“A grandfather told his grandson, my son, there is a battle between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, and truth. The boy thought about it, and asked, which wolf wins? The old man quietly replied, the one you feed.” – Author Unknown
Every now and then, someone will share a story that truly resonates with me (in this case, a very important person in my life). This story is one such story. While brief, it hits at an issue that we all struggle with. The tension between good and evil is one that causes many of us to hide our deepest thoughts and feelings away from others. We do not want to be identified as the person who has fed the evil wolf.
Regardless of your particular belief system, you will probably agree that this tension is a reality. We are constantly faced with decisions that lend themselves, in very simple terms, to good or evil. For instance, when we face conflict in our relationships, we have the option of reacting with anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and/or ego. We also have the option of reacting with joy, peace, love, hope, humility, kindness, and/or truth. Of honoring the good in the relationship. Even more…we have the option of responding with some combination of anger/peace, jealousy/humiity, lies/truth, etc.
This seems complicated…because it is. Most of the time, our initial reaction to something like conflict is a gut reaction. We allow for venemous words to spew out of our mouths or we do something that we know will hurt the other person. Our gut reaction, at least for most of us, seems to be one that neglects good.
Feeding the good wolf is a deliberate process. It is something that we have to think about. It sometimes requires finding restraint and acknowledging the importance of embracing joy, peace, love, humility, kindness, and truth.
Don’t get me wrong…feeding the evil wolf can also be a deliberate process. Sometimes it is just easier to allow ourselves to let anger, jealousy, resentment, etc. flood our minds and bodies, so we do it.
What are your thoughts about the tension between good and evil? How does it affect your life?
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No Thoughts About Good and Evil…Evil and Good