The Elephant Story
Have you ever seen an elephant, staked at a circus
ground?
Have you ever wondered how that stake holds such a huge, strong animal?
Did you know that often, when it's time to move on, the handler tells the elephant to pull the stake, and the animal uses its trunk to pull the stake out of the ground itself !!
So, why doesn't the elephant just pull the stake out any old time he wants to go for a wander?
Because he's been taught that he can't - except for when the handler instructs him to. Isn't that Amazing, looking from our perspective? An animal that big, and that strong, is physically held in place - by a belief!
Now, we, on the outside of that elephant's experience, can see the Truth. The truth is that the elephant is perfectly capable of setting himself free whenever he wants to. But from inside his perspective, he doesn't know that. And his belief is that he is chained and unable to wander off.
If the elephant could speak and reason, he would insist that he has no choice. He would insist that he is unable to walk away. If we said to him, but you can just pull the stake out with your trunk, he would answer "I can't! I can't do that! My whole life this stake has held me here. I believe in this stake, I mean look - it's there! It's in the ground, and my foot is chained to it. You can see it with your own eyes. The handler used a hammer to knock it into the ground. It's obvious I can't just pull it out. It's always held me here!" and he would reason it out. He would defend that belief that he is trapped - because that is his reality.
Now, if the elephant was happy where he was, and his handler was kind to him, and he was well cared for, then we might just look at the situation, and find it interesting, and we wouldn't try and convince the elephant of what we know. And it wouldn't matter what the elephant believes because he's happy.
However....
If the elephant is unhappy, if he feels trapped, or if he is ill-treated, it would be very frustrating trying to convince him that he is capable of ending his suffering if he would only choose to change his belief.
Now the problem is, that there is no way this elephant can know the truth - he's been programmed to believe in the stake. And why should he trust us?
Let's say, another elephant actually did set himself free. And he tries to explain this to the trapped elephant. He says "I did it - it's absolutely possible! The stake is not keeping you trapped, your belief in it is!"
But the trapped elephant says, "But no-one knows that for sure!" The free elephant says, "Hey, that's true, and we'll never know for sure until we become human and we put the stakes in ourselves, but what I do know, is that when I changed my belief in the stake, I pulled it out with my trunk, and now I'm free!"
Then the other elephant has a choice - to find a way to change his beliefs ... or to continue believing in the stake. But the key word here is choice.
He either chooses to change or he chooses to remain the same. Either way he is making his own choice.
He may not know how to change his belief, but the minute he truly decides that he will change his belief.... all manner of information and tools come his way.
Maybe he starts to notice things he didn't before - like the fact that when his handler instructs him to pull the stake out of the ground to go to the water ... he may now become aware of how he does it, whereas before it was automatic. He may notice that when it's been raining and the ground is wet, the stake practically pulls itself out! He may begin to notice that his handler is too weak to push the broken down truck, and gets the elephant to do it - and this time, because of his awareness, he may begin to get a better idea of his own strength.... and so on.
Once he's chosen to change his beliefs, he begins to become open and to notice more.
But if he makes the choice to continue with his current belief just because he believes it at the moment, and because even though he hates his life, the belief makes sense to him... then he will be living in that perspective and he'll never become aware of all the bits of information that make the new belief make more sense.
Every single moment of human consciousness is a choice. You can start making the choices that make you feel good!
Have you ever wondered how that stake holds such a huge, strong animal?
Did you know that often, when it's time to move on, the handler tells the elephant to pull the stake, and the animal uses its trunk to pull the stake out of the ground itself !!
So, why doesn't the elephant just pull the stake out any old time he wants to go for a wander?
Because he's been taught that he can't - except for when the handler instructs him to. Isn't that Amazing, looking from our perspective? An animal that big, and that strong, is physically held in place - by a belief!
Now, we, on the outside of that elephant's experience, can see the Truth. The truth is that the elephant is perfectly capable of setting himself free whenever he wants to. But from inside his perspective, he doesn't know that. And his belief is that he is chained and unable to wander off.
If the elephant could speak and reason, he would insist that he has no choice. He would insist that he is unable to walk away. If we said to him, but you can just pull the stake out with your trunk, he would answer "I can't! I can't do that! My whole life this stake has held me here. I believe in this stake, I mean look - it's there! It's in the ground, and my foot is chained to it. You can see it with your own eyes. The handler used a hammer to knock it into the ground. It's obvious I can't just pull it out. It's always held me here!" and he would reason it out. He would defend that belief that he is trapped - because that is his reality.
Now, if the elephant was happy where he was, and his handler was kind to him, and he was well cared for, then we might just look at the situation, and find it interesting, and we wouldn't try and convince the elephant of what we know. And it wouldn't matter what the elephant believes because he's happy.
However....
If the elephant is unhappy, if he feels trapped, or if he is ill-treated, it would be very frustrating trying to convince him that he is capable of ending his suffering if he would only choose to change his belief.
Now the problem is, that there is no way this elephant can know the truth - he's been programmed to believe in the stake. And why should he trust us?
Let's say, another elephant actually did set himself free. And he tries to explain this to the trapped elephant. He says "I did it - it's absolutely possible! The stake is not keeping you trapped, your belief in it is!"
But the trapped elephant says, "But no-one knows that for sure!" The free elephant says, "Hey, that's true, and we'll never know for sure until we become human and we put the stakes in ourselves, but what I do know, is that when I changed my belief in the stake, I pulled it out with my trunk, and now I'm free!"
Then the other elephant has a choice - to find a way to change his beliefs ... or to continue believing in the stake. But the key word here is choice.
He either chooses to change or he chooses to remain the same. Either way he is making his own choice.
He may not know how to change his belief, but the minute he truly decides that he will change his belief.... all manner of information and tools come his way.
Maybe he starts to notice things he didn't before - like the fact that when his handler instructs him to pull the stake out of the ground to go to the water ... he may now become aware of how he does it, whereas before it was automatic. He may notice that when it's been raining and the ground is wet, the stake practically pulls itself out! He may begin to notice that his handler is too weak to push the broken down truck, and gets the elephant to do it - and this time, because of his awareness, he may begin to get a better idea of his own strength.... and so on.
Once he's chosen to change his beliefs, he begins to become open and to notice more.
But if he makes the choice to continue with his current belief just because he believes it at the moment, and because even though he hates his life, the belief makes sense to him... then he will be living in that perspective and he'll never become aware of all the bits of information that make the new belief make more sense.
Every single moment of human consciousness is a choice. You can start making the choices that make you feel good!
As Native people, what beliefs are we holding onto about ourselves, our communities, authority and our abilities that our history has placed on us?
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