What is the significance of the moth in philosophy?

I found your question very interesting, so I went on a search for an answer. This is what I found, it may not be the answer, or the only one, but I found it very interesting.

Man "Moth" and the flame of influence.

The man-moth...however may mean that a philosophy of the...a particular experience rather than a meaning.

This is how I found this, the link no longer worked, and it had no cached.

I also found this poem:

The Man-Moth
By Elizabeth Bishop


Man-Moth: Newspaper misprint for "mammoth". Even though it was a misprint the tittle has stuck with the poem.

Here, above,
cracks in the buildings are filled with battered moonlight.
The whole shadow of Man is only as big as his hat.
It lies at his feet like a circle for a doll to stand on,
and he makes an inverted pin, the point magnetized to the moon.
He does not see the moon; he observes only her vast properties,
feeling the queer light on his hands, neither warm nor cold,
of a temperature impossible to record in thermometers.

But when the Man-Moth
pays his rare, although occasional, visits to the surface,
the moon looks rather different to him. He emerges
from an opening under the edge of one of the sidewalks
and nervously begins to scale the faces of the buildings.
He thinks the moon is a small hole at the top of the sky,
proving the sky quite useless for protection.
He trembles, but must investigate as high as he can climb.

Up the façades,
his shadow dragging like a photographer's cloth behind him
he climbs fearfully, thinking that this time he will manage
to push his small head through that round clean opening
and be forced through, as from a tube, in black scrolls on the light.
(Man, standing below him, has no such illusions.)
But what the Man-Moth fears most he must do, although
he fails, of course, and falls back scared but quite unhurt.

Then he returns
to the pale subways of cement he calls his home. He flits,
he flutters, and cannot get aboard the silent trains
fast enough to suit him. The doors close swiftly.
The Man-Moth always seats himself facing the wrong way
and the train starts at once at its full, terrible speed,
without a shift in gears or a gradation of any sort.
He cannot tell the rate at which he travels backwards.

Each night he must
be carried through artificial tunnels and dream recurrent dreams.
Just as the ties recur beneath his train, these underlie
his rushing brain. He does not dare look out the window,
for the third rail, the unbroken draught of poison,
runs there beside him. He regards it as a disease
he has inherited the susceptibility to. He has to keep
his hands in his pockets, as others must wear mufflers.

If you catch him,
hold up a flashlight to his eye. It's all dark pupil,
an entire night itself, whose haired horizon tightens
as he stares back, and closes up the eye. Then from the lids
one tear, his only possession, like the bee's sting, slips.
Slyly he palms it, and if you're not paying attention
he'll swallow it. However, if you watch, he'll hand it over,
cool as from underground springs and pure enough to drink.

The "Moth" has other symbolic meanings too like:

Change
Transformation

I'm sure others can come up with other meanings.

I also found this:

Alice Bailey & Djwhal Khul - Esoteric Philosophy - Master Index - MOTH

Discipleship2, 28:stage as follows: "In and out of the light, as a moth around a candle, flicker the sparks. These

http://laluni.helloyou.ws/netnews/bkindex/c1022/f1239.html

I don't know if this will help, I hope it does. If you find your answer will you please share it.

THE EMPEROR MOTH

A man once found a cocoon of the beautiful Emperor Moth and took it home so he could watch the moth emerge from the cocoon.

On the day a small opening appeared, he sat, enthralled, and watched for several hours as the moth struggled to force its body through that little hole. After a while, it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could go and it could go no further. It just seemed to be stuck.

So the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth.... he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. To his relief, the moth then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to support the body, which would contract in time -- and the moth would fly away. But it never happened!

In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Freedom and flight could only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of its struggle, he deprived the moth of health and freedom.

If we were to go through our lives without any obstacles or struggles, we too would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every struggle (opportunity) a chance, learn to grow beyond it and fly free of your cocoon -- leave no room for regrets.

~Author Unknown~

There's also these verses from the Gospel:

Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

I don't think that is it Yitwail. The interpretation in the bibble seem to mean "not to loose".

i didn't think so either, actually, but i got some hits on it with google.

I think what I found is pretty close.

Re: What is the significance of the moth in philosophy?


Moths are pretty. They make nice pictures for book covers. Also, they change from ground dwelling worm-like things, to beautiful flying things... and people just LOVE the imagery of that, so they'll write about it, philosophize about it, and generally align themselves with it in just about every way you can think of.

Re: What is the significance of the moth in philosophy?



Yes, the answer is probably as simple as what you just stated.

Perhaps it is simple. I'm more inclined to think that what you found is closer to the real answer. It is more consistent with what you'd read. I think you got it, thank you very much for looking into this.

Your very welcome, and I'm glad it helped.