Beyond Good and evil - Fable of two wolves.

I wonder if there is anything new at all to discover when we consider the wise generation of the past. From Cherokees of Ancient America to Friedrich Nietzsche, Good and evil has been a dichotomy concept fascinated by minds. Here I am spined by the midlife crisis, trying not to fall, turning pages of memory to figure out what is life, met with good and evil. Not once or twice but many more times as it happens. This time with a fable of two wolves.

Bad wolf

Fable of two wolves.

Once upon a time a wise Cherokee chief was teaching his son about life. He told "In my mind there are two wolves". They are fighting with each other. Ever since I can remember.

One is Evil. He is anger, sorrow, regret, greed, ego, selfish, Lies, Proud, guilty, lazy cunning one.

The other is Grey, and Good. He is generosity, self-esteem, helpful, happy, calm, courageous, brave, successful, agile, faith, kind and empathic.

The battle between them is gruesome. They would make me sweat in dark cold nights in winter and make me froze in summer. They battle so hard against each other that blood spills all over the snow. And in every mind that battle is inevitable.

His son, hearing his father thought for a moment, and said " Then who is winning father? is it the good? or the Evil?"

The chief said "Well the one whom you feed will win"

Discussion - The meaning of the fable of two wolves

In life often we are taught about good and bad. From early life, and ever since the good fights against the bad inside our heads. The fight continues until one dies. Sometimes good wins, and they become saints. There are generous successful rich people, who lives a life of abundance and humanity. Just because they chose to feed the good wolf. Guided by their parents and the society.

Then there are bad. The drug trafficking, pain inflicting, rapists' murderers and wall street thieves. During the battle of the good and bad wolf they have just decided to feed the bad wolf at some point in their lives. And they keep on doing this, until they become hedonistic demons corrupted by power and wealth.

Good wolf

Then there are philosophers, and mindfulness enthusiasts, like you like me like Cherokee Chief. Who have just decided to watch the process. The fight between good and evil. Unless we peep into the machine called mind and the process called its thoughts, long enough we would not realize it is just another imaginary battle which goes on forever. I am sure lots of people have something against this, as they have just chosen to feed one wolf over the other. But unless we tend to starve them both, we would never see the light beyond.

In other words, life is a potential like a lump of clay. And we ourselves create monsters and saints out to nothing. Isn't there anything eviler than that? It is the process of mind which is evil. Not the pictures it creates.

The question is are you willing to take the middle road, that separates good and evil? If so, just look into your mind for a while each day with mindfulness.