A tale of two wolves is an old parable that’s been passed down over the years.
The Tale of Two Wolves: A Parable
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life:
“A fight is going on inside of 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, and ego.”
He continued, “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 thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
I had a friend the other day ask me:
When you’re doing “crazy shit”…cold showers, ultras, whatever…do you ever wonder “why?” I haven’t been able to answer the why in a long time. Not for years. So…why?
I wrote him back
Ever read the tale of the two wolves? I feel that all the time.
I am constantly trying to not be the bad version of me. I’ve been losing a lot lately, but I am fundamentally a better person when I’m doing the hard stuff.
It bleeds over into everything.
- I am in better shape.
- I am better at my work.
- I am better with people.
- I am less f*cked in the head (just marginally though).
I don’t think it makes life better…but I think it makes me better.
Everything comes and goes. Business. Money. Girls. People. But when all that goes away, when all that’s gone – I have to be good with me.
And when I’m waking up late, complaining about stupid stuff or passing on cold showers – I’m shirking from responsibility (and feeding the wrong wolf).
So why do I do hard stuff?
It’s not to make life better – there’s no guarantee it will make life better (in fact, it might get worse).
But, what I do know is that by doing the hard things, the things that seem impossible, that I don’t want to do, I’m making sure that I’ll be better, stronger and ready for when that happens.
Make sure you feed the right wolf.
Gavin at Zen Pencils has an awesome poster of this short story here.
The Origins Behind the “Tale of Two Wolves”
Note: While this is often considered an “Old Cherokee Legend”, Wikiquote actually attributes the earliest story version of this fable to Billy Graham in his book “The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life” (although the Cherokee legend sounds much more exotic).
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.”
This story about the two dogs is apt because it tells us something about the inner warfare that comes into the life of a person who is born again. We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery.W Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed.
excerpt from The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life
by Billy Graham.
