"Hope you guessed my name."

Welcome to the Animal Kingdom

“Pleased to meet you,

Hope you guessed my name.

What’s confusing you is just the nature of my game.”

                                        Rolling Stones

                                        From “Sympathy for the Devil”

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

                                        Walk Kelly

                                        Pogo comic strip

          Recently I attended the Alabama Ballet’s performance of “Rooster,” a dance set to the music of the Rolling Stones.  In it the devil is depicted as a cocky little barnyard rooster.  We all know a few of those, don’t we?  Down here in the Bible Belt we tend to think of the devil as something outside ourselves—something evil and dark that is trying to claim our souls.  Very seldom to we see the devil as part of ourselves.  When I was a kid, a woman worked for my family whose name was Carrie.  She was a wonderful spokesperson for the Lord and when I did something that displeased her she would tell me, “That’s that ol’ devil talking to you, Ms. Jane.  He’s whispering devilment in your ear.”  I’ve no doubt that she was right, but only later did I discover that “that old devil” was me.

          Our egos do trip us up, or at least mine does.  It seems to be the very nature of human beings to want to power over other people and when we look at the animal kingdom, we can understand why.  It is in our genes.  If you’ve ever watched humming birds at a sugar-water feeder, you know a lot about competition and territoriality.  My two female dogs vie constantly for pecking order.  And, of course, Jane Goodall taught us all about the silver backed gorilla, champion of the pack, who claims all the ladies.  We know that with animals (including us homo-sapiens) ego and competition come with the territory. 

         

          While we recognize egotism for what it is, usually the attempt of a weak ego to prop itself up, sometimes we don’t recognize it in other disguises.  One of those is worry; worry about others and worry about ourselves.  When I worry about others, the assumption is that I could do something to change their situation, or if they would listen to me, they wouldn’t have the situation at all.  The power is in my hands, not theirs.  If I am worried about my performance, say in a job interview, or in a group social setting, then my great concern is ego-centric---how will I look, how will others see me, will I make a fool of myself, will people laugh at me.  Me, me, me---it’s all about me.  You get the picture.  “It’s that ol’ devil whispering in your ear.”  As animals, egotism is our nature, but as humans, it is our gift and our responsibility to rise above the confines of the self-serving ego and to allow our higher self to see with clear eyes.

                                                  In all things give thanks,

                                                  Jane