The 'egg' as a symbol of new life

Several weeks ago Natalie found the notion of an 'egg' as a symbol of new life inspirational and shared her enthusiasm in a recent email. My intuitive reaction was ... 'an egg is just an egg until it hatches'.

Since then my daily reflections often went back to the image of a chicken 'egg' ... and what it may symbolize. The metaphor of 'new life' was often part of my contemplation ... my mind went to the 'incubation' period ... the time between the chicken egg coming into our physical world and the chicks' exit from the egg shell.

My mind made a connection between this 'incubation period' of the chicken egg and the 'Dark Night of the Soul' by St John of the Cross.

Seems there are many parallels:

We have no idea what is happening inside the egg ... the 'darkness' ... the transformation of what we know as egg white and egg yoke into a living breathing walking yellow chick.

We have no way of participating in the 'transformation' ... nor the mother hen ... all she can do is sit on the eggs ... keep them warm and protect them from harm.

The 'transformation' requires nothing 'external' ... nothing from our physical world ... aside from the 'warmth' and protection provided by the mother hen.

Also, the 'transformation' form egg white and egg yoke to a living 'chick' can not be 'hurried' along ... any attempt to expedite the process is fatal for the developing chick.


Much is written about spiritual transformation ... growth ... awakening ... conversion etc etc ... all words used to describe something we don't fully understand. Seems to me that people who suddenly find themselves wanting to head in this direction have already 'traveled' a long way ... ie the egg developed in their 'inner being' without any conscious awareness ... the conscious awareness(the desire for spiritual growth) may be viewed as the the equivalent of the chicken egg showing up in the nest ... still a long way from 'hatching' ... Nonetheless, all that is required now exists.

As mentioned above, nothing 'external' is required for further progress ... only warmth and protection from harm.

Warmth and protection from harm with life in today's world is most difficult to find. The 'egg'(the metaphor) is most often constantly subjected to 'cold' and aggressive hostility ... why?? Yet the individual must be prepared to 'crawl inside the egg so to speak' ... into the darkness ... the unknown ... and wait patiently and humbly.

T.E. Lawrence(Lawrence of Arabia) called it "Life by Competition". The word competition infers winners and losers, struggle, aggression, insensitivity ... the antithesis of 'warmth' and 'tenderness'.

Living in society is like walking in the rain ... without an umbrella ... you get wet ... you get soaked!! Likewise for the person on a spiritual journey ... the soul is constantly contaminated simply living day to day life. Retreating from the world doesn't seem to be the answer ... abusing our body or mind in an attempt to maintain a 'spiritual state' doesn't seem appropriate ... what then??

Most people on a 'spritual path' are either destroyed by the 'cold and abrasive' nature of todays' society or become impatient ... the image I received the other day was ... someone standing on top of the egg with a sledge hammer ... trying to break the egg open ... saying " hatch" ... it's time! ... I know it's time! ... hatch! ... eventually the 'egg' breaks and instead of a living chick all we get is egg white and egg yoke spilling out all over the place ... we can not hurry the process!

Seems to me this attempt to 'hurry' the transformation is the underlying cause of most religious violence ...