This is often attributed as being an old Native American Cherokee legend (and I’ve obviously depicted it as such) but after doing a bit of digging online I found that its origins are disputed. This source gives pretty convincing evidence that it’s only a few decades old and evolved from a passage in a Billy Graham book. And Wiki Answers claim that the moral ending of the passage is inconsistent with traditional Cherokee fables. So I don’t know who to believe, and I didn’t credit the quote on the comic. If anyone can help clarify the source, please leave a comment. Regardless of the origin, it’s a great little proverb and one I wanted to adapt and share with you.
Thanks to everyone who submitted this quote, it’s one of the most frequent requests I get.
So you mean you would feed both wolves evenly?
But, the black wolf feeds itself off the white wolf.
So if you give them both the same meals, the black wolf would surely win.
And if you gave the white wolf more food to balance this, would you not be favouring the white wolf?
I feel like I’ve been feeding my black wolf a little bit too much lately… this is a nice and perfectly timed reminder to stop! Thank you, it’s wonderful
In my life’s research I would believe the source will be unknown. This comic has reminded me as a Buddhist principle. The answers are from within and the battle of the mind vs. the heart. Whatever the source, it most certainly came from a person of self-knowledge. Therefore, ever since time began, humans have always have had the habit of observing one’s self.
I love this saying. I first heard it in the movie Steppenwolf based on the novel of the same name by Herman Hesse. The movie was release in 1974 which predates the Billy Graham reference. I don’t know if the story was in the actual novel, but the novel was published in 1927.
I have heard it other places as well, and I would really be surprised if the source is Billy Graham.
OK, looking at the script for Steppenwolf, it looks like I confused the stories. This exact telling was not in the movie, but the movie is about dual nature and the desire to walk the middle path.
This is called a synchronicity (which is not the same thing as a coincidence). It happens to you more and more as you rise into higher consciousness, as you become more aware of the oneness of all things, the dreamlike nature of reality, and the fact that spirit/source/heart (whatever that is for you) is speaking to you at all times.
or it’s just a very likely coincidence, this is a popular story, and a popular website – that the two would feature in at least one person’s life is almost a certainty.
You know this story is a bit misleading if you leave some of the wolves die there will be no balance, just pure evil or you will be blinded by the “goodness” that excess makes us arrogant and controlling. It seems silly but the movie starwars we see that the Jedi have total control of justice and become an blind elite, with the exception of yoda representing the balance, but the elitism of the Jedi council made ??people who were not as good and they jealous this gave room for the dark side grow.
btw your job is great but pass this message to people without certain level of discernment could be a little dangerous.
This is your black wolf speaking. If you look at the traits associated with the black wolf, none of them are good, and the simple fact that you would feel the need to comment as you have shows that you either do not get the moral of the story (which is plain as daylight), or your “black wolf” is urging you to validate its existence. There is no place in the future for any of the traits associated with the black wolf. Evolve together, or be left behind.
Anger, sorrow and regret are perfectly normal human emotions that are in no way, shape or form evil, except when they get out of control. Aggression is a trait that almost all so-called higher species share – it would have died out long ago if its effect was purely negative. And what exactly would a human being be without “ego”?
On the other hand, a few traits of the white wolf are damaging if pushed too far, especially generosity and truth – we can’t all be martyrs, and where would human society be without lies? We need to keep the black wolf tightly leashed, but killing it off would remove basic traits of what it means to be human.
Perhaps you should re-analyse what it means to be human. If you think that lying is acceptable because it is “human,” well sir, you are speaking with a corpse in your mouth.
Would you really, honestly want to live in a world where everyone spoke nothing but truth all the time, no matter how hurtful? That’s what I mean by “lying” in this context. Honesty can hurt people as badly as dishonesty.
I agree strongly with what Brandywell says here. V and Ospero, you are letting your black wolf control your thinking. In V’s metaphor, you’re like young Anakin, taking counsel from the Sith Lord, thinking him wise, when really he is corrupting you so that you will continue to feed and serve him.
The black wolf will never die, it’ll always be there and you will always have to fight it. It’s that struggle that makes us human, people fight this wolf and every time they put someone else ahead of themself it’s a victory but the black wolf is always back. That’s why we always have to be vigilant, to watch ourselves.
A simple answer if the story is from Billy Graham or another Christian source….
There is this thing called the wordless book. It is a witnessing tool to get people to understand the concept of sin and the need of repentance, it is generally believed to go back to Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And the year it came out was around 1866.
In the book, black is the color tied to sin, white is tied to heaven. Hence when making connections with wolves, the colors would correlate to what the storyteller would know with colors already.
By the way for those curious Spurgeon’s Wordless book had only three pages:
Black: representing the sinful state of humanity by nature. Usually referred to as the dark page.
Red: representing the blood of Jesus.
White: representing the perfect righteousness which God has given to believers through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ his Son.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordless_Book
Humans have a primal fear of darkness, because of the lions and tigers and bears that jump from it. And wolves. Anyway, black is the darkest color. That’s probably why.
The short answer is that light brings awareness, and pure undistorted light appears as white. Light has been a symbol of spirituality, purity, and divinity throughout all of recorded history.
However, there is a buddhist concept of The Void (Sunyata) that I interpret in this way: it is the letting go of all illusions. This place appears as blackness to the mind. When we exist in the void, we are pure I Am. This is another way of experiencing spirituality, purity, and divinity.
Most people are terrified of the void, because the black wolf lives in the place you have to go through to get there, and you must let go of all of the egoic thoughts and feelings that most people use as defenses against the black wolf (their own fears and ego are essentially fighting themselves here) and the world.
This requires tremendous faith, but if you succeed, you enter an eternal space, and you realize that you are the white wolf; not the illusions of color and form, but the truth of it. You are not alone in a separated sense. You are alone with the true realization that you are the entirity of all that is.
So white and black can both be powerful spiritual symbols, but most people easily see that light (white) is spiritual, while they remain afraid of the void (black). Either way, always remember that it is the meaning behind the symbol that matters.
I don’t even know why I come here to compliment you anymore. It seems pretty obvious you’re on the right track and that you have a cult following. Keep up the good work.
This is exactly what I needed to see at this precise moment! I have been feeding the Evil Wolf way too much and this gave me the nudge that I needed to change. It even sparked a new blog post! Check it out at http://recreatinglisa.wordpress.com/. Keep the awesomeness coming!
I really admire how you could depict goodness and evil in your drawings of the wolf. Looking into the eyes of the white wolf, I felt like it understood the very bottom of my heart, and that it wanted nothing more than for me to let it win the battle. It gives me chills to be so well-understood by a voiceless cartoon animal. Really fantastic stuff Gav!
White wolf eyes are beautiful and tell everything that his opponent needs to know. Sometimes, calm eyes are more fearsome than the angry ones. great job.
I am totally addicted to the site, I just spent over an hour going through the archives…not all of the comics resonate with me, but every so often one does. The past hour and a half has been like taking a walk on a beach finding a new and interesting shell every five minutes.
Still, I believe ego is not -bad- by itself – it is just an illusion that makes things look separated, black or white, good or bad (but never mixed).
We need black wolves to learn about goodness. Love the black wolf inside you as a teacher and nurture the white one without attaching to it. When the two finally befriend themselves, you found the truth.
Actually, learn to love what you fear most is the most amazing thing I have ever encountered in my life…
Writing good , awesome ,… etc cannot do justice to this. Its beyond all that something which simulates you in the right manner.
You are a great artist my friend.
don’t get all butthurt.you have to take into consideration from the point it’s being told.natives American usually saw white as being good and black as being evil.
The comic is well done – but I, like others it seems, have a slight issue with the colours of the wolves. I think it might be more interesting to put them in the different shades of grey wolves, keeping the facial expressions definitely, but showing there is still more nuance to the battle. They are the same wolf with different faces.
However, I do enjoy your work! Thank you for continuing to bring interesting ways of looking at different quotes.
Incidentally – the Cherokee did not wear headdresses. That is a Hollywood stereotype drawn from plains tribes like the Sioux.
Nice comic and very inspirational. It is IMHO better to feed the white wolve, but I’m sorry to say that faith doesn’t has that importance in zen as implicated in this comic.
And – as NEAL right before me said – I also would like to see two grey wolves, because good an evil are not black and white, they are only different sides of the same coin.
_( )_
I don’t think this entire site is dedicated to zen…, so don’t put it in an box right away.
Also, Gav draws comics, it’s a visual art, you need to depict things in a way where people quickly understand the concepts, hence black and white.
Also I think I know what you try to say, but I don’t know about the two sides of coin thing.
Evil is where Good is absent. So Good needs to be done to prevent evil.
Speaking as a physicist, darkness in itself is not an entity, it is the absence of light. Light is something, either wave or particle, darkness is neither.
I really love this one. I’m not sure about the very original source, but the first time I read this legend was in Hermann Hesse’s “Der Steppenwolf”. Don’t know if this will be of any help… Take care! Jindra
Hello
Thank you for making the child a girl!
I love this quote, the fact that we choose the way we are is absolute freedom. And that wisdom is passed from the elders to the children, like it is for everyone, not only the strongest or the most intelligent.
Thank you for sharing your comics with us!
We use good wolf-bad wolf in our middle school’s character ed program… the kids could really relate… We talk of making good choices and with GWBW it’s easy to ask… “so which wolf are you feeding today?” Their writing of how which wolf is showing up in their lives is some of thej most powerful stuff I’ve ever read from this age level… Thank you for putting your images up… I’ll be sharing it with the kids.. and ordering prints too.
Not entirely convinced ego and faith are in the right category, especially in such a promiment place in the comic. They are very loaded words. Having faith is not always good, and having ego is not always bad.
Most of the other words are quite clear-cut in the right category, so it’s a shame that all the emphasis is put on the only two that are so ambiguous.
I don’t have an exacte quote, but the only thing that came to mind was something in the new testament. I searched it online and I realized that the features attributed to the white wolf closely resemble what are called “the fruits of the spirit” which apparently should increase when you have Christ living in you.
So the reference is the book of Galatians 5 verse 22 and 23. Interesting stuff in there.
So I can see how it could be from that Graham guy or something he read. Seems plausible.
However if it comes from another culture I’d rather see it attributed to its right source as so many people have discovered so much of the truth. Christianity if reduced to a culture, like in America, is just such a mindless vanity, it’s just one nutcase religion like any other. However this is Christianity without Christ.
Christianity with Christ is a whole other story. I think it has something found nowhere else.
Sorry I digress.
I still think it would be cool if it was a Cherokee story, so great job on the interpretation.
Gav, I hope your travels went well and were a rich experience.
Amazing depiction of an excellent quote to, not only reflect about our daily choices, but also take to kids and students… However, I agree with many of the comments above that it would definitely be a better one if it did not reinforce the black & white view of evil versus goodness. You have a gift for body language and facial expressions which makes it irrelevant to change the colors of the wolves to figure out which would be the angrier of them.
I know it is not our business to interfere with ART, specially your art – because that is what you do every week, you give us a pure and beautiful depiction of something which make us think critically about ourselves and the world we live in – but I am sure some of us could use your work to discuss or teach, and I believe it is our duty to change, if not the current, but the next generation’s views of (the human) race.
Anyway, thank you for your daily labor – see you next week for another inspirational story.
Overall, I like this and my only complaint is with the saying itself. Why do people think of faith as a positive instead of a negative. Faith is a terrible blight on humanity.
To all people saying faith isn’t necessarily a good thing, I don’t think it means religion here (not saying anything for or against religion).
Personally, what I think it means is the ability to keep going no matter what. To believe in something with your whole heart and soul, and to let that faith spur you on to do incredible things.
Take Gav, for example-it took a whole lot of faith and a belief in his abilities to quit his job, and look where he is now.
As for the white and black wolves, imagine that the good wolf has black fur in that panel where it seems to be staring into your soul…for me, those eyes looking at me with a dark background would look scary. The colour of their fur has nothing to do with the characteristics they embody. Just reading a few of these comics, you can tell that one of the main themes is equality, and he’s one of the least discriminating people I can think of. I think it’s beautifully drawn either way though.
Sorry for the rant. Gav, love the comics, love this comic, love what you do
When black and white fight, no winner will be chosen. With a black wolf and a white wolf in the ring an endless battle is all that we’ll find. We will be presented: the color ‘gray’. We all have a certain balance.
Based on what we’ve learned from our parents and based on what we’ve learned from our teachers. We all have a different color of gray. Based on this shade, we shall choose our own direction. We will have compassion, we shall have greed. We will know love and we will know hate. Based on the black and white we have been feeding with, we will show which shade of gray we have.
Nonetheless, there’s black and white in each of us.
What you fail to realise and understand with your Yin and Ying new-age cliches of “neutrality” being needed is this: What place do ANY of the black wolf’s characteristics benefit you? If you think any of them do, you have been fooled and are obviously feeding your “black wolf”. The world is NOT gray, it is black and white and what is wrong and right is often times very clear once you strip away your inhibitions. While your ideology of “neutrality” is romantic I must admit, it’s far from centre. Quit kidding yourself, embrace what is right. Be a good human being and send the black wolf packing.
Gandhi got angry at what the British were doing to India. So did a lot of the liberators of colonial Africa.
Mother Teresa got sorrowful when she saw what was happening to the poor in Calcutta.
The Dalai Lama is probably both angry and disappointed at the Chinese for what they do to Tibet.
You wanted positive examples of what the black wolf’s supposed vices can do for humans? There you go. As long as you channel your anger, sorrow and regret into doing constructive things, they’re actually useful.
Oh, and pretending the world is black and white when it clearly is not is willfully blinding yourself. What virtue of the white wolf would that be, exactly?
Mother Theresa also told the people of Africa that the HIV virus could pass through microscopic holes in a condom. What virtue of the white wolf is that?
By the way, all those examples you listed of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama and all these other cliche references, those people are not acting on behalf of the “black wolf” — Their anger comes from the virtues of the “white wolf”. Next time you try to argue about something at least look at what you are saying.
Anger is explicitly listed as a vice of the black wolf. Perhaps you should follow your own advice on this and read the quote before you post. Yes, these people got angry for “good reasons”, but there’s the catch, isn’t it? This whole quote is reductive and simplistic – I wouldn’t want to live in a world defined purely by the white “virtues” any more than I’d want to live in a world defined exclusively by the black “vices”, and for all your whimpering about “cliché” (as if the quote was any better on that count), neither would you. I won’t tell you what I think of you based on these comments, even though that would be “honest” and therefore “good”, because I’d rightfully get banned from this site for doing that.
Nice one… ran into your site accidentally last week and have run through everything and was waiting for an update for a week…. I wish your work were available in other languages..
I would love a poster of this for my dad, its his favourite quote. He read it at his friends funeral and it would be a wonderful reminder of his life. I’d love to have ths framed in his study
In real life, it is not so clear what’s good or bad like a black and a white wolf. It’s easy to say for the old chief with all those benefits of hindsight. Good luck, kid!
i discovered the two wolves comic whilst aimlessly scrolling through my tumblr dashboard, it has now been a good 45 minutes that i have been pressing the previous/next button on your blog, all the quotes are truly inspirational and your extraordinary graphic talent makes them come alive, thankyou
Melody, London, UK
A couple people have mentioned Hesse’s Steppenwolf, but I’m pretty certain that Hesse is not the source of this quote. While Steppenwolf did deal with duality, the central metaphor was about the struggle between the man and the wolf. Moreover, Hesse endlessly added nuances and variations to his metaphor, never ending with a neat soundbite:
“To explain so complex a man by the division into wolf and man is a hopelessly childish attempt…His life oscillates, as everyone’s does, not merely between two poles, the saint and the sinner, but between thousands and thousands… Every ego is a manifold world, a constellated heaven, a chaos of forms, of states and stages, of inheritances and possibilities.”
Thanks for all the comments, wasn’t expecting this comic to generate so much feedback.
As for the black/white issue: I went with the classic black/evil, white/good because it was the first thing I thought of, yes, comics are visual so I’m always thinking visually. It would have been cool if I flipped it around and made black/good and white/evil but it didn’t occur to me while I was creating it.
I draw and publish the comic within a short time span and sometimes I think ‘Oh, I should have done it this way or that way’ but once it’s published it’s done and I move on to the next one.
BTW, I’m having fun on holiday, thanks for the well wishes
As cliche as it is to make the black one evil and the white one good, it is even more cliche and trite to reverse it. You don’t have to be too concerned with being clever. Take a leaf out of Hemingway’s book and just present everything as it seems, naturally. It worked for him rather well.
Next time you need a versus thing, use blue and yellow or red.
It is a sad thing, but my black students don’t represent themselves with dark skin in self-portraits because black is the evil color. They have six, seven years of age, and they left their skin white because “white is the color of beauty and good”.
hi…I’ve been read your material for a while now.I’m really impressed and at the same time I’ve been inspired by your work. Can you please make a wallpaper for PRESS ON! by Calvin Coolidge. It’s my favorite out of all your work so far. I read that comic everyday to keep me motivated in my life.
I shared this with my 6th grade classes today. You could have heard a pin drop. They nodded vigorously as their personal and private struggles were validated. Another teacher came and told me, “(Kid) said that he loved English class today because he learned that all people possess both good and bad. Your work made the world a better place today, for at least 100 American kids and one revitalized teacher. The Einstein quote about the fish is now my wall paper. I can’t wait to buy prints for my classroom.
This cartoon is great, but I read some comments saying the black wolf is also needed, and I want to display it with a jewish story. I hope it’s not too long to read, beacuse I would like to read Gav’s and other people’s comments about the idea expressed in it.
The jewish sages and prophets beileved that the first temple was destroyed and their people were banished to Babylon as a punishment for paganism, so when they returned to their country and build another temple, they asked God to destroy the will to worship paganic gods. After 3 days of prayers and fasts, God agreed. The sages saw this “will” coming out of the temple as a fire lion and killed it.
Amazed by their success, all those rabbis decided to exploit this moment of compassion from God, and kill another dangerous “will”- lust. By their request, they recieved another lion, this time just putting it in a cage. 3 days passed, and they couldn’t find even one egg.
Understanding the world can’t exist without sex, they released lust, after blinding it. Without eyes, the sexual tension among family relatives dropped.
This story shows, in my opinion, that even traits that are considered to be bad in the jewish belief, rest in the holiest place, and can be used for good (in the paganism’s case, it might be religious enthusiasm or something like that).
Gav, if you did read all that, what do you think?
Thank you. After getting the reactions I did for suggesting that not all of the black vices were dispensable, it’s refreshing to go through all the comments and find one that actually seems to agree with what I was saying.
I sort of understand where you might be coming from. I find myself feeling the same way about people who LOVE Thomas Kinkade paintings because as a painter they seem trite and saccharine. Maybe you are a philosopher or something and that’s what makes you recommend self sterilisation to anyone who likes this. No, it’s not as nuanced and detailed as some long treatise by Sartre but it is simple and positive and I liked it. Just like a Kinkade painting works on a grandmothers wall but not the Gugenheim, not everything has to be at “your level” to be good. Personally, if you feel the need to comment you should frame it as constructive criticism, otherwise you look like a troll and/or a douche.
Gav,
Sorry, I just realised that my reply to Timothy might make it seem like I thought your comics were to philosophy as Kinkade (R.I.P.) is to painting. Not true. I really dig your work.
I shared this with a friend here at work, thinking it was just a neat little comic. Personally, it was something for me. As it turned out she shared it with her kids, and it helped them deal with and understand their emotions more effectively during a challenging time in their lives.
I just read through all these quotes and pictures and I have always loved this quote. Seeing you draw something to it, makes it even more remarkable. Thank you
There’s a third wolf that’s left out of this sequence. He’s off to the the side watching the two wolves, and wonders why they fight. HE wonders why they need Ego, or why the passions of the white wolf are preferred. He constantly questions the internal struggle, and wonders why the two can’t exist in harmony…Maybe that third wolf is actually me.
Great comic. But I would note that in many ways faith is just another form of ego. When a person says “I have faith in XYZ” the key part is the “I”. It is an imposition of the ego’s conceptions (of God, gods, etc.) on eternity/the universe/etc. We tell ourselves that faith is a form of egolessness, but it is in fact the height of ego.
Although I read your comics regularly, my first time posting a comment. I am kind of an amateurish musician and during my weekend session, came up with a song that was inspired by your comic here – the two wolves.
This one reminds me about myself and an experience I’ve been through.
At one point in my life, I got jumped on my way home from town, got kicked and stomped in the head several times, spent some considerable time in hospital as I according to the docs was incredibly lucky to still be alive. The injuries I got have mostly healed, but have made life difficult every now and then.
But almost everytime I tell people about that experience and how it has affected me, people will go
“Damn if I got my hands on those guys I’d do this and that to them grrrrr %”%¤”#!! wouldn’t you do the same?” (or similar reaction)
And all I can think is “How is that gonna make me a better person?”
The external world is the reflection of the inner world – Sri Amma Bhagavan
this conflict is manifesting in the world – as aggression , wars
let us become aware of what is happening inside us
Onenesss
This story reminds me of the conflict between Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu from Zoroastrianism. The belief states that the battle between truth and falsehood is played out in people’s hearts, and people’s actions will either give strength to Spenta Mainyu (truth) or to Angra Mainyu (chaos). The belief focuses on the importance of human will and recognizing the fact that you have the capability to choose what path to take. It also shows that your actions have a greater effect upon the world.
I know that this was a really simplified version of the belief, but I found it beautiful, and I wanted to share it with everyone here since it ties in so nicely to this story.
On a personal note, I believe that you have to recognize this fight within you to accomplish anything in your life. While chaos is seen as evil in Zoroastrianism, I feel that it is something that inspires people to rise above it. For what would courage be if there was no risk to take? Without the threat of our lives and work for unraveling, there would be no need to trust other people with our hearts and lives.
If you’re going to depict Cherokee, at least do it right. They don’t wear headdresses like the one the man is wearing. All you’re doing is perpetuating stereotypes.
The story is so concise. I like it a lot ! I’ve known this idea from the book called” The Art of Power” by Thich Nhat Hanh. We must be careful about our environment. If we always watch violent news on TV or newspaper, we’ll see the world in a negative way
To feed the white wolf, we should always read positive things like you can go to my site and watch them here How To Make A Change In Your Life
Great comic, as always… don’t really have anything else to say about it.
If I simply continue feeding both then everything will work itself out, I’m sure.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GoldenMeanFallacy
Chris was pointing out the way many people operate in this world. He wasn’t actually talking about himself.
Wrong. You’ll probably be more apathetic than you are now.
wrong, you would be apathetic if you fed neither
So you mean you would feed both wolves evenly?
But, the black wolf feeds itself off the white wolf.
So if you give them both the same meals, the black wolf would surely win.
And if you gave the white wolf more food to balance this, would you not be favouring the white wolf?
Damned black wolf is feeding itself on the white wolf.
Do not let your black one to feed itself Tudza!
Do not let it win!
master and commander!!!
master piece
I feel like I’ve been feeding my black wolf a little bit too much lately… this is a nice and perfectly timed reminder to stop! Thank you, it’s wonderful
This is one of my all time favorite sayings/proverbs. Thank you for bringing it to life – it’s absolutely beautiful.
In my life’s research I would believe the source will be unknown. This comic has reminded me as a Buddhist principle. The answers are from within and the battle of the mind vs. the heart. Whatever the source, it most certainly came from a person of self-knowledge. Therefore, ever since time began, humans have always have had the habit of observing one’s self.
Love this comic. Do you ever allow commercial reprints? I would be interested in printing this for my workplace newsletter.
He does sell prints of the comics.
I love this saying. I first heard it in the movie Steppenwolf based on the novel of the same name by Herman Hesse. The movie was release in 1974 which predates the Billy Graham reference. I don’t know if the story was in the actual novel, but the novel was published in 1927.
I have heard it other places as well, and I would really be surprised if the source is Billy Graham.
Keep up the great work!
OK, looking at the script for Steppenwolf, it looks like I confused the stories. This exact telling was not in the movie, but the movie is about dual nature and the desire to walk the middle path.
This is beautiful!
Thank you Zen-pencils for the beautiful work you have been doing.
An Iranian
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Lovely! I adore great quotes–and great quotes in great comics is an amazing idea! Thank you for doing this!
OMG, this really is unbelievable.. my dad was telling me this same story yesterday!! (and you drew a dad and a girl! strange universe!)
This is called a synchronicity (which is not the same thing as a coincidence). It happens to you more and more as you rise into higher consciousness, as you become more aware of the oneness of all things, the dreamlike nature of reality, and the fact that spirit/source/heart (whatever that is for you) is speaking to you at all times.
or it’s just a very likely coincidence, this is a popular story, and a popular website – that the two would feature in at least one person’s life is almost a certainty.
You know this story is a bit misleading if you leave some of the wolves die there will be no balance, just pure evil or you will be blinded by the “goodness” that excess makes us arrogant and controlling. It seems silly but the movie starwars we see that the Jedi have total control of justice and become an blind elite, with the exception of yoda representing the balance, but the elitism of the Jedi council made ??people who were not as good and they jealous this gave room for the dark side grow.
btw your job is great but pass this message to people without certain level of discernment could be a little dangerous.
Keep up your good job
ps: sorry for any grammar mistakes
made people who were not as good as they ,jealous. This gave room for the dark side grow.
**
This is your black wolf speaking. If you look at the traits associated with the black wolf, none of them are good, and the simple fact that you would feel the need to comment as you have shows that you either do not get the moral of the story (which is plain as daylight), or your “black wolf” is urging you to validate its existence. There is no place in the future for any of the traits associated with the black wolf. Evolve together, or be left behind.
Anger, sorrow and regret are perfectly normal human emotions that are in no way, shape or form evil, except when they get out of control. Aggression is a trait that almost all so-called higher species share – it would have died out long ago if its effect was purely negative. And what exactly would a human being be without “ego”?
On the other hand, a few traits of the white wolf are damaging if pushed too far, especially generosity and truth – we can’t all be martyrs, and where would human society be without lies? We need to keep the black wolf tightly leashed, but killing it off would remove basic traits of what it means to be human.
Perhaps you should re-analyse what it means to be human. If you think that lying is acceptable because it is “human,” well sir, you are speaking with a corpse in your mouth.
Would you really, honestly want to live in a world where everyone spoke nothing but truth all the time, no matter how hurtful? That’s what I mean by “lying” in this context. Honesty can hurt people as badly as dishonesty.
I agree strongly with what Brandywell says here. V and Ospero, you are letting your black wolf control your thinking. In V’s metaphor, you’re like young Anakin, taking counsel from the Sith Lord, thinking him wise, when really he is corrupting you so that you will continue to feed and serve him.
The black wolf will never die, it’ll always be there and you will always have to fight it. It’s that struggle that makes us human, people fight this wolf and every time they put someone else ahead of themself it’s a victory but the black wolf is always back. That’s why we always have to be vigilant, to watch ourselves.
Why does the black wolf always have to be the evil one?
A simple answer if the story is from Billy Graham or another Christian source….
There is this thing called the wordless book. It is a witnessing tool to get people to understand the concept of sin and the need of repentance, it is generally believed to go back to Charles Haddon Spurgeon. And the year it came out was around 1866.
In the book, black is the color tied to sin, white is tied to heaven. Hence when making connections with wolves, the colors would correlate to what the storyteller would know with colors already.
By the way for those curious Spurgeon’s Wordless book had only three pages:
Black: representing the sinful state of humanity by nature. Usually referred to as the dark page.
Red: representing the blood of Jesus.
White: representing the perfect righteousness which God has given to believers through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ his Son.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordless_Book
Thanks for the info Tim, interesting.
Humans have a primal fear of darkness, because of the lions and tigers and bears that jump from it. And wolves. Anyway, black is the darkest color. That’s probably why.
The short answer is that light brings awareness, and pure undistorted light appears as white. Light has been a symbol of spirituality, purity, and divinity throughout all of recorded history.
However, there is a buddhist concept of The Void (Sunyata) that I interpret in this way: it is the letting go of all illusions. This place appears as blackness to the mind. When we exist in the void, we are pure I Am. This is another way of experiencing spirituality, purity, and divinity.
Most people are terrified of the void, because the black wolf lives in the place you have to go through to get there, and you must let go of all of the egoic thoughts and feelings that most people use as defenses against the black wolf (their own fears and ego are essentially fighting themselves here) and the world.
This requires tremendous faith, but if you succeed, you enter an eternal space, and you realize that you are the white wolf; not the illusions of color and form, but the truth of it. You are not alone in a separated sense. You are alone with the true realization that you are the entirity of all that is.
So white and black can both be powerful spiritual symbols, but most people easily see that light (white) is spiritual, while they remain afraid of the void (black). Either way, always remember that it is the meaning behind the symbol that matters.
Digging the textured look. Well played, player.
gorgeous stuff.
I don’t even know why I come here to compliment you anymore. It seems pretty obvious you’re on the right track and that you have a cult following. Keep up the good work.
Man, do you allow this to be translated to another language? (portuguese), and shared with your credits?
Love your work!
Sure, send me a link to it when it’s finished
A beutifull lesson, in simple words and pictures.
Love your wit!!
This is exactly what I needed to see at this precise moment! I have been feeding the Evil Wolf way too much and this gave me the nudge that I needed to change. It even sparked a new blog post! Check it out at http://recreatinglisa.wordpress.com/. Keep the awesomeness coming!
Thanks Lisa
I really admire how you could depict goodness and evil in your drawings of the wolf. Looking into the eyes of the white wolf, I felt like it understood the very bottom of my heart, and that it wanted nothing more than for me to let it win the battle. It gives me chills to be so well-understood by a voiceless cartoon animal. Really fantastic stuff Gav!
On the internet and in traffic, the black wolf always wins.
White wolf eyes are beautiful and tell everything that his opponent needs to know. Sometimes, calm eyes are more fearsome than the angry ones. great job.
I am totally addicted to the site, I just spent over an hour going through the archives…not all of the comics resonate with me, but every so often one does. The past hour and a half has been like taking a walk on a beach finding a new and interesting shell every five minutes.
Beautiful point.
Still, I believe ego is not -bad- by itself – it is just an illusion that makes things look separated, black or white, good or bad (but never mixed).
We need black wolves to learn about goodness. Love the black wolf inside you as a teacher and nurture the white one without attaching to it. When the two finally befriend themselves, you found the truth.
Actually, learn to love what you fear most is the most amazing thing I have ever encountered in my life…
Great as always…
Writing good , awesome ,… etc cannot do justice to this. Its beyond all that something which simulates you in the right manner.
You are a great artist my friend.
I like this, but am disappointed you went with the stereotype of black=evil and white=good.
don’t get all butthurt.you have to take into consideration from the point it’s being told.natives American usually saw white as being good and black as being evil.
Thanks for your wonderful work!
Please make these more often
Waiting for one full week is very tough. :’-(
The wolf quote is at least from Hermann Hesse’s Steppenwolf, published in 1927.
The comic is well done – but I, like others it seems, have a slight issue with the colours of the wolves. I think it might be more interesting to put them in the different shades of grey wolves, keeping the facial expressions definitely, but showing there is still more nuance to the battle. They are the same wolf with different faces.
However, I do enjoy your work! Thank you for continuing to bring interesting ways of looking at different quotes.
Incidentally – the Cherokee did not wear headdresses. That is a Hollywood stereotype drawn from plains tribes like the Sioux.
Nice comic and very inspirational. It is IMHO better to feed the white wolve, but I’m sorry to say that faith doesn’t has that importance in zen as implicated in this comic.
And – as NEAL right before me said – I also would like to see two grey wolves, because good an evil are not black and white, they are only different sides of the same coin.
_( )_
I don’t think this entire site is dedicated to zen…, so don’t put it in an box right away.
Also, Gav draws comics, it’s a visual art, you need to depict things in a way where people quickly understand the concepts, hence black and white.
Also I think I know what you try to say, but I don’t know about the two sides of coin thing.
Evil is where Good is absent. So Good needs to be done to prevent evil.
Speaking as a physicist, darkness in itself is not an entity, it is the absence of light. Light is something, either wave or particle, darkness is neither.
I really love this one. I’m not sure about the very original source, but the first time I read this legend was in Hermann Hesse’s “Der Steppenwolf”. Don’t know if this will be of any help…
Take care! Jindra
Hello
Thank you for making the child a girl!
I love this quote, the fact that we choose the way we are is absolute freedom. And that wisdom is passed from the elders to the children, like it is for everyone, not only the strongest or the most intelligent.
Thank you for sharing your comics with us!
We use good wolf-bad wolf in our middle school’s character ed program… the kids could really relate… We talk of making good choices and with GWBW it’s easy to ask… “so which wolf are you feeding today?” Their writing of how which wolf is showing up in their lives is some of thej most powerful stuff I’ve ever read from this age level… Thank you for putting your images up… I’ll be sharing it with the kids.. and ordering prints too.
Not entirely convinced ego and faith are in the right category, especially in such a promiment place in the comic. They are very loaded words. Having faith is not always good, and having ego is not always bad.
Most of the other words are quite clear-cut in the right category, so it’s a shame that all the emphasis is put on the only two that are so ambiguous.
I cannot help with clarifying the source, but it is very touching. I had never heard it before and find it very inspiring, great work!
I don’t have an exacte quote, but the only thing that came to mind was something in the new testament. I searched it online and I realized that the features attributed to the white wolf closely resemble what are called “the fruits of the spirit” which apparently should increase when you have Christ living in you.
So the reference is the book of Galatians 5 verse 22 and 23. Interesting stuff in there.
So I can see how it could be from that Graham guy or something he read. Seems plausible.
However if it comes from another culture I’d rather see it attributed to its right source as so many people have discovered so much of the truth. Christianity if reduced to a culture, like in America, is just such a mindless vanity, it’s just one nutcase religion like any other. However this is Christianity without Christ.
Christianity with Christ is a whole other story. I think it has something found nowhere else.
Sorry I digress.
I still think it would be cool if it was a Cherokee story, so great job on the interpretation.
Gav, I hope your travels went well and were a rich experience.
Amazing depiction of an excellent quote to, not only reflect about our daily choices, but also take to kids and students… However, I agree with many of the comments above that it would definitely be a better one if it did not reinforce the black & white view of evil versus goodness. You have a gift for body language and facial expressions which makes it irrelevant to change the colors of the wolves to figure out which would be the angrier of them.
I know it is not our business to interfere with ART, specially your art – because that is what you do every week, you give us a pure and beautiful depiction of something which make us think critically about ourselves and the world we live in – but I am sure some of us could use your work to discuss or teach, and I believe it is our duty to change, if not the current, but the next generation’s views of (the human) race.
Anyway, thank you for your daily labor – see you next week for another inspirational story.
Fab cartoon again Gav…How long would it take you to do something like this from start to finish?
Why is the black wolf the evil one? This is mildly offensive.
Why do you see racism in fucking everything. Grow the fuck up.
Overall, I like this and my only complaint is with the saying itself. Why do people think of faith as a positive instead of a negative. Faith is a terrible blight on humanity.
Religion is. Religion is doctrine
Faith itself is not. Faith is experience.
Why does the evil wolf have to be black and the good wolf white? I see whats going on here
See a post earlier clarifying this
Another analysis
http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/21/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/
Another nice piece of art for all of us, as always. Thanks, Gav! Well, I’m a Vietnamese and WELCOME TO VIETNAM! Having a nice trip!
To all people saying faith isn’t necessarily a good thing, I don’t think it means religion here (not saying anything for or against religion).
Personally, what I think it means is the ability to keep going no matter what. To believe in something with your whole heart and soul, and to let that faith spur you on to do incredible things.
Take Gav, for example-it took a whole lot of faith and a belief in his abilities to quit his job, and look where he is now.
As for the white and black wolves, imagine that the good wolf has black fur in that panel where it seems to be staring into your soul…for me, those eyes looking at me with a dark background would look scary. The colour of their fur has nothing to do with the characteristics they embody. Just reading a few of these comics, you can tell that one of the main themes is equality, and he’s one of the least discriminating people I can think of. I think it’s beautifully drawn either way though.
Sorry for the rant. Gav, love the comics, love this comic, love what you do
OMG! The girl reminded me of Pocahontas!
I loves this!
Thanks so much for al this beautiful messages, youé really doing something great for all of us and I admire t.
A big hug,
M. M. Balasch
It’s fake. See:
http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/21/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/
When black and white fight, no winner will be chosen. With a black wolf and a white wolf in the ring an endless battle is all that we’ll find. We will be presented: the color ‘gray’. We all have a certain balance.
Based on what we’ve learned from our parents and based on what we’ve learned from our teachers. We all have a different color of gray. Based on this shade, we shall choose our own direction. We will have compassion, we shall have greed. We will know love and we will know hate. Based on the black and white we have been feeding with, we will show which shade of gray we have.
Nonetheless, there’s black and white in each of us.
Thank you for an amazing comic.
What you fail to realise and understand with your Yin and Ying new-age cliches of “neutrality” being needed is this: What place do ANY of the black wolf’s characteristics benefit you? If you think any of them do, you have been fooled and are obviously feeding your “black wolf”. The world is NOT gray, it is black and white and what is wrong and right is often times very clear once you strip away your inhibitions. While your ideology of “neutrality” is romantic I must admit, it’s far from centre. Quit kidding yourself, embrace what is right. Be a good human being and send the black wolf packing.
Gandhi got angry at what the British were doing to India. So did a lot of the liberators of colonial Africa.
Mother Teresa got sorrowful when she saw what was happening to the poor in Calcutta.
The Dalai Lama is probably both angry and disappointed at the Chinese for what they do to Tibet.
You wanted positive examples of what the black wolf’s supposed vices can do for humans? There you go. As long as you channel your anger, sorrow and regret into doing constructive things, they’re actually useful.
Oh, and pretending the world is black and white when it clearly is not is willfully blinding yourself. What virtue of the white wolf would that be, exactly?
Mother Theresa also told the people of Africa that the HIV virus could pass through microscopic holes in a condom. What virtue of the white wolf is that?
By the way, all those examples you listed of Gandhi and the Dalai Lama and all these other cliche references, those people are not acting on behalf of the “black wolf” — Their anger comes from the virtues of the “white wolf”. Next time you try to argue about something at least look at what you are saying.
Anger is explicitly listed as a vice of the black wolf. Perhaps you should follow your own advice on this and read the quote before you post. Yes, these people got angry for “good reasons”, but there’s the catch, isn’t it? This whole quote is reductive and simplistic – I wouldn’t want to live in a world defined purely by the white “virtues” any more than I’d want to live in a world defined exclusively by the black “vices”, and for all your whimpering about “cliché” (as if the quote was any better on that count), neither would you. I won’t tell you what I think of you based on these comments, even though that would be “honest” and therefore “good”, because I’d rightfully get banned from this site for doing that.
Nice one… ran into your site accidentally last week and have run through everything and was waiting for an update for a week…. I wish your work were available in other languages..
Loved that the kid he’s talking to is a little girl
adorable. Great quote and amazing illustrations as usual.
Malcolm X would definitely never like it :p
I would love a poster of this for my dad, its his favourite quote. He read it at his friends funeral and it would be a wonderful reminder of his life. I’d love to have ths framed in his study
In real life, it is not so clear what’s good or bad like a black and a white wolf. It’s easy to say for the old chief with all those benefits of hindsight. Good luck, kid!
I really would like to buy this print! It is simply fantastic!
i discovered the two wolves comic whilst aimlessly scrolling through my tumblr dashboard, it has now been a good 45 minutes that i have been pressing the previous/next button on your blog, all the quotes are truly inspirational and your extraordinary graphic talent makes them come alive, thankyou
Melody, London, UK
A couple people have mentioned Hesse’s Steppenwolf, but I’m pretty certain that Hesse is not the source of this quote. While Steppenwolf did deal with duality, the central metaphor was about the struggle between the man and the wolf. Moreover, Hesse endlessly added nuances and variations to his metaphor, never ending with a neat soundbite:
“To explain so complex a man by the division into wolf and man is a hopelessly childish attempt…His life oscillates, as everyone’s does, not merely between two poles, the saint and the sinner, but between thousands and thousands… Every ego is a manifold world, a constellated heaven, a chaos of forms, of states and stages, of inheritances and possibilities.”
Moment i saw it i remembered Wolf’s Rain – http://youtu.be/uvOPf2qjWGA?t=11m52s
Thanks for all the comments, wasn’t expecting this comic to generate so much feedback.
As for the black/white issue: I went with the classic black/evil, white/good because it was the first thing I thought of, yes, comics are visual so I’m always thinking visually. It would have been cool if I flipped it around and made black/good and white/evil but it didn’t occur to me while I was creating it.
I draw and publish the comic within a short time span and sometimes I think ‘Oh, I should have done it this way or that way’ but once it’s published it’s done and I move on to the next one.
BTW, I’m having fun on holiday, thanks for the well wishes
As cliche as it is to make the black one evil and the white one good, it is even more cliche and trite to reverse it. You don’t have to be too concerned with being clever. Take a leaf out of Hemingway’s book and just present everything as it seems, naturally. It worked for him rather well.
Next time you need a versus thing, use blue and yellow or red.
It is a sad thing, but my black students don’t represent themselves with dark skin in self-portraits because black is the evil color. They have six, seven years of age, and they left their skin white because “white is the color of beauty and good”.
This was amazing. I needed it so much. Thank you.
hi…I’ve been read your material for a while now.I’m really impressed and at the same time I’ve been inspired by your work. Can you please make a wallpaper for PRESS ON! by Calvin Coolidge. It’s my favorite out of all your work so far. I read that comic everyday to keep me motivated in my life.
reading*
I seriously need a print of this for my Son’s room. Will check back and hope you make it available! Stunning work and an excellent subject!
I shared this with my 6th grade classes today. You could have heard a pin drop. They nodded vigorously as their personal and private struggles were validated. Another teacher came and told me, “(Kid) said that he loved English class today because he learned that all people possess both good and bad. Your work made the world a better place today, for at least 100 American kids and one revitalized teacher. The Einstein quote about the fish is now my wall paper. I can’t wait to buy prints for my classroom.
Thanks D! Love to hear students are seeing these – I would have paid so much more attention in class if comics were used as a teaching device
this is too wonderful. Please please make it a print????
This cartoon is great, but I read some comments saying the black wolf is also needed, and I want to display it with a jewish story. I hope it’s not too long to read, beacuse I would like to read Gav’s and other people’s comments about the idea expressed in it.
The jewish sages and prophets beileved that the first temple was destroyed and their people were banished to Babylon as a punishment for paganism, so when they returned to their country and build another temple, they asked God to destroy the will to worship paganic gods. After 3 days of prayers and fasts, God agreed. The sages saw this “will” coming out of the temple as a fire lion and killed it.
Amazed by their success, all those rabbis decided to exploit this moment of compassion from God, and kill another dangerous “will”- lust. By their request, they recieved another lion, this time just putting it in a cage. 3 days passed, and they couldn’t find even one egg.
Understanding the world can’t exist without sex, they released lust, after blinding it. Without eyes, the sexual tension among family relatives dropped.
This story shows, in my opinion, that even traits that are considered to be bad in the jewish belief, rest in the holiest place, and can be used for good (in the paganism’s case, it might be religious enthusiasm or something like that).
Gav, if you did read all that, what do you think?
(I looked back over my web browser history. It seems it took me an hour to find and translate this story. I really hope people would read it…)
Thank you. After getting the reactions I did for suggesting that not all of the black vices were dispensable, it’s refreshing to go through all the comments and find one that actually seems to agree with what I was saying.
The fight doesn’t end.
I guess there are rounds to be won, though.
This is the first thing I want to see when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I see when I go to bed (:
Seriously, if you find this type of absolute dreck to be tolerable in any way I beg you, for the sake of humanity, never reproduce.
I sort of understand where you might be coming from. I find myself feeling the same way about people who LOVE Thomas Kinkade paintings because as a painter they seem trite and saccharine. Maybe you are a philosopher or something and that’s what makes you recommend self sterilisation to anyone who likes this. No, it’s not as nuanced and detailed as some long treatise by Sartre but it is simple and positive and I liked it. Just like a Kinkade painting works on a grandmothers wall but not the Gugenheim, not everything has to be at “your level” to be good. Personally, if you feel the need to comment you should frame it as constructive criticism, otherwise you look like a troll and/or a douche.
Gav,
Sorry, I just realised that my reply to Timothy might make it seem like I thought your comics were to philosophy as Kinkade (R.I.P.) is to painting. Not true. I really dig your work.
Thanks Waco
Si Oli con quien te vas con melón o con sandía el libre albedrío escoge te amo sobrinita.
I shared this with a friend here at work, thinking it was just a neat little comic. Personally, it was something for me. As it turned out she shared it with her kids, and it helped them deal with and understand their emotions more effectively during a challenging time in their lives.
Ripples in the pond for your excellent comic.
Great to hear, thanks for sharing my work!
Porquè el lado negro es malo y el blanco el bueno? la reflexiòn y los dibujos me gustan pero no celebro la falta de imaginaciòn y el estereotipo..
I´m 22 and chilean. I just wanna say: Thanks. Its really great the job that you make, how can make the poetry comes to life. Wonderfull job, congrats.
PS: Sorry for my english. Im still learning.
PRINT IS AVAILABLE:
http://society6.com/zenpencils/94-The-Two-Wolves
The fallacy in this proverb is that there is such a thing as “good” & “evil” and that one is “positive” and the other is “negative”.
I enjoy the written message. I wonder if the visual message works to perpetuate racism? (White = good, black = bad) Is Star Wars racist?
I just read through all these quotes and pictures and I have always loved this quote. Seeing you draw something to it, makes it even more remarkable. Thank you
There’s a third wolf that’s left out of this sequence. He’s off to the the side watching the two wolves, and wonders why they fight. HE wonders why they need Ego, or why the passions of the white wolf are preferred. He constantly questions the internal struggle, and wonders why the two can’t exist in harmony…Maybe that third wolf is actually me.
Great comic. But I would note that in many ways faith is just another form of ego. When a person says “I have faith in XYZ” the key part is the “I”. It is an imposition of the ego’s conceptions (of God, gods, etc.) on eternity/the universe/etc. We tell ourselves that faith is a form of egolessness, but it is in fact the height of ego.
I think I turned mine into a grey wolf.
Hey, not sure if you know about this but this comic is currently posted on http://alligator-sunglasses.com/post/40122565240/the-fight-inside I don’t see anything that attributes it as your work. Might want to look into that.
Although I read your comics regularly, my first time posting a comment. I am kind of an amateurish musician and during my weekend session, came up with a song that was inspired by your comic here – the two wolves.
Here is the link in case: https://soundcloud.com/little-did-she-know/the-fight-inside. I love your work, mate. Keep going.
Cool!
Comment faire pour que le loup blanc ne meurt pas par le loup noir
This one reminds me about myself and an experience I’ve been through.
At one point in my life, I got jumped on my way home from town, got kicked and stomped in the head several times, spent some considerable time in hospital as I according to the docs was incredibly lucky to still be alive. The injuries I got have mostly healed, but have made life difficult every now and then.
But almost everytime I tell people about that experience and how it has affected me, people will go
“Damn if I got my hands on those guys I’d do this and that to them grrrrr %”%¤”#!! wouldn’t you do the same?” (or similar reaction)
And all I can think is “How is that gonna make me a better person?”
The Ego Wolves will win. Always good,genuine people will be the loser and no happy life
The external world is the reflection of the inner world – Sri Amma Bhagavan
this conflict is manifesting in the world – as aggression , wars
let us become aware of what is happening inside us
Onenesss
This story reminds me of the conflict between Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu from Zoroastrianism. The belief states that the battle between truth and falsehood is played out in people’s hearts, and people’s actions will either give strength to Spenta Mainyu (truth) or to Angra Mainyu (chaos). The belief focuses on the importance of human will and recognizing the fact that you have the capability to choose what path to take. It also shows that your actions have a greater effect upon the world.
I know that this was a really simplified version of the belief, but I found it beautiful, and I wanted to share it with everyone here since it ties in so nicely to this story.
On a personal note, I believe that you have to recognize this fight within you to accomplish anything in your life. While chaos is seen as evil in Zoroastrianism, I feel that it is something that inspires people to rise above it. For what would courage be if there was no risk to take? Without the threat of our lives and work for unraveling, there would be no need to trust other people with our hearts and lives.
I really love this
If you’re going to depict Cherokee, at least do it right. They don’t wear headdresses like the one the man is wearing. All you’re doing is perpetuating stereotypes.
Please read this article: http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/21/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/
The story is so concise. I like it a lot ! I’ve known this idea from the book called” The Art of Power” by Thich Nhat Hanh. We must be careful about our environment. If we always watch violent news on TV or newspaper, we’ll see the world in a negative way
To feed the white wolf, we should always read positive things like you can go to my site and watch them here How To Make A Change In Your Life