I had once read an old Cherokee tale, the story of the two wolves. The good wolf which represents joy, peace, kindness, humility, hope, love, empathy, compassion and the bad one which stands for sorrow, anger, jealousy, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies and ego.
The one which wins is the one that we feed. The whole story actually goes, if you feed them right, both win.
All the cultures around the world have similar teachings. Shri Bhagavad Gita explains it in form of our actions. Chinese philosophy explains it in form of Yin and Yang.
In past few weeks of quarantine/self-isolation, I have had a lot of time to think about the wolves within. I dwell in understanding of life and its meaning more than I should. I understood something. Both wolves are indeed necessary in our life.
“Too much good can become evil.”
A line I remember from a mythic-fiction book based on Lord Shiva. We can’t survive with just the good wolf in us because the evil wolf doesn’t die, it simply hides. Too much of Good can often turn into bad. Too much of sugar or salt spoils the food and threatens health.
Similarly, too much of empathy will make you gullible or too much love for something can turn into obsession. And the evil wolf is still hiding, harboring all the anger, jealousy, ego waiting for when the good wolf falters, that’s when it will come out and overpower our senses.
Shri Bhagavad Gita talks about this in detail. When Lord Krishna says to Arjun senses are said to be greater than the body, but mind is greater than the senses. And intellect is greater than mind and that which is greater than mind is He, the self (Chapter 3 – Verse 42). Simply put, if you are aware of your senses and feed the correct one, using awareness and knowledge about yourself, you will attend Inner peace.
Darkness and Light co-exist and create a balance. There is no good without evil, there is no evil without good.
Yin and Yang is similar to the wolf story. Darkness and Light co-exist and create a balance. There is no good without evil, there is no evil without good.
I have been feeding my good wolf a tad bit too much. In the process I forgot, I also need to acknowledge my evil wolf. I can’t ignore the anger, resentment, or jealousy. They are after all senses and emotions and if I don’t acknowledge them, they will come out and take over my complete being.
So, how do we acknowledge the other part of us, the evil wolf? By accepting that we have some bad qualities and we need to work on them. Acceptance is the key step. The evil wolf is not just about bad qualities, it also acts as driving force behind a lot of our motivation and some of our survival instincts too.
We can change our perspective in life at any point. Only if we sit and think about it. And this quarantine has given us that opportunity. To sit and talk with yourself. To figure out which Wolf are you dominantly feeding and which one are you ignoring.
It’s not the matter of which one you feed, it’s the matter of feeding both equally and maintaining a balance to create a sense of Peace.
Take care and Stay safe.