Back 2 Basics (I) ... Just Doing My Sting!!!
When talking to people about overcoming emotional pain they often have a vague idea why they make the choices they do. They either have one of two assumptions: a specific event as the possible starting point or they were simply born that way. In my case, I felt that I was burdened with my issues since birth for I couldn't pinpoint any specific event as the starting point. Either way, after awhile, we become immune to the starting point and our choices and their resulting behavior become almost instinctual.
Story Time
Here is a fable that illustrates this quite well called the frog and the scorpion:
Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.
"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"
"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you won't try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.
"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"
Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"
"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"
“"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"
So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.
Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.
"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"
The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.
"I could not help myself. It is my nature."
Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.
The not so under underdog
So who do you relate to; the frog or the scorpion? Did you feel sorry for the frog or were you upset that he was so stupid to believe a scorpion? What's fascinating about this story is that the frog is written from the position of the underdog. Unbeknownst to me, prior to reading this post, was the fact that frogs EAT scorpions. The scorpion may have been the obvious threat because of its venomous tail but the frog was its predator. The author liked to draw feelings from the reader that the frog was weaker of the two but that wasn't the case. Here the predator was negotiating with it's prey; no poor little froggy story here.
Let's look at the scorpion. This was an individual who made a decided change and the necessary actions to implement it. When presented with its first noted obstacle the scorpion doesn't falter, instead it looks for options. Even when the only option available was to trust its predator, the scorpion pressed on. All that was left was to convince the frog that he would negate his instincts and be trustworthy. The frog relented and set across the river. Would you have made the same decision? I know I have.
Instincts versus Instings
Life constantly presents us with people who profess they are on a path of transformation. They may have made some revolutionary personal choices and even draw admiration for them but that isn't enough. Like with the scorpion there are always beliefs that come up during times of greatness that can destroy everything. It saddens me that the scorpion went so far in its journey to have instinct take over at the most inopportune time. Have you ever felt like that; that you are working towards improving yourself to have some deep feeling surface that sidetracks everything? These feelings sabotage almost all attempts at self improvement. Some people think that they are victims of instinct much like the scorpion but that is not true. This I believe is a core problem with psychology today, for it takes all accountability and power away from the individual. It makes the person a victim with only hopes of overcoming the feeling instead of neutralizing it. It can be done and I will show you how.
Who is the Common Guru? Here is our introductory article
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Pictures courtesy of Pixaby
Thank you very much. I knew the story but never thought of it in the way you've asked the questions. Very affective and Thought provoking.
What really blew my mind was that the scorpion was on a journey and that to complete his journey he needed to face someone he feared the most; his predator. Not only that, that in the midst of getting to a new frontier he sabotages himself by resorting to what he knew. Another thing was that he now only destroyed himself but took someone else out in the process. The story is still thought provoking for me as well with many truths still to discover.
Thank you for your amazing response :)
I appreciate your response. I don't understand what it means though lol. Please clarify :)