Discussion»Questions»Random Knowledge» Cheyenne - if a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove....can you understand what this means ( I can't)?
It was more of a dismissal than an answer. It wouldn't have added anything to anybody's knowledge. I wasn't being a smart-ass: I just approached it from the wrong point of view.
Serpent being an archetypal symbol for Earth wisdom... I think the Cheyenne proverb has to do with the definition of power...as we develop our own wisdom, we move away from "the jungle law of tooth and claw"...
Another Cheyenne proverb is "Our first teacher is our own heart."
So true power is more the power of being, of the heart, something more like "I Am That I Am," and so we come to live more like Gandhi perhaps, the power of AHIMSA...harmlessness.
Dozy, I actually have given seminars on just this topic...the deeper meaning of power. It came out of one of those inner experiences, toward which you yourself also are a bit prone... It's a universal fact of life, so I just recognized it in the Cheyenne proverb...you should have left your answer up! I actually used your answer to stair-step to my own.
True wisdom lies in the avoidance of violence, anger and destruction. I think it fair to contrast that ignorance is fed by these things.
Snakes were cast in old pagan ideology as wily or wise, doves as gentle. The analogy is clear.
This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 18, 2017 2:29 PM MDT
Serpents are symbolic of being cunning, clever, and deceptive. If you have those qualities you are able to detect them and therefore have no need to impose them on others.
Having might ( in the form of wisdom here ) means you are protected enough to not have to use it for domination. Only the weak and ignorant need to force themselves on others.
It's about time we can both be awake and say hello to one another. I have been SO busy, Veena, I am relieved you are still on here. You know I used to be on Answer Bag every day no matter what, and I was kind of like that on here too, but then life happened and I need to graduate massage school and I have been really busy.
I am done with most of it. Old School is down here and is my room mate. LOL
We are trying to keep one another sane under some rather insane circumstances.\
I'm glad you are still here. You added A LOT to Answer Bag for all of us.
Oh Sharonna that's great, so soon you are going to graduate....YAY! OMG really, room mate WOW;)) umm thanks dear, you know how we were in AWE of you on AB