Sunday, July 4, 2010

Morals and their context


We all have heard stories about Hare and Tortoise

The moral there was : "Slow and steady wins the race"
Sub-moral : "Never underestimate your opponents" 

Now suppose in that story, Hare doesn't sleep so ultimately he would have won the race.
The moral now becomes : "Fast and steady wins the race"

Now suppose the race track was passing through a jungle which is full of carnivorous animals.
Since Hare is fast, it could easily pass the jungle. But Tortoise being slow would be attacked by other animals etc.

Moral now is "Core Competence wins the race"  Race now favours Hare

Also assume further that after the jungle, there was a river which had to be crossed to win the race.
Now chances of Hare winning the race is very small since it doesnt know how to swim [ probablity~0]
But this is an advantage to Tortoise. There is some chance that he would pass the jungle unnoticed and reach the bank of the river and wave "TATA" to poor helpless Hare.

Again Moral now is "Core Competence wins the race"  but here Race favours Tortoise.


Morals are limited to their context. Similarly learnings/quotes/analogies are all related to their context.
IF you take the moral out of its context and apply the moral anywhere,  the moral can backfire.


I heard this story from Swami Sukhabodhananda.Please do make a point to watch the following videos.
http://sukhabodhananda.jnanajyoti.com/





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