Like "Clockwork," Our Core Nature Persists - No. 90. The Cat Maiden - The Essential Aesop? - Back to Basics Abridgment Series
Gregg Zegarelli Esq.
Managing Shareholder at Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC
-"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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The Gods?were once arguing over whether it was possible for a living being to change its nature.?
So, Jupiter?turned a Cat?into a Maiden, and he gave her to a young Man for a wife.?
At the wedding-feast, Jupiter said to Venus, “See how she behaves — who could tell that only yesterday she was a Cat?” “But, we should wait and see,” replied Venus.
Venus then let loose a Mouse into the room.?
Seeing the Mouse, the Bride?jumped up from her seat, and then dove onto the ground pouncing?upon the Mouse, wedding guests and bridal gown notwithstanding.
Moral of the Story: Sooner or later, a core nature?will tend to be disclosed.
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Introduction?- The Essential Aesop -?Epilogue
Related Article:?Hiring on Hope - The Business of Aesop? No. 90 - The Cat-Maiden; Hiring on Hope - The Business of Aesop? No. 90 - The Cat-Maiden
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Why We Loved It:??Why does Aesop choose his Cat for this fable? Because experience teaches us that cats have strong natural inclinations and core instincts.
This is Aesop's way of saying, "You can take the boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of the boy."
The general rule—not the exception—is that the essential characteristic of a thing tends to persist, and, if repressed by constraint, is subject to resurfacing, notwithstanding its dormancy. It may simply require the right trigger.
We remember, forewarned is forearmed, and Aesop's lessons on wisdom are in the nature of warnings about human nature; that is, wisdom by prediction by tendencies. Wisdom does not need to be perfect, but it does need to be astute.
Aesop's rule contradicts a hopeful narrative with a harsh reality tendency based upon experience. In short, a Lion might be artificially constrained to be like a Rabbit, and a Rabbit might be artificially constrained to be like a Lion, but, sooner or later, what something is by its nature will tend to resurface.
Aesop is not hoping about what should be, Aesop is teaching about what tends to be. There is a difference. Aesop exposes a common sense from experience.
Controlling, or perhaps repressing, core nature takes a great amount of personal framework integrity and discipline, because core nature is like water finding a path through any weakness in the vessel. The repression seeks a way to expose and to manifest.
Although subtle, Aesop's implicit lesson here is about hope correlated to trust. That is, from a wisdom point of view, predicting whether either we or others tend to change permanently.
This is a sensitive subject, occasionally highly offensive by contradicting some narratives, exactly because we human beings hope in the salvation that anyone can change. But, what a human being could do, and what a human being tends to do, are not the same thing.
Aesop is not adducing our noble thoughts and Jesusian prayers, but, rather, Aesop is adducing our wise thoughts: Being good and being wise are not the same thing. Like it or not, Aesop's 2,000 year old fables teach us to do the wise thing, which is not necessarily the kind thing. Indeed, in The Wolf and the Sheep, [1] Aesop teaches of the Wise Lamb who refused charity to the Injured Wolf. [2, 3] Sure, that Injured Wolf might have been one of the nice ones, but Aesop's Wise Lamb was not going to test the question. [4]
Aesop reminds us of a fact that we tend to repress to protect ourselves: Hope is a form of desire, and we know that the emotion of desire cooks the books of wisdom. Wisdom requires clear thinking, but desire taints clear thinking by introducing emotional bias. [5] But, worse, hope baits trust.
We see again and again and again that the fool tends to be fooled exactly for having trusted, and that trust is often the result of hope. [6] We desire something to be true, so we hope it is true. [7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] Hope is a bad advisor and a bad strategy, perhaps contradicting a common narrative. Thus the adage, "You know that you are starting to understand the lesson, when you are afraid to know it."
Now, having said that, we know that people can change, and so does Aesop. [15] But, that's not Aesop's lesson. Aesop is reminding us that wisdom is careful, not hoping, not desiring, and not trusting in or for results, but rather has a lucid understanding of natural tendencies of causation. [16]
Will a human being change? Can a human being change? It depends. But, hope aside, it may simply depend upon in-context common sense experience: the natural tendency of that particular human being, how "deep" or essential is that characteristic to that human being, what is that human being's personal strength of character and integrity, and what is the probability of a sufficient reversion trigger.
That is, what is a type of thing's natural tendency? What is this particular thing's natural tendencies? What is the strength of that tendency? What are the circumstances that will or may trigger or re-expose the tendency? What is the character of the thing to constrain a natural tendency notwithstanding presence of the trigger?
We might consider that, the greater the essentialness of the attribute, the greater the amount of the trauma required to change it or personal integrity (discipline) to contain it. Hope is not a per se element.
Wisdom would not characterize Aesop's lesson as skeptical, as such, but would simply call it a valid formula for wise decision-making, based upon experiential tendencies. Change tends to come hard, perhaps by some application of definition.
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Venus, as Goddess of Love and Desire, knows something about passion and emotion, playing her hand perfectly, if not with some irony, teaching the omnipotent Almighty Jupiter something crucial about wisdom and the nature of humanity. Venus had the arrow, and, such as it is, she pulled the trigger.
Yes, even the best and brightest can get tripped up by hope and desire. It's our natural human tendency.
[Ed. Note. And let us not forget about the Mouse. Where there is no free choice, there is no wisdom or foolishness, and the Mouse did not have a choice in playing in the game. It was easy for Venus to bet with the Mouse as money, not so easy for the Mouse. The risk of loss was for the Mouse. How this Mouse might bet with self as money, or how this Mouse might bet with another mouse as money, is a corollary lesson. "Facile est, bet cum pecunia de aliis." ("It is easy to bet with other people's money.")]
"Sapientia perfectam esse non habet, sed astutam esse habet." ("Wisdom does not have to be perfect, but it does have to be astute."); "Quod debet esse et quod tendit non idem est." ("What should be and what tends to be are not the same thing."); "Spes tatam nos." ("Hope will mess us up."); "Tu scis quod incipias cognoscere lectionem, cum id scire times." ("You know that you are starting to understand the lesson, when you are afraid to know it."); "Iesus docet quid debere sit, aesopus docet de posse fieri." ("Jesus teaches about shoulds, Aesop teaches about coulds."); "Prudentia et bonitas moralis non est idem." ("Prudence and moral goodness are not the same thing."); "Sapientia et caritas non sunt idem." ("Wisdom and charity are not the same thing."); "Facile est, bet cum pecunia de aliis." ("It is easy to bet with other people's money."); "Spes mala consiliarius." ("Hope is a bad advisor"); "Spes est malum ars imperatoria." ("Hope is bad strategy.") ~ grz
*?Gregg Zegarelli, Esq., earned both his Bachelor of Arts Degree and his Juris Doctorate from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His dual major areas of study were History from the College of Liberal Arts and Accounting from the Business School (qualified to sit for the CPA examination), with dual minors in Philosophy and Political Science. He has enjoyed Adjunct Professorships in the Duquesne University Graduate Leadership Master Degree Program (The Leader as Entrepreneur; Developing Leadership Character Through Adversity) and the University of Pittsburgh Law School (The Anatomy of a Deal). He is admitted to various courts throughout the United States of America.
Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.,?is Managing Shareholder of?Technology & Entrepreneurial Ventures Law Group, PC.?Gregg is nationally rated as "superb" and has more than 35 years of experience working with entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes, including startups,?INC. 500, and publicly traded companies.?He is author of?One: The Unified Gospel of Jesus,?and?The Business of Aesop? article series, and co-author with his father,?Arnold Zegarelli, of?The Essential Aesop: For Business, Managers, Writers and Professional Speakers.?Gregg is a frequent lecturer, speaker and faculty for a variety of educational and other institutions.?
? 2013 Arnold Zegarelli?and?Gregg Zegarelli, Esq.?Gregg can be contacted through?LinkedIn.?Arnold Zegarelli?can be contacted through?Facebook.
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CEO and Founder of Renaissance Z Capital
3 年To recognize the complexity of our judgement and decisions that you are speaking of, we must be willing to turn inward and become self-aware. We must consistently self-examine or we will never become enlightened to how manipulated our perception is by fear, ego, insecurity, jealously, weakness, attachment, etc. Because of such barriers, we lie to ourselves and indulge in self-victimization before we can reach the root causes. I advise people to never mistake vulnerability for weakness. Being able to wrestle with ones internal demons head on is the paramount representation of courage. One who confronts and battles the truths that they’ve spent a lifetime manipulating, will endure and thrive in any external situation.