Native American Words of Wisdom

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A battle is raging inside me ... it is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The old man fixed the children with a firm stare. "This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee replied: "The one you feed."

I had a long conversation the other night with a close friend, who happens to be majoring in psychology. Naturally his minor would be philosophy, and we were discussing both subjects.

He had said something interesting which continues to have me pondering...

"There are two sides to every human being. The one that the public sees; the other is either the person who we hate, or who we love."

The duality of ourselves fascinates me both on the psychological level as well as the spiritual. Granted, I'm not attending college as he is, so much of my opinions is simply musings based upon what I am continuing to learn from getting to know myself.

What is it about our ego that, more often than not, struggles for unhealthy dominance over the temperance of our spirit?

There seems to be a commonality amongst addiction and mental illness in American society's ever-growing secular mindset, and the inner struggle with our duel nature.

We see this everywhere, especially within the western culture. From medicine and psychology, to science and physics, the nature of the spirit is consistently omitted. In the nature of duality, how are we - as individuals and as a society - apt to find a healthy balance between our shadow (ego) and our spirit? Especially when mainstream thinking acknowledges one side and ignores the other?

I read somewhere not too long ago where a physicist has proven 'love' as being the fifth element. If I had more time and it wasn't so late, I'd dig up some documentation on this theory. However, such a theory strengthens my self-created debate.

[Note: this theory, ironically enough, pretty much sums up my newly appreciated and reinforced belief that God is love.] 

The celtic singer, Enya, said it best when explaining the person I am: "I am not a religious being. I am a spiritual being."

With this notion in mind, you may better understand why I believe the 12 steps is pure genius when it comes to tackling the problem of balancing our duel nature, as well as mental illness and addiction. So kudos to Carl Jung, who was one of the first and few advocates of A.A. in psychology.

Wikipedia states, "Jung emphasized the importance of balance and harmony. He cautioned that modern humans rely too heavily on science and logic and would benefit from integrating spirituality and appreciation of the unconscious realm."

I can see alot of truth in that statement as we seem to have very little focus on our spiritual nature otherwise. The cliché - "I am only as healthy as my spirit," is telltale as to the success or failure of my own, or any given person's personal recovery using the steps.