What does the dog chasing its shadow tell us?

Immersed in his own world, he is good at finding simple pleasures. Or, don't chase something unreal, ethereal, or non-existent.

This story is to tell us that we can't be insatiable, not even letting go of the things of our own shadow, and the result of this can only be nothing.

The parable tells that a dog crossed the river with a piece of meat on his hand, saw his own shadow in the water, and thought it was another dog holding a larger piece of meat. He then gave up the meat in his mouth and rushed over to fight with the shadow, snatching the meat that the shadow was holding. As a result, of course, I couldn't grab the meat, and even the meat in my mouth fell into the river.

"The Dog and Its Shadow".

Once upon a time, a dog snatched a large piece of meat from a butcher. He made his way through the village and fled as fast as he could. The butcher chased him from behind, and in the end the butcher couldn't catch up. Then the dog slipped into the woods, intending to find a quiet place to enjoy his dinner.

On the way, he passed a plank that crossed a rushing stream, and he looked underwater, when he saw a dog in the water with a large piece of meat in its mouth. The dog was stunned and stared into the water. The dog in the water also stood still.

His flesh is bigger than mine," thought the dog, "and if I take his flesh, I'll have double dinner." ”

The dog couldn't help it, and he leaned forward and tried to take the meat of the dog in the water. The dog jumped into the water to salvage the meat, but he couldn't catch it at all. Eventually, the dog crawled out of the water, soaking wet and tired.

Only then did he realize that he had lost the flesh in his mouth by biting a shadow. Since then, he has often told this story and admonished others: "Don't lose what you already have in pursuit of the mirror."

The dog and his shadow tell us that in any case, we must not be greedy. But greed, like money, has two sides, and we can't deny it in general. In an economic sense, greed can be a virtue.

In this parable, the dog sees himself in the water like a man sees himself in a mirror. Someone said that everyone needs a mirror. He thinks that if he often takes pictures of himself, he can know himself, and he thinks that he is like a person in a dream, and he knows if he is dreaming by pinching himself.

I don't know, people who can know themselves don't need to look in the mirror at all; If you don't know what you don't know, it's useless to shine it a thousand times. For example, this dog with meat on his lips, after looking in the mirror, instead regarded his own shadow as the object of attack, made a lot of noise, and lost all the original things. It can be seen that self-knowledge is not equal to self-reflection, and self-reflection is not equal to self-knowledge, so Lao Tzu said that people are valuable and self-knowledge, but not that people are valuable and self-oriented.

The dog and his shadow tell us these things:

1. Under no circumstances can you be greedy, eating what is in your mouth and looking at the pot.

3. At the same time, this story also tells us that people who do not have self-knowledge will not be self-aware even if they look in the mirror.

4. You can't be insatiable, and you can't even let go of your own shadow, so the result will only be nothing.

5. Know how to stop in moderation, don't pick up sesame seeds and lose watermelon.

Provenance of The Dog and Its Shadow:

The Dog and Its Shadow is from Aesop's Fables. Aesop's Fables contains more than 300 fables, most of which are related to animals. Each story contains a philosophy, or exposes and criticizes social contradictions, or expresses the understanding of life, this collection of fables shows the social relations of the time by describing the relationship between animals, mainly the unequal relationship between the oppressor and the oppressed, which is loved by children and has become one of the best-selling book lists.