Journal of Sacred Work

   The old story goes that a man was walking through the woods with a great sage. "I feel as though I have two wolves within me," the man told the sage. "One wolf thrives on my anger and frustration. This desiring wolf needs endless food and drink from me. The other wolf is kind and loving and asks only that I share. Which wolf will prevail?"
   The sage stopped, turned to the man and said, "The wolf that wins will be the one you feed."
   It’s easy to say, in the abstract, that we will, of course, feed the loving wolf. But the wolf of desire is very strong and very seductive. If it were easy to feed the loving wolf, we should all be very happy and the world would be such a marvelous place. Instead, we give the loving wolf crumbs and fatten the desiring wolf with endless food and drink. As a result, the desiring world grows stronger and stronger…

   So much of life is about our battles with the desiring wolf. Our life choices are constantly clouded by the tricks of the world. Some of the richest aspects of life, including procreation itself, are nurtured by our desires. We desire food, and we need it as well. We want to be protected from the elements, and we need to be as well. So we eat food and build homes.
   But in a country where almost every person has enough food, we are troubled by a national epidemic of obesity. In addition, every city in America is populated by gigantic homes often occupied by only two people.
   Clearly, Americans are comfortable letting the wolf of desire gorge himself. Meanwhile, the wolf of Love often goes unnourished.
 
Writing about this won’t move hearts. But perhaps it will help us step back and reflect on the life choices we make each day. Ever since I heard the above parable, I have noticed that when I feed the wolf of my desires he only becomes hungrier. Yet Love asks nothing of me. Love simply waits, with endless patience, for us to enter her presence where we may, if we are wise, enjoy a peace that is free of unquenchable desires.

-Erie Chapman