Recommit to Virtue: The Struggle Within

There is a story told of a Native American warrior in the sunset of his days, who is passing on life truths to his grandson.  He begins, “A fight is going on inside of me.  It’s a terrible fight between two mighty wolves: one with beautiful flowing black fur and the other radiant white.”  He explains, “The shadowy one is Evil.  He is vanity, wrath, envy, lust, cowardice, greed, gluttony, sloth, and fear.  The glowing one is Good. He is humility, courage, cleanliness, obedience, industry, integrity, wisdom, gratitude and peace.  Son, you have this same fight raging inside of you.  So does everyone who has ever occupied this ground.”  The boy looked confused, and after a moment, asked, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”  There is a story told of a Native American warrior in the sunset of his days, who is passing on life truths to his grandson.  He begins, “A fight is going on inside of me.  It’s a terrible fight between two mighty wolves: one with beautiful flowing black fur and the other radiant white.”  He explains, “The shadowy one is Evil.  He is vanity, wrath, envy, lust, cowardice, greed, gluttony, sloth, and fear.  The glowing one is Good. He is humility, courage, cleanliness, obedience, industry, integrity, wisdom, gratitude and peace.  Son, you have this same fight raging inside of you.  So does everyone who has ever occupied this ground.”  The boy looked confused, and after a moment, asked, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”  The old warrior counseled, “The one you feed, son.  The one you feed!”

My Search for Meaning: From "Knowing" to "Getting" to "Becoming"

When I began college I was under the misunderstanding that my objective was to digest a discrete identifiable quantity of facts.  Once obtained, I would then know all and could share it with the rest of the world.  A few degrees later, two things became apparent: one, at least half of what I learned proved to be wrong or obsolete within seven years, and  two, I was not digesting a set quantity of facts, but was instead learning how to learn.  This became critical when considering the future half-life of my degree-based knowledge that would not sustain me beyond the student loan payoff.  Unless I could find a method of collecting more timely data in an ongoing, as-needed manner, I was in trouble.