Monday, July 26, 2004 Taming the beasts By Orlando P. Carvajal Uncut gems
Animals are of two kinds basically, the tamed and the wild. The tamed ones are helpful companions of man like the horse, the dog and the cow to name a few. The wild ones, on the other hand, like tigers and lions will hurt man, will destroy him and devour him if given the chance. We cannot really tame them.
Inside man, two forces are at work. These are the forces for evil and the forces for good. It is really as if inside us, the animal kingdom exists where again you have both tamed animals and wild beasts. The tamed ones are the positive emotions like love, understanding and care for others. They are in the service of our sacred self. The wild animals inside us, like jealousy and hatred, follow our false ego.
Experience easily bears this out. We have all met some very nice, quiet people who all of a sudden, in a fit of anger, turned savage and cruel towards someone.
Moreover, we know from experience that we all have a dark side to our character.
We know there is a wild beast in each of us that must at all times be tamed and kept in check. We all have experienced a moment in our lives when we discovered that we are capable of evil in a moment of extreme provocation.
Growing up and developing oneself into a genuine human being is a matter of taming the wild beasts inside us. Jealousy, greed, anger and hatred are such strong negative emotions that, if left unchecked, can ruin our lives and deprive us of human happiness.
Happiness can only come from loving and caring for all of God’s creation. The wild beasts in us are for destroying everything that comes their way. The false ego unleashes these beasts for its own self-gratification, without any regard for who gets hurt along the way. In the end, when the wild beasts are left untamed, it is the person himself who gets hurt the most.
The important thing to remember is that these wild beasts can erupt into a frenzy of rage and violence any time. The day does not arrive when we can say that we have tamed our wild beasts. We just have to keep on taming them every waking hour of our life. For when we think we have tamed them, something can always happen to make them erupt with wild rage.
The call, therefore, is for eternal vigilance or a never-ending struggle to tame our wild beasts. One must always be aware that a nice person, like we think we are, can easily turn nasty if one is not careful. Very often, being careful means avoiding occasions for the wild beasts inside us to flare up.
Religion, education and the arts are designed to help us tame the wild beasts inside us. These regimes provide refinement to our lives, elevate our thoughts to high and lofty ideals. The more religious (meaning spiritual), the more educated and the more cultured a person is, the more likely that his wild beasts are constantly in check. But then again, one never knows, so the struggle must go on.
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