An Old Cherokee Tale of Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee Indian 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.’

This is such a lovely story: so simple and yet so true. I think each and every one of us has these two wolves running around inside us. The Evil wolf or the Good Wolf is fed daily by the choices we make with our thoughts. What you think about and dwell upon will in a sense appear in your life and influence your behavior.

We have a choice, feed the Good Wolf and it will show up in our character, habits and behavior positively. Or feed the Evil Wolf and our whole world will turn negative: like poison, this will slowly eat away at our soul.

The crucial question is “Which are you feeding today”?

Feed the good wolf

Actually I also have this discussion with myself and I think that (for me) that it is a little of both. ?

I can tell you do it because you're nice. Trust me on this.

I’d say we’ve a public, and a private persona; there can also be a relational persona. If ‘crazy’ is like being drunk, perhaps one loses the ability to remain in one camp or the other... But I don’t think it’s as much ‘being evil,’ as it is curbing our instinctive behavior that, if acted on, could be perceived as evil.

We all have a dual nature. You can be who you want to be.

I have a lovely light side most of the time. Make me angry, I scare mysel!

Give me some time to ponder this for I am a bit slow. I'll get back to you.

I don't find your internal debate odd at all.

There are lots of things I don't do because I am able to project the probable
consequences of my potential actions.
That's does not mean I still don't WANT to do them, I just know I'm not willing to
suffer the consequences for them.
Wanting to do something, and actually doing it, are most definitely two entirely
different things.

I think I have equal measures of "dark and light", and I don't like putting the labels of "nice" or "evil" on them. I definitely buck the "norms" of value judgments on
these types of things.
I think most people, whether they're aware or not--or willing to admit it or not, are
the same.
I also don't think it makes me "crazy". I think I'm probably more sane than most people.

When it comes down to it, I think it's more about being honest with yourself about
what your motivations are for what you do, and what you don't do.
I see no point in burdening oneself with whether they are "nice" or not.
What is considered "nice" is actually pretty damned subjective.

in my opinion, it makes sense and completely deserves as much (or little) discussion as you need to come to a decision. (even if you have no more or less insight to the depths of your personality quirks as you have now.)

for me, i believe i have neither a light nor a dark side, but manage to be such a mix, that my aura should be a steely grey.

hamlet said, "to me, there is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so." -- so reflect on shakespeare, if you'd like.

I think most people do have a light and a dark side. Nobody's perfect.

I read once that we still have our reptillian brains which most of us have control over.
Obviously, some people such as sociopathic serial killers lose control.
Others barely manage to keep control but wreak havoc in other destructive ways e.g. greedy CEOs, heads of govts, etc.