One of my best friends has recently lost her father. When she told me, I burst into tears – so strong was her pain and my grief. I shared with her the dragonfly story that I heard as a German song in the psilocybin retreat and which I understand is also attributed to an American pastor Walter D Cavert. Death is the ultimate sadhana, exercise – how to stay conscious in its presence, how to see meaning and not lose faith, how to live well and die well. If you are going through loss, there is not much I can say – maybe below, this and that I am sorry for your loss and I love you.

The Dragonfly Story

By Walter Dudley Cavert

“In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs who could not understand why none of their group ever came back after crawling up the lily stems to the top of the water.  They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what had happened to him.

Soon one of them felt an urgent impulse to seek the surface; he rested himself on the top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation which made him a dragonfly with beautiful wings.  In vain he tried to keep his promise.  Flying back and forth over the pond, he peered down at his friends below.  Then he realized that even if they could see him they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number.

The fact that we cannot see our friends or communicate with them after the transformation which we call death is no proof that they cease to exist.”

Source: here.