A Rich Inner Life

I received this story in my email today that's credited to the Creek Indians. I tried looking it up on the Internet but could not find the origin, which is true for lots of stuff sent by email.

Two Wolves
One evening an old Creek Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside all people. He said, 'My son, the battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.'

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked Grandfather. 'Which wolf wins?'
The old Creek Indian simply replied, 'The one you feed.'

The story interested me because of the recent movies on cable dealing with souls, demons, and vampires. Cable is running the Golden Compass, Black Snake Moan, and a lot of zombie/vampire movies. The History Channel is showing a series on the Seven Deadly Sins. It seems man, his demon and soul is being showcased this month. "In everyman, of course, a demon lies hidden-the demon of rage, the demon of lustful heat at the screams of the tortured victim, the demon of lawlessness let off the chain..."- Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

The April 2007 press release for the Golden Compass explained that a person's soul lives on the outside of their body in the form a daemon (pronounced dee-mon), an animal spirit that accompanies them through life. A child's daemon can change shape, assuming all the forms that a child's potential inspires; but as a person ages, their daemon gradually settles into one form, according to their character and nature. For example, a person with a dog daemon would tend to follow authority, whereas one with a cat daemon would tend to be more independent. Appealingly, there was a time the official website allowed one to generate unique animal avatars. I did not find the link, but others have. Some have posted descriptions of their daemon.

What is a soul? In many religions and parts of philosophy, the soul is the immaterial part of a person. It is usually thought to consist of one's thoughts and personality, and can be synonymous with the spirit, mind or self, theology, the soul is often believed to live on after the person's death, and some religions posit that God creates souls. In some cultures, non-human living things, and sometimes inanimate objects are said to have souls, a belief known as animism.

What is a demon? From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon (or daemon, dæmon, daimon from Greek: δαίμων [ðaïmon]) is a supernatural being that is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In Christian terms demons are generally understood as fallen angels, formerly of God. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled.

So what does your soul look like? Is your soul controlled by a demon, or is a demon your soul? Are we as humans different sides of the same coin? Like the Creek story of the Two Wolves, with our free will, do we feed the good wolf or the bad wolf? Being human, there are days when we feed both, sometimes one more than the other. There are stories in the news, on TV and Internet of people fighting demons. There's even a website, We Want Your Soul.com. We Want Your Soul, Inc. (WWYS®) is a global private equity firm with nearly 250 million souls under management. You can find anything on the Internet.

We are obsessed with our soul and the demons that threaten. So we should do a better job of taking care of our souls after all there's chicken soup for it. So why would we feed it anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego? We should be avoiding the Seven Deadly Sins. They are deadly! We have an inner life-a soul-which, while invisible to the outside world, is very real and of utmost importance. Your soul is a living thing that needs nurture, care and attention. What intrigues me about the Psalms is the relationship that emerges between David and his own soul. He actually holds conversations with his soul. Look at Psalm 42:
As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?

3 My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

4 These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and 6 my God.
My [c] soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon-from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me-
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
"Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?"
10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"

11 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

Perhaps we should imitate David as an example, and give importance to our soul like the daemons in the Golden Compass. If we talk to and with our souls more, perhaps we will visualize them. Will they look like animals or more like angel figures? In a interview with Dr. Daniel Redwood, Dr. Kubler-Ross describes her strikingly powerful experience as a young woman visiting a concentration camp just after the liberation in 1945. Speaking to a young woman survivor, the girl said to Dr.Kubler-Ross that if you would only know that there is a Hitler in every human being! If we can acknowledge that Hitler in us, and get rid of it the woman said, we could then become more like a Mother Theresa.

Works Cited
The Columbia Encyclopedia,Sixth Edition. 2001-07..(Retrieved 2009,January 6).
Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008.. (Retrieved 2009,January 6).
http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Featured/TheDemonsWithin.html. (Retrieved 2009, January 6).
http://www.healthy.net/scr/interview.asp?Id=205. (Retrieved 2009, January 6).
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14153a.htm. (Retrieved 2009, January 6).