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The Conditioned Elephant
By Life-Musings.com | December 22, 2008
It is said that when an elephant is “domesticated” or raised in the zoo, a rope is used to limit the area which it is allowed to roam, with one end of the rope being tied to one of its legs, and the other end being tied to a pole.
The little elephant will then be restricted to an area whose radius is the length of the rope.
Of course, over time, the baby elephant grows and becomes a full fledged adult. It has become a much stronger animal. If it so chooses, it can easily walk beyond the perimeter of the area it was once restricted to by the rope and pole, probably ripping them in the process.
But, no. The elephant continues to remain within the small area it was once forced to stay. Why? Because it has been conditioned from young, and it has no idea that it has the power or the ability to break away and breach new barriers.
Before you laugh and think about how silly or stupid this animal is, think again.
We, as humans, despite supposedly being more intelligent creatures, are no different. We, too, are conditioned by many things, after which we are restricted for life, or at least a very long time. We, too, are so often defeated by self-limiting mentalities and attitudes.
Every time you state that something cannot be done, that something is impossible, that you have no choice in a matter, that you were forced to do something, that that is just the way things are, etc, stop and ponder - is that really the case? Or are you simply succumbing to conventions, to invisible rules, to self-limiting and self-defeating states of mind?
Like the adult elephant, our potential to explore new areas and break new ground is immense, almost limitless. Yet, unknowingly or perhaps even knowingly, we often choose to remain constrained by illusionary barriers.
Such a pity.
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