Live by the Law of the Jungle
I’m a die-hard fan of Walt Disney Productions. As I eagerly await the new version of The Lion King, I just had to republish an article I wrote on the 2016 version of The Jungle Book, as it had some great life lessons. Read on for more…
NOW this is the law of the jungle, as old and as true as the sky,
And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk, the law runneth forward and back;
For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.- The Law for the Wolves, Rudyard Kipling
Most of us are familiar with The Jungle Book. We’ve either seen the first one by Walt Disney or a local version of it.
Mowgli, a man-cub, is left in the forest by his father, who died while protecting him from the tiger Shere Khan. The panther, Bagheera, then saves Mowgli and hands him over to be raised by a pack of wolves.
Mowgli soon becomes like any other wolf — he tries to run as fast as the pack and howls as well as them too…
But, he eventually realises that he is a ‘man’, and has to go back to the ‘man village’, to save his life and the lives of those in the jungle from enemy Shere Khan.
‘For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.’
This line from Rudyard Kipling’s poem becomes the leitmotif in the movie. It signifies Mowgli’s solidarity with the pack, and his home — the jungle.
Mowgli is indeed a son of the jungle, and protect it he will!
These lines are profound… Because, the truth is that whether you’re man or animal — most of the time — our strength comes from being part of the pack.
Isolated, we’re nothing. Together, we gain strength…
Just as you need to belong to the pack, the pack needs you to complete it.
You can be an individual, but several individuals in a collective make the group a much stronger whole.
Why then do we feel the need to break away from the pack? Why then does the spirit of individuality often override that of being a collective?
Man by his very nature is always in search of the ‘red flower.’
In the movie, the ‘red flower’ is fire... It gives man power, puts him at the top of the food pyramid — ‘With fire he can create, and with fire he can destroy.’
When man has fire, he creates his own food; but that same fire also gives him the power to set a whole forest ablaze…if he chooses.
That’s what the animals fear about man, as seen in the movie.
That’s what man fears about himself — Not the ability to create, but the power to destroy!
When man begins to see he has the potential for both creation and destruction, he realises he needs more knowledge..
Knowledge of his true nature, and wisdom to make the right choices, both for himself and the world.
To learn these skills, you often have to leave the pack…
You have to set out to learn more… Go deeper into the jungle to explore your latent strengths and talents.
As Mowgli tapped into his inherent strengths and discovered more tricks, he realised, that as a man he could save himself and the jungle.
In the movie, Mowgli finally discovers the red flower that man is known for, and puts the burning flame of creation to its ultimate test in his fight against Shere Khan.
Mowgli’s commitment to the pack was never in question… The strong ideals of the jungle firmly engrained in his heart and mind. It was the pack that accepted him as a man only at the end, when they realised that his human strengths can benefit them as well.
Bagheera, Mowgli’s friend, gives him the final words of encouragement and advice— to ‘not fight like a wolf, but like a man.’
A great line on being ‘you’, and not someone else, or someone else’s idea of you… Because only when you operate from your true self, can you contribute fully to the world!
Unleashing his man powers, Mowgli vanquishes the enemy, and rides to victory on the baby elephant he saved… Mowgli’s individuality and uniqueness finally come to the fore!
The story of The Jungle Book is thus an allegory of our times…
Each of us a Mowgli, gaining strength from the world, as we give it strength of our own… Each of us finding individuality in the larger collective, knowing we have a unique red flower within us — the power to create or destroy…
It is for us to choose wisely.
We may wander the world in quest for the red flower, and step out of the pack for a bit…
But, once we have gained the red flower of knowledge — the knowledge of our true self — we will come back to the pack to share our realisations, enhance our creations, and enjoy the rewards together…
‘For the strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack.’
The article was first published on Common Sense Living, a digital publication with new-age lifestyle and wealth-building ideas.
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