Collection of Metaphors

Table of Contents

Monk and Ox
The Knight and the Archer
The Teacher and the Dog
The Tethered Elephants
The Date Eater
A Metaphor by Genie Z. Laborde
The Blind Man and the Lame Man

Monk and Ox

There’s a Zen story about a monk who, after trying in vain by ordinary means to attain enlightenment (a change of consciousness), went to his teacher. The teacher advised him to think of nothing but an ox. From then on, the monk meditated day after day on the ox, imagined it, racked his brains about the ox. One day the teacher came to the monk’s cell and said, “Come out, I need to speak with you.” “I can’t,” replied the monk. “My horns won’t fit through the door.”
“I can’t…” At those words, the monk became enlightened…
He had imagined himself to be an ox, and when he awoke from this hypnosis-like state, he saw through the mechanisms of all illusions and deceptions in the world and realized how deeply we are spellbound by them.

Robert Anton Wilson

The Knight and the Archer

Once a heavily armed knight with a fearsome appearance was riding his mighty warhorse through the forest. Suddenly he stopped short and saw an archer with his bow aimed directly at him, the string taut, ready to shoot. In a frightened voice the knight pleaded, “Oh no! Please don’t shoot! Even though I look strong, in truth I am very weak. I’m really no stronger than an old woman.” “Very well. Go then!” commanded the archer. “You have spoken truthfully. Otherwise I would have obeyed my fear and shot you.”

from Rumi, Jalaluddin: Der Herrscher und sein Narr

The Teacher and the Dog

A Sufi teacher was walking down a road with a student. Suddenly a furious dog attacked. The aggressive animal growled and barked and tried to lunge at the teacher. The student, outraged, shouted, “How dare you go at my master like that!” and chased the dog away. As they continued on, the teacher said to his student, “The dog is more consistent than you. He barks at everyone, according to his habits and drives. You, however, consider me your master and therefore make a difference between me and others. Many times on our journey you have met people you ignored without a glance.”
The student remained silent for the rest of the day.

from Idries Shah: Lebe das wirkliche Glück

Author Stefie Rapp and publisher Stephan Landsiedel wish you lots of joy exploring and trying things out!

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Metaphors
Stories that Heal the Soul

In this e-book you’ll discover:

Why metaphors can heal the soul
How to use metaphors in one-to-one coaching, conflict resolution, training and talks, consulting conversations, and parenting
How to construct a metaphor — step by step

The Tethered Elephants

You know elephant training from the circus. This is not about training, but about keeping elephants in place. What happens with the elephants when there’s no show in the ring? They’re tied up. Curiously, the animals are tied to simple wooden stakes hammered into the ground. These powerful elephants could pull the stakes out with little effort — yet they don’t. They politely stay put without tugging at the rope. Naturally, one wonders why they don’t set themselves free.

Answer:
The animals don’t know they’re tied to a wooden stake. The desire to run was trained out of them during early childhood. Demotivated, they stand by the stake without trying. As calves they weren’t tied to wood, but to a concrete pillar. Hundreds of attempts to break free and run failed. With each try, the elephant learned it couldn’t get anywhere. The animal had no choice but to accept living within a limited radius. Even after the concrete pillar was later replaced by a wooden stake, the animal remained “limited.” The motivation to break out had died.

What do you think could make an elephant run anyway?

Fire! Imagine a fire in a circus tent. All animals — the elephant too — have only one wish: to get out! The big animal “forgets” its concrete training, rips the wooden stake from the ground, and bolts.
We humans are often “tied up,” too! Many times we’d only have to pull once — and then run!

The Date Eater

A woman came to the wise Ali with her young son. “Master,” she said, “my son suffers from a disagreeable habit. He eats dates from morning till night. If I don’t give him dates, he screams loud enough to be heard in the seventh heaven. What shall I do? Please help me!” The wise Ali looked kindly at the child and said, “Good woman, go home and come back tomorrow at the same time.”

The next day the woman stood before Ali with her son again. The great master sat the boy on his lap, spoke kindly to him, finally took the date from his hand and said, “My son, remember moderation. There are other things that taste good, too.” With these words he dismissed mother and child. Somewhat puzzled, the woman asked, “Great Master, why didn’t you say that yesterday? Why did we have to make the long journey again?” “Good woman,” Ali replied, “yesterday I could not have told your son convincingly what I told him today — for yesterday I myself enjoyed the sweetness of dates!”
Nossrat Peseschkian

A Metaphor by Genie Z. Laborde

A branch office had handled a certain process abroad for years, but in a particular crisis another department never stepped in to help. The first department felt its responsibility and competence to handle the crisis was being questioned and began criticizing the newcomers’ efforts. The newcomers criticized back, and the conflict escalated. Then a wise storyteller told the directors of the two offices the following tale.

A brown rabbit learned how to shoot a gun and wanted to go hunting. He looked at an elephant and decided elephants were too big. He looked at a jaguar and decided jaguars were too fast. He decided to try his gun on brown rabbits. He shot quite a few. Then the hunting season officially opened. Not many brown rabbits were left, and one of the first rabbits a human hunter caught was our gun-toting friend. As the hunter tied him up and carried him to the pot, the rabbit whimpered, “That’s not fair. Why always me?”

After hearing this story, the two groups began working together.”

Genie Z. Laborde

The Blind Man and the Lame Man — Integrating Reason and Intuition

There is an old Sufi story:
A blind man wanders aimlessly through the forest. Suddenly he trips over something on the ground and falls headlong. As he feels around, he discovers he has stumbled over a man crouching on the ground — a lame man who cannot walk.

The two begin to talk and lament their fate. “I’ve been wandering this forest as long as I can remember and can’t find my way out because I can’t see,” cries the blind man. The lame man says, “I’ve lain here on the ground as long as I can remember and can’t get out of the forest because I cannot stand.”

As they talk, the lame man suddenly exclaims, “I’ve got it! You carry me on your back, and I’ll tell you which way to go. Together we can find our way out of the forest.”

According to the old storyteller, the blind man symbolizes rationality, the lame man intuition. We, too, will only find our way out of the forest when we learn to bring both together.

from Peter M. Senge: Die fünfte Disziplin, slightly adapted