Our True Nature

There is a long debate on whether humans are innately good or innately bad/ evil. I choose to believe we are innately good. At our core, we have a desire to help each other but have gotten distracted in modern times with an emphasis of the insignificant, feeding the ego mind of identity survival. Here are a couple stories that I feel capture the true nature of humans. Both seem to be an unknown author, but if you do know who to credit, please comment below.

A man saw a snake being burned to death and decided to take it out of the fire. When he did, the snake bit him causing excruciating pain. The man dropped the snake, and the reptile fell right back into the fire. He once again reached into the fire to save the snake and the snake bit him again and returned back into the fire.

So, the man looked around and found a metal pole and used it to take the snake out of the fire, saving its life.

Someone who was watching approached the man and said: “That snake bit you. Why are you still trying to save it?”

The man replied: “The nature of the snake is to bite, but that's not going to change my nature, which is to help.”

There is so much to break down in this story. The man is not making the snake wrong, he is simply honoring what is, someone or something’s true nature. He also does not stray from his inner truth simply because he was bit. How often in life do we get “burned” and decide to change accordingly, deciding that this is just the way things are and will always be. We become jaded and cynical and definitive. The final lesson is that even if we get bit, doesn’t mean we stop honoring our own true nature, we simply find a different way. You can honor the nature of someone or something else and still stay in alignment with your own inner truth.

Strolling along the edge of the sea, a man catches sight of a young woman who appears to be engaged in a ritual dance. She stoops down, then straightens to her full height, casting her arm out in an arc. Drawing closer, he sees that the beach around her is littered with starfish, and she is throwing them one by one into the sea. He lightly mocks her: "There are stranded starfish as far as the eye can see, for miles up the beach. What difference can saving a few of them possibly make?" Smiling, she bends down and once more tosses a starfish out over the water, saying serenely, "It certainly makes a difference to this one."

Building off of the previous snake story, here is another wonderful illustration of not straying from one’s inner truth. Even though the man approaches her with skepticism and judgement, it does not stop her from continuing on with her path. Another incredible component is that this woman is not in it for the end goal or accolades, she realizes the smallest act could make a difference. We often get so bogged down with the weight of the world & the bigger picture that we lose track of the small actions we can take to make a difference. Or we get caught in being the hero that we even forget why we took action in the first place. Ultimately, to make a difference in just one person’s life can inevitably turn ripples to waves.

Excerpt from Toolkit Tuesday, a weekly mindfulness newsletter with the occasional updates.

Photo of Kim Krans The Wild Unknown Animal Spirit Card