Luctor et Emergo
L U C T O R E T E M E R G O
Latin; I struggle and emerge
if you cut away a moth’s cocoon,
it will never be able to fly.
the act of struggling to squeeze through a tiny hole is necessary
to force fluid from the body into the wings,
enabling flight
to deprive a moth of the struggle,
is to deprive it of its wings,
and the creature it was to become
after emerging on the other side.
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P a r a b l e of t h e E m p e r o r M o t h
“A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force its body through it.
The moth seemed to be stuck and appeared to have stopped making progress. The man decided to help the moth; so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The moth then emerged easily. But its body was swollen and small, its wings wrinkled and shriveled.
The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand. But the moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
The man in his worry and haste did not understand that the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was necessary to force fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight upon achieving its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. We would not be as strong as what we could have been without them.”
- original author unknown
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Luctor et Emergo
graphite
15 x 15”
2022__
This is a giclée print of an original graphite drawing on archival, acid-free paper.
11 x 11" image with .5" border (12 x 12" paper size)
OR
15 x 15" image with .5 border (16 x 16" paper size)
signed and numbered out of 100.