A Tale of Two Wolves
In honour of the Indigenous American Indian
There is a story amoung the wise old Cherokee Indians. This is their culture, their honour, their story. However their story is our story, for we are all one. The American Indians lived a life of honour to Mother Earth, without which none of us can exist. As an English city dweller I have no understanding of how this story reached me. But indeed it did. I remain thankful.
Here we go…
A group of Cherokee children gathered around their grandfather, filled with excitement and curiosity. That day there had been a tumultuous conflict between two adults and their grandfather was called upon to mediate. The children were eager to hear what their grandfather had to say about it.
One of the children asked a question that puzzled him, “grandfather, why do people fight?”
“Well”, the old man replied, “we all have two wolves inside us, you see. They live in our chest. These two wolves are constantly fighting each other.” By this time, the childrens’ eyes had grown as big and bright as the moon. “In our chests too, grandfather?” asked a second child. “And in your chest too?” asked a third. Grandfather nodded, “yes, in my chest too”. He continued, “there is a white wolf and a black wolf. The black wolf is filled with fear, anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. The white wolf is filled with peace, love, hope, courage, humility, compassion, and faith. They battle constantly.”
Then he stopped. The child who asked the initial question couldn’t handle the tension any longer. “Grandfather, which wolf wins?” The old Cherokee simply replied, “the one that we feed.”
Nice story, isn’t it?
It is not hard to resonate with the “feeding” of anger, jealousy, envy and greed. These emotions can really have power over us. We can see how, when we keep fueling them, it feels impossible to “snap out of it”. However, there is hope. We have a choice! At any given moment we can stop feeding the black wolf and start feeding the white wolf instead. This is the path to happiness and fulfillment in a nutshell. The idea is simple but the reality is more difficult. As the story suggests, feeding the white wolf is a never-ending battle…
Stop feeding the black wolf. Feed the white wolf instead. It’s that simple. It’s not easy but it is possible.
When hearing this story many people realize how utterly and completely their world is dominated by the black wolf. We are driven by greed and fear, our economy is based on the idea of scarcity and in order to survive the black wolf will go far to obtain the biggest slice of the pie he can get.
The fact is that most of us have a very underdeveloped white wolf. This makes sense; it was hardly fed. The white wolf is weak, skinny and small. “If I show my white wolf at work, it will be murdered within seconds”, we know. “There is no place for the white wolf in our company”, we say.
But I found out something really cool about the white wolf. No matter how much we feed it, the black wolf can only grow so big whereas the white wolf can grow into the size of a horse. When a well-developed white wolf enters a room filled with back wolves, something changes. The little white wolves realize they are potentially much stronger than their black wolf bullies. All of a sudden they have back-up. A strong white wolf will back up his weaker brothers and sisters. Always.
The black wolf is primarily self-serving and mainly interested in staying ahead of the other wolves at any cost. He is the survivor. The white wolf is interested in the development and empowerment of all his white brothers and sisters and sees himself as a mere vehicle to spread loving kindness. He is led by his cause. It doesn’t feel like a choice or an obligation, he just surrenders to the call of this life force. It just feels natural.
It’s tough to get your inner white wolf healthy with a strong and cunning black wolf around that is eager to steal as much food as possible. But please persevere. Then one day you will notice that the white wolf has become equally strong. That is the tipping point. Although the battle continues the white wolf wins more and more, fights and keeps getting stronger.
Contrary to the way black wolves relate a white wolf never has to be afraid when he meets a stronger white wolf. They are natural allies. So the best thing you can do is first start feeding the white wolf sneakily; do a meditation course, be with yourself, study something you love. Meanwhile look around carefully and find the biggest white wolf around. Learn. Practice. Read. Bring out your own inner White Wolf.
Preposition "amoung"
Archaic spelling of among.
1838, American Anti-Slavery Society, The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Part 2 of 4[1]:
He looked round amoung the slaves again, and inquired for Harry.
1924, Samuel Derieux, “The Trial in Tom Belchers' Store”, in O Henry Memorial Award Prize Stories of 1919[2]:
There was a slight shuffling movement amoung the men crowded about.
2004, Chartered Management Institute, “Published reports”, in The Business Energy Survey (2004)[3]:
An assessment of the motivation and energy levels found amoung UK managers, based on a survey of over 1,500.
2011, Hackney.gov.uk, “Markets”, in Shop front traders[4]:
Shops, cafes and bars that trade on Hackney's streets are required by law to have a licence. This includes tables and chairs and fruit and veg stalls, amoung others.
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