Tale Of Dog’s Tail

Summary

The article compares a dog's tail, which returns to its original shape after being constrained, to the human mind's tendency to revert to negative patterns despite efforts to cultivate positive traits like kindness and compassion.

Abstract

The "Tale Of Dog’s Tail" metaphorically illustrates the resilience of a dog's tail to remain curled, regardless of external forces, as an analogy for the human mind's inherent tendencies. The narrative suggests that no matter how much one tries to feed the mind with positive concepts such as kindness, acceptance, compassion, and vulnerability, it often twists these teachings into self-aggrandizing or aggressive behaviors. The mind's propensity to compare and judge ("I am kinder than the other guy") or to self-criticize ("Be compassionate, you loser") exemplifies how it can subvert well-intentioned ideas into sources of pain and suffering. The article implies that recognition of the mind's tendencies and learning to let go of its control may lead to a more sane existence.

Opinions

The mind has a natural inclination to distort positive teachings into negative, self-inflicted pain.
Efforts to be kind, compassionate, or vulnerable can be undermined by the mind's competitive or self-deprecating narratives.
Awareness of the mind's patterns is the first step towards potentially freeing oneself from its detrimental effects.
The mind's ability to twist positive intentions into negative outcomes is likened to a dog biting its own tail, causing pain without understanding the source.
There is a suggestion that acceptance of the mind's limitations and learning to live alongside its tendencies might lead to a more balanced life.

Much like the tale of our mind

Had you ever heard of the tale of a dog’s tail? It is much like our thinking mind. How? You may ask.

No matter how long you keep a dog's tail inside a pipe, as soon as you remove the tail from the pipe, it twists back to its original shape; it can never be straightened.

And so is the case with our thinking mind. No matter what you feed it with, it can only display pain creating tendencies.

Feed it with teachings of kindness, acceptance, compassion, vulnerability; it would still sing the same song (music) with different words. All those beautiful ideas become another way to be aggressive.

When the message of kindness is provided, “ I want to be more kind,” it says “I am kinder than the other guy”.

Same with compassion. “I should have been more compassionate,” it says “Be compassionate you loser”.

“Shit, I did not accept myself enough that’s why I suffered,” it says “ I am afraid I might not be able to accept that. I suck at this”.

“I must be vulnerable. I must push myself to be more vulnerable,” it says, without any reflection of the very irony in it.

When we are hijacked by the mind — everything, every new trick, every tool in our bag — becomes another way for the mind to bite its own tail, like a dog biting its own tail and wondering where the pain comes from. We are mostly blissfully unaware of how the mind inflicts pain on the host (body).

Perhaps we might still try hard enough, and hopefully, later come in terms with its helplessness and learn to leave it alone, to live sanely or not. :)