16 Dec The Tiger and the Fox
Here is another story by Massud Farzan. This one is called “The Tiger and the Fox”.
A fox who lived in the deep forest of long ago had lost its front legs. No one knew how: perhaps escaping from a trap. A man who lived on the edge of the forest , seeing the fox from time to time, wondered how in the world it managed to get its food. One day when the fox was not far from him he had to hide himself quickly because a tiger was approaching. The tiger had fresh game in its claws. Lying down on the ground, it ate its fill, leaving the rest for the fox.
Again the next day the great Provider of this world sent provisions to the fox by this same tiger. The man began to think: “If this fox is taken care of in this mysterious way, its food sent by some unseen Higher Power, why don’t I just rest in a corner and have my daily meal provided for me?”
Because he had a lot of faith, he let the days pass, waiting for food. Nothing happened. He just went on losing weight and strength until he was nearly a skeleton. Close to losing consciousness, he heard a Voice which said: “O you, who have mistaken the way, see now the Truth! You should have followed the example of that tiger instead of imitating the disabled fox.”
Our natural instinct when we are frightened or lacking confidence is to look after number one. We try to make our lives easier by avoiding problems and running from challenges. When we do this we become progressively weaker and our comfort zone shrinks. We lose more confidence and our fear grows and we get stuck in a vicious downward cycle until we end up like the fox of the story.
We are at our strongest when we fighting for something or someone we love. The strongest people, the “tigers” amongst us are the ones who have a burning desire to love and protect those around them. We become cowardly when we fear for ourselves but that same fear when we feel it for others brings out our heroic qualities. When we help others, we face their challenges along with them and we grow stronger with them. The stronger we get the easier our life becomes and that frees us to help even more and sets our lives on an upward spiral.
loving-kindness meditation trains our minds to act out of love and stops us being crippled by fear. It strengthens our love and compassion for the world around us which in turn strengthens us.
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