One clear and temperate day, a Brahman, or priest, was walking happily down a dusty road when he heard the most terrible weeping coming from under a large tree. The Brahman knew that it was his job to help even the most pitiful, so he ran over to the tree to find a tiger in a cage. "Help me, help me," cried the tiger. "They are going to make a rug out of me. Please release me from this cage."
"Well," thought the Brahman, "It is my purpose to help even the most pitiful, but this is a tiger. He might eat me."
"Please, oh please, help me," sobbed the tiger.
"If I let you go," said the Brahman, "do you promise not to eat me?"
"I won't eat you. Please hurry and let me out," replied the tiger.
So the Brahman opened the cage and the tiger leapt out, right on top of the Brahman!
"Thank you," said the tiger. "Now prepare to be eaten."
"Is there no gratitude, did you not promise to spare me?" asked the Brahman....
[The tiger allowed the Brahman to go and ask others if the tiger should be allowed to eat the Brahman.]
The Brahman looked down in despair and spoke to the road beneath him. "You have heard my story. Doeth thou think the tiger should eat me?" The road quickly replied, "Holy man, I have listened to your story and ask you to remember that I am useful to all. Nevertheless, people trample on me and drop their garbage upon my back. Return to the tiger and be eaten."....
[A jackal, confused, asked why the Brahman, a vegitarian, wanted to eat the tiger. The Brahman could not make the jackal understand that it was the tiger who wanted to eat him. The jackal commanded the Brahman to take him to the tiger, and the Brahman did.]
"Very confusing, very confusing, I just don't understand," [the jackal said to the tiger.] "You are going to let this man eat you?"
"No, you silly creature," the tiger gruffly answered. "I am going to eat the man," and he explained the situation and how it was his destiny to eat the Brahman.
"I just don't understand why you would let a man eat you. How did the man get into the cage? Very strange, very strange," said the jackal.
"I AM GOING TO EAT HIM," roared the tiger. "I was in the cage, you idiot, like this!"
As the tiger leapt back into the cage, the jackal shut the door saying, "Don't let the tiger out again." And he ran away.
In the future, the Brahman was a wiser man. He continued to serve the poor and help even the most pitiful. But he had learned. If nothing else, he had learned that even tiger cages serve a purpose.
~ "Worst Enemy, Best Teacher," Deidre Combs
When you are in conflict, pay attention not only to what is being said, but how your own beliefs influence how you hear, interpret, and respond to what is being said.
If the Brahman had properly evaluated the danger of letting the tiger out of the cage, he would never have done so. However, he placed his purpose, of helping the most pitiful, above his own personal safety. His view of his purpose interfered with his ability to properly evaluate the danger and respond to it effectively.
Similarly, when the tiger said that the Brahman could go and ask others to determine his fate, he followed the tiger's instructions, rather than simply leaving and protecting his own personal safety.
The road gave its advice based on its own experiences, not based on what was in the Brahman's best interest.
The jackal recognized the tiger as a threat to safety. He had no moral qualms about tricking the tiger back into the cage.
The tiger allowed his anger to be triggered by the jackal's behavior. Had the tiger remained calm in response to the jackal's questioning or laughed it off, the tiger would still have been free, and could have eaten both the man and the jackal.
How do your beliefs influence how you hear, interpret, and respond?