The Fox and the Hedgehog

By

Bill Cottringer

“The Fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one really big thing.”  ~Archilochus.

     A fox and a hedgehog were strolling through a country path in the woods. Periodically they were threatened by a pack of hungry wolves. The fox—being blessed with smarts, speed and agility—would lead the hungry pack of wolves on a wild chase through the fields, up and down trees and over hill and dale. Eventually the fox would return to the path, breathless and tired, but having lost the wolves, continue walking. The hedgehog--being endowed with a coat of spikes-- simply hunkered down on it haunches, rolled up in a ball when menaced by the hungry wolves and fended them off without moving. When the wolves gave up, he would return to his casual stroll unperturbed. Fully rested and quite breath-full.

     This fox and the hedgehog fable has been going on since the beginning of time, even before Plato and Aristotle got into their famous battle of idealism vs. realism, or the Bible’s creation story with man and woman. The fable really represents the fundamental world split, or what Joseph Clinton Pierce earlier termed the “crack in the cosmic egg,” as the ultimate fundamental difference between all things in the world:

·         All the three possible conflicts of us vs. life; us vs. them’ and us vs. us.

·         Single-mindedness vs. multi-mindedness.

·         War vs. peace.

·         Christ vs. the Devil.

·         ADHDer’s vs. Alpha-wavers.

·         The police vs. criminals.

·         Vegans vs. meat-eaters.

·         Democrats vs. Republicans.

·         Separation vs. unity.

·         Life vs. death.

·         Judges vs, accepters.

·         Etc.

         This fundamental difference has always been an underlying, a priori condition of life and death. It is really an unsolvable conflict that challenges us to use the creative process to realize the answer is in the middle, in between each extreme (the “Golden Mean” of earlier philosophers as the only way out of the paradoxical problem).

     In our world of turmoil today, where groups are pitted against each other in life and death struggles, understanding the need for both foxes and hedgehogs to cooperate rather than compete, has finally become apparent. This is what Russell Crowe was conveying, as he portrayed John Nash in the movie “A Beautiful Mind.” John Nash spend his entire life searching for a novel governing principle of the universe in relation to economics game theory, where competition was pitted against cooperation. The two possible outcomes were a “win-lose” mentality vs. a “win-win” one.

    In American politics today, we now see this ancient fox and hedgehog fable right there out in the open on the table, so to speak. On the right, we have the single-minded King Hedgehog Donald Trump and on the left, we have the multi-minded Queen Fox Hillary Clinton. This is the ultimate showdown that will likely have the largest voter turn-out in U.S. history because of the two possible bi-polar outcomes of such a primal conflict.

     It would be good for all, if we could merge the better of these two candidates and lose the faults, but under the two-party system, that is not a realistic solution. Does it really matter who wins? Ironically, only if either candidate who does win, doesn’t see the creative resolution of the unsolvable conflict—the need to surround him or herself, with the other thinking half, or cleverly brilliant foxes or wise hedgehogs as the case may be.

     Both the fox and hedgehog had their own brilliant and unique way of successfully surviving the big three conflicts in life—us vs. life, us vs, them and us vs, us. When are the rest of us going to see this? The answer has always been paired with the problem, all along.