Skip to content

The Evil Wolf vs The Good Wolf Inside Us All

The Evil Wolf vs The Good Wolf Inside Us All

December 22, 2014 SVadmin Comments 3 comments

This “old Cherokee story” continues to make the rounds on the Internet. I saw it most recently on Facebook, posted like this:

Some thoughts:

As much as I love this old story — and I do love it — I think it’s important to understand and accept that we can’t ultimately defeat and destroy the Evil Wolf (all those dark forces within us) and live thereafter as “beings of light.” This is not some New Age parable. Rather, as the story says, “there are two wolves inside us all.” There will always be two wolves inside us all. The best we can do is become more consciojus and aware of the Evil Wolf (or, in Jung’s terminology, our Shadow). “Feeding” the Evil Wolf is equivalent to following it’s claims and urges as if they were the true path of virtue. Not feeding it consists in seeing it for what it is.

The Wolf that “wins” only wins provisionally and for the moment.

It’s important to accept both wolves as core parts of our nature.

Trying to rid ourselves of the Evil one is rather like Christianity’s psychologically unrealistic project of ulltimately defeating Satan. The problem with this project is that we’re constantly finding enemies out there and never confronting the Evil Wolf in ourselves. We’re constantly at war.

Accepting both the Good and Bad Wolf as our own is more like the psychologically healthy image of the Hindu goddess, Shakti (consort of Shiva), who is often protrayed both as a destroyer and as a creator.

On balance, I think the old Cherokee story is more akin to Hindu (and less to Christian) psychology (which we in Western civilization have inherited, whether we are individually Christian or not). 

Love_vs_Hate

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Blog
Mythology, Psychology

Post navigation

PREVIOUS
Carl Sagan’s Words Are More Powerful Than Ever
NEXT
Best Headline in Today’s Union

Join Our Mailing List

3 thoughts on “The Evil Wolf vs The Good Wolf Inside Us All”

  1. RickD says:
    December 28, 2014 at 6:12 am

    The obvious question arises what if the good wolf inside a majority of US citizens is being ignored by the bad wolf inside our government?

  2. Don Pelton says:
    January 1, 2015 at 7:22 am

    Thanks, Rick.

    Well, that’s a way of looking at it that hadn’t occurred to me.

    Really, I believe this aspect of human nature — a mixture of good and evil — is universal, and applies to all of us, whether ordinary citizens or our representatives in government.

    In fact, I believe that this is the view of human nature shared by the wisest of the Founders, and is the motivation for their design of a system based on “balance of powers.” They sought to limit the excesses of any branch, excesses most likely to occur because of the universality of the darker side of human nature that influences all of us from time-to-time (greed, gluttony, violence, etc).

    One of the great tragedies of our time is the extent to which this brilliant structure has been corrupted by greed for money and/or power.

    Still, on the hopeful side, we have overcome these episodes in the past and restored something like a healthy balance. It’s the work of our generation to restore that balance again. Even though it often seems hopeless, we mustn’t lose hope and we musn’t give up.

  3. RickD says:
    January 1, 2015 at 8:37 am

    Happy New Year Don, and thank you for maintaining this forum as well.

    I have great faith in the judgement and desires of my fellow Americans, but, at the same time, I see how we are all being manipulated by a systematic and purposeful acquisition and consolidation of media outlets that then show slanted , and more importantly, selective reportage. Our elected officials are corruptible due, not to their basic calumny, but because they work in a system that requires them to raise huge sums of money to get elected and further sums to remain in office.

    Even the best of intentions of our electorate finds our choices far too limited and the candidates choices just as limited. Without meaning to become overly dramatic here I see a war being fought for control of the worlds economy and wealth, and that war is beyond the ken of many of our well meaning fellow citizens. Slowly but inexorably this nation slides into third world status as the money shifts to fewer and fewer and opportunity to improve ones lot shrinks as well.

    I agree that one must remain hopeful and positive, Don, regardless of the negativity expressed in the above paragraphs. But one must also understand the goals we seek and the methods for achieving them as well. As long as the electorate believes that voting for one of two candidates for every office, either Republican or Democrat, can bring about the desired changes there will be no change, at least not for the better.

    I read with interest Nader’s latest thoughts vis-a-vis an alliance between right and left, and ,after recovering from the shock of such an idea I gave it some thought. I would love to see an article here discussing Ralph’s ideas on this subject. In any case I am certain that good people will continue to struggle against injustice, unfairness and outright criminality in this new year we embark upon.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

“Everlasting Arms”

Subscribe to Sierra Voices Journal

DONATE TO THE FOOD BANK OF NEVADA COUNTY

(CLICK IMAGE)

DONATE TO NEVADA COUNTY RELIEF FUND (click image below)

Jack Kornfield: A Steady Heart in Time of Corona Virus (Part I)

Erika Lewis, Shaye Cohn, Craig Flory – Got A Mind To Ramble

Tara Brach: A Steady Heart in Time of Corona Virus (Part II)

Recent Posts

  • Can There Be A Moral Obligation to Get Vaccinated?
  • Playing for Change
  • Like the Nazis & Fascists, the Republican Party Must Be Purged
  • “Blues Jam From Around the World” (Wonderful Six-Country Musical Collaboration)
  • What is mRNA? The messenger molecule that’s been in every living cell for billions of years is the key ingredient in some COVID-19 vaccines

Recent Comments

  • Hannah Flack on Is The Internet An Amplifier Of Crackpottery (Anti-Agenda 21, UN World Domination, Chemtrails …)?
  • STASIA KENNEDY on Have You Done the “Great Thing” You Dreamed of Doing With Your Life?
  • Board of Supervisors Tables COVID-19 Resolution Widely Misunderstood By Nevada County Residents on Comments by Eric Robins to Board of Supervisors Concerning “Open Nevada County” Resolution
  • Douglas Keachie on The Most Urgent Issue in U.S. Politics is Not Biden or Trump, Not Who is President This Time
  • The Most Important Issue in US Politics is Not Biden or Trump, or Even Who is President This Time on How to stop an Insurrection Caucus: These reforms could reduce GOP extremism and save our democracy

Archives

  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • December 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009

Categories

  • Aging
  • Anti-Depressant
  • Articles
  • Atlas Obscura
  • Authoritarianism
  • Black Lives
  • Black Lives Matter
  • Blog
  • Buddhism
  • Buskers
  • Capitalism
  • Cartoon
  • China
  • Climate Change
  • Constitution
  • Corona Virus
  • Corruption
  • Cosmology
  • COVID-19
  • Democracy
  • Depression
  • Disenfranchisement
  • Economics
  • Education
  • Election Fraud
  • Environment
  • Extinction
  • Farming
  • Fascism
  • Filibuster
  • Fire!
  • Food Insecurity
  • Foreign Policy
  • Forest Management
  • Fracking
  • Gardening
  • Gender
  • GOP
  • Health Care
  • High Country News
  • History
  • Humor
  • Hunger
  • Ignorance
  • Immigration
  • Insects
  • Labor
  • Local
  • Masks
  • Medical Care
  • Men
  • Mental Health
  • Middle Class
  • Mining
  • MMT
  • Modern Monetary Theory
  • Moral Obligations
  • Music
  • Native Americans
  • New Cold War
  • Nutrition
  • Oligarchy
  • Pandemic
  • Parenting
  • Physics
  • Poetry
  • Police
  • Politics
  • Populism
  • Press
  • Race
  • Reviews
  • Revolution
  • Right-wing terrorism
  • Rise Gold
  • Rivers
  • Romance
  • Russiagate
  • Science
  • Summer
  • Technology
  • Trump Virus
  • Tuba Skinny
  • Tyranny
  • Uncategorized
  • Vaccine Refusal
  • Vaccine Safety
  • Voting
  • War
  • War on Government
  • Water
  • Watersheds
  • Wildfires
  • Winter
  • Work

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org
© 2021   All Rights Reserved.