Teacher
Everyone is my mirror,
my student and my teacher
I don't think most
people would guess that wolf symbolizes the act of giving and receiving
knowledge, but if you look at how closely knit a wolf family is, and how they
move as one, the symbolism begins to make perfect sense.
Wolf's medicine
(wisdom) is its perspective. Wolves are known for their keen senses and ability
to track and hunt. For us, knowledge can be the thing that we track and hunt,
and those keen senses or perspectives are necessary to bring real wisdom into
focus in our lives.
When we point the
finger at others, three fingers are pointed back at ourselves. Everyone is my
mirror. I see myself in them. I am another you. I only recognize their
mistakes, their successes, their "sins" because I see the reflection
of my past in their choices. But learning to be less judgmental is a long and
bumpy road (footnote: I don't personally believe it's possible to be completely
without judgment on others. We're human).
The trap we fall into
may often be forgetting that we are always the teacher and the student at the
same time. For myself, I know that anytime I am passing along something I have
learned, there's a good reason the situation has come up for me as well. I may
be teaching, but I'd also better be listening, and thinking about it applies to
my life as well. Good reminders negate the need for painful wake-up calls. It's
like the expression... we are only as powerful as our ability to listen. Or how
about this one... from the Movie Matrix Reloaded: "We can never see past
the choices we don't understand." Which is a great example... look at a
simple wisdom found in a less-than-stellar movie. Amazing. We can also quote
Socrates (somewhat out of context): "The unexamined life is not worth
living."
Just as there is no
real "I" for long in a wolf pack, in our lives, we are not always the
alpha, the controller, the teacher. Life flip flops. Our society teaches the
opposite of sharing... they teach control. We as a society generally crave
control. Whereas a wolf sees that its good is the same as the good of the
whole. A tough focus to try to keep in our society. Which is why I have always
been grateful for any chance to share... because I'm really underscoring and
reminding myself.
New perspectives. New
paths to track.
Expanding our tried
and true practiced perspectives, so that we continue to grow. The expression
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear".... simply means
there is always potential to learn and grow in every challenging situation in
our lives... if we can just remain open and willing to learn and change.
Somewhere around us is the answer we're looking for.
Don't be afraid to
appear as a student searching for answers. Wisdom isn't about the ego of others
validating and respecting us. Likewise, the flipside of the coin is a caution
that being afraid to be a teacher deprives not only ourselves of reinforcement
and reminders, but it deprives someone in our lives who truly needs our words,
our time... or just our example.
A tall order as
challenges are hurled into our paths. But as the card advises, we may as well
"Take up the sense of adventure!"
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