Andre Gide describes the time when he observed a moth being reborn from its chrysalis during a classroom lecture. He was filled with wonder, awe, joy at this metamorphosis, this resurrection. Enthusiastically, he showed it to his professor who replied with a note of disapproval, “What! Did you know that a chrysalis is the envelope of a butterfly? Every butterfly you see has come out of a chrysalis. It’s perfectly nature.” Disillusioned, Gide wrote, “Yes, indeed, I know my natural history as well, perhaps better than he…But because it was natural could he not see that it was marvelous? Poor creature! From that day I took a dislike to him and a loathing to his lessons.”


Richard Foster, A Celebration of Discipline, HarperCollins, 1998 p 73