Other – Seite 2 – Teaching Stories

Start with a cage containing five monkeys.
Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.
After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result – all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.
Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.
After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.
Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.
After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that’s the way it’s always been done round here.

Long long ago, in a country far away from here, the King was sitting at his morning meditation when he received some news that disturbed him greatly and shook him out of his normal calm state. The messenger, who had brought the news from the far edges of the kingdom reported that a dragon had been seen again for the first time in many many years. Could it really be that a dragon would come again?
The King decided to take the time to visit his most-trusted advisor and teacher, the Wizard, who lived in an old house that stood on a cliff between the palace and the dark forest.
Now, one of the reasons that the King liked to visit the Wizard at his house rather than summoning him to the palace was because the Wizard had two beautiful windows in his living room –windows that seemed to face out upon every aspect of the world and bring sights and sounds, messages and deeds – from the world of today, the world of yesterday, and the world of tomorrow.
Wizard1

“They say that there is a dragon coming,” said the King.
“A dragon, indeed? It has been many long years since I have seen a dragon. Do you remember the dragon coming when you were just a boy,” asked the Wizard to the King.
“Oh yes”, said the King, “I remember watching the dragon come. It was so long ago – I was still so young and unwise in the ways of the world. I was immature like those trees that stand outside were just barely planted. Yet now although the trees stand tall, and I stand tall, I am still scared by the return of this dragon.”
“Come, come”, said the Wizard, let us go to my hall and notice what we can learn from the two windows that face out upon the world.”
They stood for a while in the center of the hall, peacefully enjoying the silence and the light of the late afternoon as it cast shadows through the two windows.
Each window was divided into three parts. The top and bottom parts of each window were a rich white colour. But the middle part of the windows were black with a gorgeous blue circle at the center.
Then from the center of the hall, the King looked up to his left through the top of the window on the left wall and saw the high mountains in the distance beyond the forest. “Oh yes, I remember well,” as he continued to look up to his left, “I saw the dragon come and when he got enraged, I watched his breath turn to fire, and I stared at him burn those old houses to the ground. I looked at the flames and prayed that I would never see such a sight again.”
Then the King turned his attention to the center of the window on the left wall and he listened to the sounds of the world, as if he was listening to the past. “Oh yes, I remember – I can hear the roars of that dragon coming back to me now. As I stand here now, I can listen again to the people screaming in fear at the dragon, but there was a sound, so clear and audible – that came to my ears even more directly than that screaming–it was the young dragon’s strange strange song. For there is nothing in this world that I have heard that is quite like the sound of dragonsong.”
After a few moments of silence, the King looked down left at the bottom of the window, and as he stood there, he seemed pensive and lost in thought.  “I tell myself now, as I have always told myself, the dragon will come again. ”

After a few moments, the Wizard said, “and what do you see happening when that dragon comes again?”
The King looked up right to the window on the right wall and as he gazed up, his whole face took on a dreamy look as if he were seeing something not visible to other men.
“I see what has not been seen before. I see that future time when the dragon will come again. I watch it flying back into our land, bigger and stronger than it has ever been.”
He looked across at the beautiful center of the window.
“I imagine the sound of the dragon – who is older now. I imagine that I can hear the loud screams and the roars of the dragon. And I can hear that strange strange dragonsong again. For there is nothing in this world quite like the sound of dragonsong. Yet I know that it will sound different, for just like a child and a man, the voice will change over the years. And I imagine listening to that changed dragonsong.”
The King looked down right, and as he did he looked down right scared.
“I feel scared. Yes, deep down right … in my body, I feel tight and cold and hard … I feel scared.”
The Wizard smiled at the King and said, “Yes, I understood. You feel scared. And it is only natural for you to feel scared of what you do not understand and believe that you cannot control. You believe that the dragon will come again and destroy the houses of the people. You believe that you have no choice, but to fight the dragon. Yet there are always choices. Sometimes we just haven’t awoken to those choices yet and are following the paths that we learned to follow when we were children.”
“For the dragon is a magical creature and I know much about magic, how it is structured and used to change. Would you be interested in knowing that you can transform your communication with that dragon?”
The King nodded, a little unsure of what this was all about, but open-minded enough to realize that the Wizard might be able to help.
“Yes, of course,” continued the Wizard, “you are interested in learning to transform your communication with the dragon …with yourself and others … in mind, I mean. And you can … learn how to do that now.”
The Wizard walked to where the King had been standing and looked up left at the top of the window at the left of the hall.
“I remember seeing an older dragon – a beautiful beast – she came in peace. I watched her fly so slowly here – an enormous great red dragon with eyes of green and a wingspan half as wide as your palace.”
He lowered his eyes and looked at the beautiful center of the window and said in a soft voice, “And I heard her beautiful song–Dragonsong–and there is nothing in the world quite like dragonsong. It is a sound that can bring fear or anger or joy or love or hope. All of the emotions of the world can be expressed in the highest way in dragonsong. Yet when I heard the song of that great dragon, it was the sound of healing and love passing out into the world from a magical place.”
The Wizard looked down to the bottom of the window on his left and the King could see that he was whispering to himself. Then the Wizard said aloud, “When I saw her beauty and heard the magnificence of that song, I said to myself ‘this is a wondrous creature indeed and I wish to communicate with this creature. And although all around me, the people of the city panicked and wanted to attack the dragon, I begged them to give me a chance to try to communicate with the dragon.”
“And I did, you know, I really began to communicate with the dragon. For me, it was easiest to really begin to notice the sounds within the beautiful dragon song. The sounds came together in strange harmonies and counterpoints and each note resounded through my very soul.”
“And then I started to feel the dragon song vibrating in the air – and my whole body was vibrant with the energy of that dragon song, and I felt myself begin to move – and to dance to the beauty of that dragonsong.”
“It was only when I really allowed myself to hear the dragon and to feel its presence that I could truly see the dragon as it really is. For the dragon is a magical creature and it does not appear the same to all. When you look upon the dragon with fear or anger, you will see the sharp teeth and the fierce claws. But when you look upon the dragon with love, understanding, and openness, you can begin to see the beautiful eyes of the dragon gazing at you in an attempt to really reach you – and see the dragon’s heart beating in its chest and to see the healing energy that it sends out to all who are ready to accept it. And you can begin to understand that at the highest level, and with the highest possible intention, the dragonsong is a song of love.”
The King asked, “So why do we and the dragon fight and cause each other pain and destruction?”
The Wizard looked a little sad and replied, “sometimes we fail to understand the positive intention of each other’s communication. Sometimes one or other of us is carrying so much anger, fear, and pain inside that we forget how to really communicate.”
“And will the dragon come again?”, asked the king.
“Oh yes, I believe the dragon will come again” as he turned to face the right side of the room and look out the top part of the window on the right wall. “I can almost see it already – a glorious grown dragon with shining green magical eyes.”
He looked at the beautiful center of the window and continued, “I imagine hearing its beautiful dragonsong and nothing in this world sounds as beautiful as that mature dragon’s song.”
He looked out the bottom window on the right and he said “And I feel good – I feel that it is right for this dragon to come.”
He came back to the left side of the room and turned to the King and said, “Look out the top window See yourself again as you were as a small boy – immature. Face the middle window and hear again the screams of the people and realize that they were shouts of anger. When you remember listening to that dragonsong again, notice the sadness in the dragonsong. Now move down to the lower window and say to yourself, “I have grown and the dragon has grown.”
He guided the King over to the right side of the room and said, “now look out that top window and see what you have never seen before–imagine the dragon coming again, older, more mature, bringing peace and love. Look out the middle window and imagine hearing the beauty of a true mature dragonsong.”
“Your transforming communication with yourself and with the dragon changes the dragon and it also changes you. The dragon notices everything, and so do you – sometimes in the past you and the dragon just forgot to notice the good things. Just like you, the dragon is a mirror – it projects what it perceives. If you project fear and anger, the dragon will bring you those things. If you project openness and love, the dragon will bring you those things. Sometimes it will take a little time for us to release and dissolve any pain or anger that was stored up inside, now is the time to begin to release and dissolve, release and dissolve any pain or anger that was there … and begin to truly hear the dragonsong.”
“So look out the bottom of that window right now and feel so so good inside – letting those feelings grow – transforming words – communication throughout your whole life – realizing that you really have so much to learn from the beautiful dragonsong.”
The King walked around the room for a few minutes absorbing the words and message of the wizard. Finally, he turned and asked the Wizard, “
“Will this grown dragon be as you can imagine seeing and hearing – and so bring us fear and anger, or will it be as imagine seeing and hearing it –and so bring us joy, love, and learning?”
The Wizard smiled and said,
“Dragons are magical beasts. The strongest magic in the world is the power of the human mind – and when the human mind can learn to respect and begin to understand the true beauty of dragonsong, then you really can … transform communication.”