The moth was flapping frantically against the glass door. It was inside, experiencing the light on the outside but not able to get through. This same moth flew right up at my nose the night before as I was coming home and in doing so ended up inside. I felt somewhat responsible for his condition so on my way out the next morning, not only did I hold the door open, but I tried to sort of shoo it out.
It occurred to me, and I’m totally projecting here of course, but it occurred to me that it was there, right up against the light but completely blocked from it and why would it travel this great distance to the other side of this big plane of glass to get out through the opening? It just wasn’t in its field of possibility.
I placed my bag in front of the moth to block out the light to see if that would get it to move toward the opening. I then tried to shoo it out again but didn’t want to touch it or stress it out so I left it.
When I came back later, it was still there. Still flapping up against the plane of glass. Inside is no good place for a moth with a playful cat living there. I opened the door wide and all of the sudden it was out. It had found the crack between the door and the wall and it was free. In an instant it was in the wide-open space.
And isn’t this just like our experience? Sometimes is not possible to grasp the seemingly backwards or off-route way we must go to be free. We don’t realize that in an instant, not knowing how our why, our experience shifts from being separate from the light, not finding our way, to being fully submerged in it.