, the hunger grows; the beast grows. The more the lusts are fed the more they consume the individual. It is by eating wisdom, represented by the leaf, the tree of knowledge, that the hunger is sated (self-understanding and restraint). Now fleshly lusts and wisdom are no longer held in conflict, inner peace reigns, stillness, contemplation, looking inwards, in the cocoon. The second womb, the womb of the mind, leads to a new birth: transformation, apotheosis. A new being that is destined to lay another egg and begin the cycle anew.

Am I getting close to understanding Carle?

>> No.21804711

>>21804700
Filtered. It was about Yaldabaoth all along.

>> No.21804714

>>21804700
This has parallels with Norse myth, of Ragnarok, the Fenris wolf, and Baldur.

The Fenris wolf is the beastly nature of man, endless in hunger, the more it consumes, the more it grows, until it ends up consuming the soul - represented by the sun. When it eats Odin, wisdom, then its feral hunger is finally abated and it can be destroyed. During Ragnarok, all the demons and gods are destroyed, alongside mankind, leaving a barren world. Baldur, the god of peace, is released from hell, but he is the only being left alive. A realm of peace and oneness, but stagnant. He reveals a man and a woman hidden in a tree, and the cycle begins anew.

>> No.21804766

>>21804711
I would argue against that - the earthly delights are never presented explicitly as evil, they are just... there... ready to be experienced. And it is through this experience of eternal hunger and ultimately dissatisfaction with the material that one turns towards the lifegiving leaf, and the inner world.

>> No.21805401

>reddit humour

>> No.21805560

>>21805401
My friend we are discussing a post-ironic philosophical masterpiece here, containing themes relating to the depth of the human soul and its journey through life.

>> No.21805608

>>21805560
>upvoted

>> No.21806734

>>21805608
>downvoted

>> No.21807359

>>21805401
i agree this is very reddit-esque, but still made me chuckle

>> No.21807380

>>21804700
or you know, it is a hungry fucking caterpillar and any metaphor in it is just you slapping meaning in there and symbolism already present in the butterfly prior to authors intent
my interpretation of the hungry caterpillar is that the caterpillar wants to eat a lot of shit so it is ready to transform to butterfly, your interpretation reeks of confirmation bias and bizarre desire for all the lit you read to have a deeper meaning, also womb of the mind is keep your kinks to yourself tier slip