Once
upon a time there was a man who
could catch rabbits. This was
ever so long ago and nobody in
the whole world save this one
man could catch rabbits. The people
of his tribe asked the man, Manhe
was his name, how it was that
he could catch rabbits. Manhe
explained that he had learned
the way of thinking like a rabbit.
"A rabbit," he said,
"has its tricks and its little
ways. If you follow a rabbit's
ways and feel what a rabbit feels
you can know what a rabbit is
going to do. One catches the rabbit
by being at the place where he
will run to."
And then the people of his tribe
asked Manhe how one learns to
think like a rabbit. Manhe said
to them, "You must awaken
your rabbit self and let your
rabbit self follow the way of
the rabbit. Do not say, the rabbit
does this and the rabbit does
that. Instead say, now that I
am a rabbit, what will I do."
The elders of the tribe were sore
troubled and said, "This
cannot be. A man is a man and
rabbit is a rabbit. They are of
two different kinds and they have
different kinds of selves."
Some said that Manhe should be
put to death, that he was a monster,
a mixture of man and rabbit. Others
said that he was more than a man
and must therefore be a god and
should be worshiped. The elders
quarreled greatly over this.
Finally the chief said, "This
is great foolishness. Manhe is
a man; any one can see that. Let
us have no more talk of him being
a god or a monster. Manhe can
catch rabbits. This is something
that our tribe needs to know how
to do. He has told us how to catch
rabbits but his words make no
sense to us. Manhe, however, is
only a man and men are often not
good at explaining what it is
that they do. We must ask the
gods to make sense of his words
for us."
So the medicine men made great
medicine. The chanted and they
danced. They made the smoke that
intoxicates. They called upon
Oikme. Oikme answered them, "Why
do you trouble me? What would
you have of me?"
The chief said, "Manhe has
the trick of catching rabbits.
This is a good thing and we would
know how he does it. He has told
us but we can make no sense of
his answer. Tell us, Oikme, what
his words mean."
Oikme laughed, "That is easy
enough. No man, not even Manhe,
can think as a rabbit thinks for
no man, not even Manhe, is a rabbit.
But you do not need to think as
a rabbit thinks to catch a rabbit.
You only need to think like a
rabbit, not exactly like a rabbit,
but only well enough so as to
catch the rabbit. This can be
done for although men and rabbits
are not the same they are not
altogether different. As a man
must eat so must a rabbit eat.
As a man must escape the beast
that would eat him, so must a
rabbit. Each must run and hide
in a way and a place that is suitable
for him.
And the trick is to imagine yourself
to be a rabbit. Imagine that you
have a rabbit's feet and a rabbit's
nose and a rabbit's fears and
that in all ways you are a rabbit
and, while imagining that you
are a rabbit, observe what you
think and do. You will not think
as the rabbit thinks, and you
will not think exactly like the
rabbit, but you will do well enough.
You cannot be a rabbit but you
can think you are a rabbit."
And that is how men learned to
catch rabbits. |