- This topic is empty.
-
Posts
-
Which snake story do you prefer? Why? Snake Story#1:
Quote:Many years ago, Indian youths would go away in solitude to prepare for manhood. One such youth hiked into a beautiful valley. There he fasted, and on the third day he decided to test himself against the mountain. He put on his buffalo-hide shirt, threw his blanket over his shoulders, and set off to climb the peak.
When he reached the top, he could see forever, and his heart swelled with joy. Then he heard a rustle at his feet. Looking down, he saw a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke: “I am about to die. It is too cold for me up here, and I am freezing. There is no food, and I am starving. Put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley.”
“Oh, no,” said the youth. “I know your kind. You are a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you will bite me, and I will die.”
“Not so,” said the snake. “I will treat you differently. If you do this for me, you will be special. I will not harm you.”
The youth withstood for a while, but this was a very persuasive snake with beautiful markings. At last the youth tucked it under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. There he laid it gently on the grass. Suddenly, the snake coiled, rattled, and struck, biting him on the leg.
“But you promised—” cried the youth.
“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” said the snake as it slithered away.
The moral is simple: Warn your children against those with poisonous fangs who will entice them, seduce them with easy talk, then injure and possibly destroy them.
Snake Story#2:Quote:A friend and I were at a campfire, suddenly we saw a snake come out of the flames wiggling in pain. My friend reached into the flames and pulled out the snake to save it, and when he did, it bit his hand. My friend’s reaction was to shake the snake loose,
and when he did it fell back into the fire.
He immediately reached back into the fire to pluck it out again, and it bit him again. He shook the snake free only to see it fall back into the fire.
As he started to reach out once again to pull the snake from the fire, I called out to him,
Quote:Hey…don’t be a fool for a third time; if it bit you the first two times, it will bite you again.
He looked at me and smiled and said,
Quote:Just because the nature of the snake is to bite me, that doesn’t mean that I will alter my nature, which is to help.
With that, he picked up a stick and reached in to finally pull out and free the snake from the fire and certain death.
The moral is simple: Don’t allow the negative nature of some or all of those around you to change the positive nature that God has given you to share with all. Nothing wrong with being smart (i.e., use a stick), but help, save, support, encourage, and strengthen those around you, regardless of their actions or reactions. Focus more on who you are and who you represent than what others may say or think about you.
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: I like tale #2
There’s wisdom in both. 
:I like story 2 but story 1 also has its pros.
Story #1, Tao approach: “Look pal, you’re the one that slithered up here.”
DoubtingTom wrote:
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: I like tale #2
Any particular reason why that one strikes you (and yes…this thread will also contain many many snake puns for sure
:angel: )?🐍 nibbler wrote:Story #1, Tao approach: “Look pal, you’re the one that slithered up here.”
:clap: I have a tendency to expose metaphors by extending them until they break or drawing a conclusion as much opposite of what I think is the desired meaning. My teachers didn’t like when I did that. On these I would just say, “remember that snakes bite”. With that on #1, pin the snake down and grab it behind the head and take it down the hill and #2 use a dang stick to get the snake out of the fire (but how the hell did a snake get into the middle of a burning fire???? – there goes my tendency!)
LookingHard wrote:
I have a tendency to expose metaphors by extending them until they break or drawing a conclusion as much opposite of what I think is the desired meaning. My teachers didn’t like when I did that.On these I would just say, “remember that snakes bite”. With that on #1, pin the snake down and grab it behind the head and take it down the hill and #2 use a dang stick to get the snake out of the fire (but how the hell did a snake get into the middle of a burning fire???? – there goes my tendency!)
I’ll play.
I like how in story #1 the guy immediately starts weighing his options instead of going, “A TALKING SNAKE?!?!?!”
On the plus side, at least the snake didn’t offer him any fruit. Though it was in the snakes best interest that the man remain ignorant if it was going to get him to carry it down the mountain.
Dos Snake for me. Both men in the stories start out with a knowledge of what snakes are and their danger to humans. Dude #1 is convinced by the snake that the snake won’t act in his nature. Which is to say, he has poor personal boundaries because he expects that the snake will not act in his nature because the snake promised. The man expects something, which the manipulative snake looks like he gives, in exchange for his help.
Contrast that to the second man, who also knows what snakes are capable of and their threat to humans. However, he believes in helping others so much so that he takes into consideration where the other entity is at, in this case a snake, and charts his assistance from there. I doubt he’s excited about getting bit, but it doesn’t deter him. In fact, he expects it because that’s what snakes do. Once he figures out he’s been the dunce, he gets a stick to protect himself and still help.
LookingHard wrote:how the hell did a snake get into the middle of a burning fire???? – there goes my tendency!)
😆 😆 I was waiting for someone to bring that up. Haha….have you ever heard of starting a fire and a snake hiding in their before the flames start? Have you ever heard of a snake going into the flames after the sticks are burning? Haha…how did it get there?Similarly…is the boy on the mountain delirious? I mean…talking to a snake?
To be honest…that was where my mind was when I heard that story. I had to try to stop that and turn it off, and remember it is a story. Haha.
You’re funny, LH. but…c’mon…play along. Regardless of how they got there, there was a snake in a fire and needed to be rescued. Do you rescue it? There is a snake at the top of the mountain …actually…with that one…does it really need to be rescued, or is it just playing on our human tendencies that we
thinkit needs to be rescued? If it is cold…can’t it just hide in rocks? Does it NEED to be rescued? Does it matter if the snakes are poisonous or non-poisonous?
DancingCarrot wrote:
Dos Snake for me.Both men in the stories start out with a knowledge of what snakes are and their danger to humans. Dude #1 is convinced by the snake that the snake won’t act in his nature. Which is to say, he has poor personal boundaries because he expects that the snake will not act in his nature because the snake promised. The man expects something, which the manipulative snake looks like he gives, in exchange for his help.
Contrast that to the second man, who also knows what snakes are capable of and their threat to humans. However, he believes in helping others so much so that he takes into consideration where the other entity is at, in this case a snake, and charts his assistance from there. I doubt he’s excited about getting bit, but it doesn’t deter him. In fact, he expects it because that’s what snakes do. Once he figures out he’s been the dunce, he gets a stick to protect himself and still help.
I like it, I like it.:thumbup: Is it foolish to try to help someone even if you are pretty sure they are a danger?Can “snakes” change? What if you show compassion to carry it down the mountain…will it reciprocate compassion and spare you the bite? Will the holy ghost intervene to help change the nature of another?
I’m a Potterhead (Harry Potter fan), so people talking to snakes doesn’t phase me in the least. 😆 Heber13 wrote:I like it, I like it.
:thumbup: Is it foolish to try to help someone even if you are pretty sure they are a danger?Can “snakes” change? What if you show compassion to carry it down the mountain…will it reciprocate compassion and spare you the bite? Will the holy ghost intervene to help change the nature of another?
Foolish? Hmmm, perhaps. But I’m not sure that I think foolish also means in vain. At least in this scenario, after helping the snake avoid death, the man is free to walk away. After the incident, the snake doesn’t affect him. I think that plays into it as well.
I mean, given enough million, billion years, we all evolve, don’t we?
:angel: Really though, I part of the answer is trial and error. Sometimes we’ll show compassion and get bitten. Sometimes we’ll show compassion and the situation is neutral. Sometimes we may luckily receive something wonderful in return. The fact that it’s a crap shoot isn’t enough to deter me from striving to be compassionate as much as I can. Your last question reminds me of a joke: How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the light bulb has to WANT to change.🙂 Lately, I’m of the mind that the HG does much less magical things than we have given him/it credit for. Which is great in the sense that that means we have more power and potential than we thought, but slightly less great if we don’t understand that concept.
Heber13 wrote:
LookingHard wrote:how the hell did a snake get into the middle of a burning fire???? – there goes my tendency!)
😆 😆 I was waiting for someone to bring that up. Haha….have you ever heard of starting a fire and a snake hiding in their before the flames start? Have you ever heard of a snake going into the flames after the sticks are burning? Haha…how did it get there?Similarly…is the boy on the mountain delirious? I mean…talking to a snake?
To be honest…that was where my mind was when I heard that story. I had to try to stop that and turn it off, and remember it is a story. Haha.
You’re funny, LH. but…c’mon…play along. Regardless of how they got there, there was a snake in a fire and needed to be rescued. Do you rescue it? There is a snake at the top of the mountain …actually…with that one…does it really need to be rescued, or is it just playing on our human tendencies that we
thinkit needs to be rescued? If it is cold…can’t it just hide in rocks? Does it NEED to be rescued? Does it matter if the snakes are poisonous or non-poisonous?
Snakes are cold blooded. The dang snake could have gotten himself out of there once the fire was just a bit warm. If he didn’t the gene pool of stupid snakes needs to be helped along. Plus you can have some rattlesnake-k-bob in a few minutes.And if the snake is warm enough to talk, it is warm enough to slither down the mountain a bit. If not SNAKES HIBERNATE! Let the dang think hibernate (OK for all you Herpetologist, snakes actually don’t hibernate, they go into “brumation.”)
Sorry if I took a bit of serious thread and seriously derailed it. What is the moral of that? Don’t talk to a silverback about snakes?
LookingHard wrote:
What is the moral of that? Don’t talk to a silverback about snakes?
😆 Nice!
I take it you’re more in the group that says…”you knew what it was when you picked it up. You should be smarter than that and leave it alone. You got what you asked for.”?
Either that or “the snake can take care of itself. I see no need to get involved.” – which can apply to both stories.
DancingCarrot wrote:
I’m a Potterhead (Harry Potter fan), so people talking to snakes doesn’t phase me in the least.😆
😆 yes…puns and Harry Potter…I knew they were bound to show up in the thread! Well done.
I like them both, especially if the first snake was poisonous. The issue with applying the first one to humans is that we are awful at knowing when people really are poisonous, so we end up assuming many people are poisonous when they aren’t.
The second one is good, but, again, it depends on if the snake is poisonous and likely to kill people if set free. It doesn’t seem to be lethal, since it bit the guy twice, but maybe he had spent years building up an immunity to iocane powder (I mean, snake venom).
Like many analogies / allegories / parables / etc., the take-aways depend largely on the bring-tos.
Thumbs up for Ray’s post. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.