1) Caterpillar → Chrysalis → Butterfly ( imaginal cells )

What happens: The caterpillar creates a chrysalis, dissolves into a formless ooze, then reconstitutes as a butterfly.

Process: Once sealed, the caterpillar’s body literally liquefies. Nothing recognizable remains—only a primordial soup. Floating inside are imaginal cells (the genetic blueprint) that guide the ooze into a new structure. Over days, these imaginal cells organize matter into wings, legs, and the butterfly’s body.

Why it matters: This is the essence of solutio . Old structures must sometimes dissolve entirely so the deeper blueprint of the Self can reorganize us. What comes out is related to what was before but utterly transformed—a radical rebirth.

2) Salt Crystals → Dissolution in Water → Recrystallization

What happens: Salt crystals disappear into water, but when the water evaporates, crystals re-form.

Process: Dissolving erases the salt’s visible structure; it becomes invisible, diffused, undifferentiated. Yet when conditions change, the same matter re-emerges as orderly crystals—unchanged in essence but renewed in form.

Why it matters: The psyche can dissolve into confusion or regression, yet solutio is not annihilation. It’s a stage where structure vanishes so a new, often clearer or stronger formation can emerge. We lose shape temporarily to gain coherence later.

3) Jonah and the Whale

What happens: Jonah refuses his divine calling, flees, and is swallowed by a whale. He spends three days in the belly, then is released to fulfill his destiny.

Process: Resistance leads to crisis (storm, being cast overboard). Contained inside the whale, Jonah’s defenses dissolve—he can no longer outrun his vocation. The whale delivers him to Nineveh anyway.

Why it matters: Solutio often takes the form of being “swallowed” by something larger—grief, a calling, the unconscious. In that containment, rigid ego positions break down. Though terrifying, the dissolution clears space for us to accept deeper purpose.

4) Flood → Receding Waters → Fertile Silt

What happens: A flood overwhelms the land; when waters withdraw, fertile silt remains, nourishing new growth.

Process: The flood destroys boundaries and structures. Once it passes, what seemed destructive leaves behind rich soil, enabling regeneration.

Why it matters: Overwhelming emotional or unconscious floods can feel like devastation. But in solutio, what looks like breakdown often deposits the raw material for new life. The dissolution stage enriches, preparing the ground for creativity and renewal.

5) “Happy Neurosis Island” vs. the Sea & Octopus (Jung)

What happens: The ego is imagined as a defended island, surrounded by the unconscious as a vast sea containing a many-armed octopus.

Process: On the island, life is cramped but stable. Venturing into the waters risks being seized by the octopus (the unconscious). Yet only by negotiating with this surrounding life-source can the ego expand and be nourished.

Why it matters: Solutio here is the softening of the fortress walls. Too much dissolution = drowning in psychosis; too little = stasis on the island. The balance is to allow enough dissolution that the unconscious’ riches fertilize ego life without engulfing it.

ChatGPT