Sunday, January 29, 2006
Conditioning
While passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg.No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away."Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."
When I read the story above I thought of my own beliefs, conditioning and habits. Sure the animals are just the victims of their teaching. They are not thinking of their chains and ropes in philosophical way but we humans can look at it in two ways.
At many times we have made ourselves believe that we are unable to do something, perhaps because we tried it previously and failed at it. We convinced ourselves that we are not capable of doing it. We get so used to thinking that way that we don’t even notice that we have the other option to try it again.
At also made me think that there are some bonds as light as the thin little rope on the elephant’s leg but we do not break them because we know the value of that tie. We associate ourselves with that bond and breaking those would make us lose our identity, our self respect, our world.
When I read the story above I thought of my own beliefs, conditioning and habits. Sure the animals are just the victims of their teaching. They are not thinking of their chains and ropes in philosophical way but we humans can look at it in two ways.
At many times we have made ourselves believe that we are unable to do something, perhaps because we tried it previously and failed at it. We convinced ourselves that we are not capable of doing it. We get so used to thinking that way that we don’t even notice that we have the other option to try it again.
At also made me think that there are some bonds as light as the thin little rope on the elephant’s leg but we do not break them because we know the value of that tie. We associate ourselves with that bond and breaking those would make us lose our identity, our self respect, our world.
# posted by butterflyuk : 1/29/2006 10:49:00 pm
