An old Cherokee chief teaching his grandson about life…
“A fight is going on inside me.” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight, and it is between two wolves.
One is evil, he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, self-doubt, and ego.
The other is good, he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
The same fight is going on inside you and inside every other person too.”
The grandson then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
The old chief simply replied, “The one you feed.”
As the old chief said, there is a fight going on between these two wolves in each of us and it is happening all the time. I think our “modern” society has failed in teaching us this lesson. I think we are taught to deny the existence of the first wolf and if we sense it, we are taught to keep it hidden and try to fight the battle alone. We are taught to be good wolves and to wear a good wolf mask all the time regardless of what is happening inside. When we do seek help, we are labeled, medicated, institutionalized and now we are even offered death. Our society has failed us because most of our experts lack a basic metaphysical understanding of what we are. We have a shortage of “old chiefs” - a shortage of mature masculine and feminine role models. We are a society that has forgotten traditional rites, the power of myth, archetypal energy and celestial family systems. We have all been thrown to the wolves in a mass psychosis of immaturity and hubris.
But the invisible fight does indeed go on in all of us and there will come a time in each of our lives when we are knocked down hard by something and we will start feeding the wrong wolf. And this is by design. This is in fact the rite of passage from the immature to the mature masculine/feminine that will occur absent mature role models and a mature society guiding us. There can be no resurrection without the crucifixion, and there is no way to avoid the cross if you want to transcend the ego. By feeding evil it comes out of the shadow and into the light. This is a main story in every tradition. It is also my story which is why I can speak to it.
However, the story doesn’t end once we bring our shadow into the light and integrate it. The battle may end internally but not externally. In a society that lacks tradition and basic psychological / metaphysical knowledge it just thinks we are an evil wolf in sheep’s clothing. It seeks to punish, “cancel” and deny redemption as a virtue signal. Forgiveness, salvation and redemption are clucked about from church pews but rarely practiced. But you will come to understand that the only redeemer is you and that is your final rite of passage. Redeem yourself because this is The Way.
“Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one” – Marcus Aurelius
The Way
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