You have two wolves inside you all the time. One wolf is anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, false-pride, superiority, ego, fear, and insecurity. The other wolf is peace, love, humility, empathy, truth,and compassion. The wolf that wins (or that is dominant0 is the one that you feed.

While in the middle of a stimulus and response, we are able to observe the wolves with no attachment. That center (or middle) is achieved through meditation.

With every mistake or failure that one makes, we can continue to stoke the fire of that particular hindrance; we keep feeding that bad wolf. To learn from the mistake or failure one must feed the good wolf, and find the humility in the mistake or failure. Meditation helps one feed the good wolf. The unwholesome thoughts where one tends to feed the bad wolf are behind one’s actions. One’s mind is clouded with distractions and one’s emotions are roiled by longing, aversion or agitation. All of this clouds the vision and impedes the ability to get into the zone.

To quote Castaneda—“The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.” Right effort makes one strong. Wrong effort keeps one miserable. It is one’s choice.

Because as long as one’s ego-mind is focused on HOW one is doing instead of WHAT one is doing, one is operating out of self-consciousness. This mindset generates insecurity, it takes one out of the present moment, and makes it more difficult to get in touch with that still and powerful center space between stimulus and response.

The pole, the arrow, the bow are all one. Not many things. Not different things. ONE. There is no separation between you and the object you hold. The Native Americans call this the “Long-body.”

Deliberate practice; not focusing on winning, or achieving fame and glory helps you feed the good wolf. Exercise the right effort for the love and joy of the process, feeds the good wolf. Without love and joy motivating your efforts, you are feeding the bad wolf.

Native American, Mumford

Categories: Book Summary Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.