An old fable
Two frogs fall into a bowl of cream. Its insides are smooth. They cannot climb out. One frog succumbs to his fate, sinks to the bottom and dies.
The other frog kicks and kicks with all his might, his will and his stamina. He does so for a long time. And suddenly he notices something solid forming underneath his feet. With renewed hope, he keeps kicking until he finds himself sitting on a heap of butter and leaps out of the bowl. The moral: never give up, keep trying, have a will, fight and you will reap your reward. (But we never find out what happened to the wilfully struggling frog in the end.)
This European fable is often told during leadership seminars.
How is the same fable told in an Asian country with Buddhist traditions?
Two frogs fall into a bowl of cream. Its insides are smooth. They cannot climb out. One frog struggles, kicks with all his might, wants to get out of the bowl, wants to get back up to the edge. He exhausts himself and eventually he weakens, sinks to the bottom and dies.
The other frog moves calmly in order to stay on the surface, perceives his surroundings and what is inside him. After a while he closes his eyes and peacefully sinks to the bottom. He opens his eyes and is sitting on the tabletop: the bowl had cracked. An illusion had disappeared. The moral: Trust in what happens, stay calm and what needs to be solved will be resolved.
Which version will we tell in which situation?
Rüdiger Müngersdorff
its not a even or,
its more the question are You able to stay cool and of course to generate a solid ground under liquid conditions ?
One thing is for shure, if you cannot better go out of leadership. From those who are only staying cool we have more than enough ……
J. Hammer, General Manager
Story should change as per time, place and context.
regarding place in workholic culture, Asian story can not be understood nor even worth sharing. Rather you need to tell that due to accumulated butter, flies started coming. Fog got the energy by eating them and then with new energy he could jump out successfully.
Asian story is applicable only in Asia and also that too with out International reference. In my opinion concept of calmness can only be taught by guru and can be understood only after self experience. It can not be explained in theory.
Again story can also be different in context.
I am not sure, that the description of the western workculture is described with the term worholic culture. It may be more based in one of the western roots, the old greek culture of competition and contest. Nevertheless: the idea of never ever give up is strong rooted in the western culture. Homers Illias is a cultural basic reading. The asian idea of calmness as you phrase it descibes another attitude towards reality. You learn this attitude as you learn the contest attitude – you learn it fist in your culture. Still we learn from dialogs between cultures and the idea of a strong separation is not true any longer. The reception of southasian writings in Europe had its strong influence and the tradition of contemplation in western religious context is a stepping stone to calmness. For me it is time to start to tell, invent or find stories, that does not tell the story of insurmountable difference but of bridges. Our world decribed as global need global myths.