I am a cage in search of a butterfly

Spread your wings within me, butterfly of chaos

How does a butterfly flapping its wings cause a storm?

Am I the butterfly, or am I the storm? Perhaps I am the witness.

Sketch of a butterfly that I left in a white coffee shop when I visited Malaysia.

Life’s uncertainties and absurdities are its beauties. So many sublime experiences — meeting to-be closest friends, reading to-be favorite books — occur simply because some stars aligned. (I don’t even believe in things like destiny.) Then there are the instances of lives changing their courses caused by what began as inconsequential.

I discussed a similar philosophy more in-depth in a previous essay of mine. (It expands on absurdism)

If I had never happened to read those books or play those games, I would not be who I am today, nor have the friends I do today. That scares me, but also comforts me. Storms of this life are destructive yet beautiful. The chaos theory is my best friend.

It’s melancholic, melodramatic, and another mel-word that doesn’t exist yet. Melopathic, perhaps. Shakespeare has competition.

Melopathos

/ˈmɛləˈpeɪθɒs/

noun: melopathos; adjective: melopathic

1. a feeling of (sometimes dramatic) sadness.

“Melopathos consumed her while musing upon life.”

2. a sense of something being melancholic.

“Poetry is oftentimes melopathos.”

Till the stars align once more,

Anaika.

Buy me a coffee to support my writing!

P.S. Speaking of the chaos theory, Life is Strange is such a wonderful game exploring it!! Saying that playing it was fun is an understatement. The story questions morality while highlighting the consequences of your actions, even when they are out of your control like in the butterfly effect.

The Umbrella Academy is also a really cool show that revolves around the chaos theory and different paradoxes!

A sketchbook page I’d made inspired by LiS.