Story of The Two Wolves - Revisted

With the advent of the New Year just around the corner, and so many people in a state of flux this bit of wisdom is very empowering.

Many of us on ATS get into the mentality that we are powerless, but let the truth be known that we do have a choice every waking moment.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

“One is Evil – It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good – It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The old Cherokee simply replied,

“The one you feed.”

Peace and love,

RT


unbelievableyou.com...

Well said sir

Would you mind if I posted that picture in the avatar creations thread, its awesome

And happy holidays to you and yours

Cody

reply to post by Realtruth


I wish individuals would not attach their own work to some pseudo-mystical origin.

The folk story of "Two Wolves" is attributed to many different tribal people. No published accounts of Cherokee oral history, folklore, or philosophy-of which their are many-include this story and it's basic premise of good battling evil is foreign to the Cherokee worldview.

This story, as many others like it, (even IF it were native in origin) would not be attributed to any "one" person as those are verbal stories handed down for generations.

Please note that this story is Inconsistent with native story forms, Native Stories do NOT contain the 'Moral of the story' at the end like non-native stories do.

Two Wolves

The moral of the story is great, and very pertinent to many peoples' worldview today, and would stand as such without the necessity of being an old Cherokee tale. I, personally, think the message is cheapened by being attributed to some older, more ancient source that has nothing to do with it. It distracts people from the actual moral, and instead asks them to pay attention to it because of a preconceived notion of what Cherokee spirituality was like.

~ Wandering Scribe

reply to post by Realtruth


Neat story, and it sure is inspirational too.
But overall I call bullspit.
The trick is to know when to feed which one and when to turn it off.
If we were strictly passive, we would simply just get trampled under foot by the psychopaths that rule us.

Wandering Scribe

I wish individuals would not attach their own work to some pseudo-mystical origin.

~ Wandering Scribe

You must be loads of fun at Holiday parties huh?

Anyhow this is not only from the Cherokee nation, but taken directly from official Cherokee Tribal records.

This would be a great holiday present and a good read for people wanting to know more about the Cherokee.

www.firstpeople.us...

www.firstpeople.us...

g146541
reply to post by Realtruth

 

Neat story, and it sure is inspirational too.
But overall I call bullspit.
The trick is to know when to feed which one and when to turn it off.
If we were strictly passive, we would simply just get trampled under foot by the psychopaths that rule us.

Good qualities IMO are not a sign of weakness, but rather a sign of great strength.

One doesn't need to be passive to be good.

reply to post by Realtruth


The site you linked to does not include any sources for what they print. For all I know, they may have added the fable when they saw it posted on some Tumblr.

As my link said, there are no records of the tale from any published Cherokee studies, and the narrative itself deals with concepts foreign to Cherokee belief, but central to European belief structures (like Christianity).

In fact, you'll find that the story's earliest incarnation comes, not from the Cherokee, but from Evangelical Christian minister Billy Graham, in his 1978 book The Holy Spirit: Activating God's Power In Your Life:

This story seems to have begun in 1978 when a early form of it was written by the Evangelical Christian Minister Billy Graham in his book, “The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life.” This version of the story can be found in Chapter 7: The Christian’s Inner Struggle on Page 92 and it is as follows:

“AN ESKIMO FISHERMAN came to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win - but the fisherman always won! His friends began to ask him how he did it. He said, “I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger.”

(SNIP)

Continuing forward in time, we find that the story has been published in a 1997 book written by Eliot Rosen and Ellen Burstyn titled, “Experiencing the Soul: Before Birth, During Life, After Death.” This version of the story is on page 15.

“A Native American Elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner: “Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time.” When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied, “The one I feed the most.” (Page 15)


History of the Two Wolves

So there you go, nothing to do with the Cherokee people, and everything to do with an Evangelical Christian, his book, and some New Age people.

Having to source your work to someone older, more mystical, or more spiritual than yourself (as the New Age writers did) means they don't actually think the message/moral is strong enough on its own, but want you to take it to heart because the Native Americans were "so much wiser" or "more spiritually in tune with the world" than us.

If the message is strong and pure enough, it shouldn't matter if it came from a Native American, an Evangelical Christian, or some random town drunk. Dressing it up does nothing to highlight the importance of the message, but everything to distract from it.


~ Wandering Scribe

reply to post by Realtruth


That story is where I got the title of my book "The Philosophy of Two Dogs" from. This metaphor is a true description of the human condition and the struggle we all deal with in our day to day lives, and it rings true to this day.

EDIT:
Thank you Wandering Scribe for that information. Good to know but doesn't change the content for me much

reply to post by Wandering Scribe


Does it really make that much of a difference?

Every culture has similar stories that they share with other cultures. Where the originate from really shouldn't matter.

Instead of debating where the story actually comes from wouldn't it be better to just find the wisdom in it?

I'll leave it at that and allow ATS members to decide for themselves.

Peace,

RT

reply to post by Realtruth

Does it really make that much of a difference?

If the Cherokee people believed in a light/dark, good/evil struggle, then yes, I would agree with you that it doesn't matter. However, the Cherokee have no spiritual concept of "ultimate good" or "ultimate evil," so the message and moral of the fable would be irrelevant to the Cherokee people.

Every culture has similar stories that they share with other cultures. Where the originate from really shouldn't matter.

Many cultures, religions, and spiritual schools lack a "good vs. evil" dichotomy. So, it would be wrong to say that the fable has universal meaning/appeal. It is, in reality, only applicable if your philosophy embraces the idea of duality.

Instead of debating where the story actually comes from wouldn't it be better to just find the wisdom in it?

That depends on why you think it has wisdom to begin with.

Is it a wisdom-story because it comes from the Cherokee people? Because we've already established that it doesn't, so the auspice of "Native American" wisdom can be stripped away.

Is it a wisdom-story because it doesn't come from a corporate world where we've lost touch with Nature and our spiritual selves? Because the reality is that the story was invented by a Christian minister as a way to influence the minds of millions of readers into thinking, acting, and believing a specific way. And, further, was used to sell books, and no doubt tickets to his sermons.

The question really comes down to: when you strip away all of the junk, does the message still stand up in your heart?

If so, good.

I've found, however, that people often base their impression of a thing off of the thing's origins.

I have seen this very same "fable" touted as wisdom simply because it comes from a Native American origin, and that "fact" somehow means it lacks all of the trappings of consumerism, making its message more pure, nature-oriented, and holistic.

~ Wandering Scribe