Understanding Life Better: The Charioteer Analogy

One of my all time favorite analogies for understanding life is that of the charioteer. Think of yourself as the driver of a horse drawn chariot. You hold the reins to two very powerful horses. One horse is the Body horse- it represents the appetites and passions of the physical body- the 5 senses and their desire to be constantly stimulated. The other horse is the Mind horse- it represents your individual mind (or ego) and it's incessant desire to control outcomes and circumstances and to prove itself right. We all have these two horses- and they can be powerful tools if they are properly trained to respond to our direction. They can also be powerful masters driving our lives if we do not learn to train them. One of the very purposes of life can be thought of as learning how to tame and control these two powerful horses.

This is life's great challenge and purpose. We (our Spirit/Soul- or True Self) are the charioteer. The horses are wild and extremely powerful and must be broken in order to be become useful to a higher purpose. Until we learn to train them to respond to our direction- they will actually control us- dragging us wherever they want to go- ignoring any pull of the reins. Here are a few examples:

- The body horse sees some stimulating thing or experience and instantly chases after it- pulling us along for the ride. When that stimulation soon disappears like the mirage it was, it's off to the next mirage.

- The mind horse sees someone else that it thinks is "more established" or in some way better off than we are and goes running after that thought- attracting more like it and pulling us down into despair, guilt and self-pity. Or it has a belief that "I am the good guy here" and then in order to justify that belief it runs off on a train of thoughts intended to prove it right- which means that it must (and will) "prove" that everyone else is the bad guy and I am the victim.

The variations are infinite- but hopefully you're beginning to understand the point of this analogy: that all our trouble and grief and anger and pain and misery and any other negative emotion you can think of, are caused by letting our horses pull us through life to where they want to go instead of learning to train them to take us where we are capable of going- which is much higher and farther than we might imagine.

Now breaking the horses and training them to respond to our commands is not an easy thing- in fact it is the challenge of a lifetime- the challenge of all our lives. There is no quick fix. These horses have generally been left to roam at will for so long that it takes serious time and effort to teach them that they do in fact have a master. My purpose in this article is to simply awaken us to the reality of what's going on- to realize that we've allowed our horses to run wild, but also to realize that we can start to train them to be allies instead of enemies of our true happiness.

We're not alone in the training process- there are many great trainers that we can learn from- both past and present. Some of the greatest trainers that ever lived are the most revered names of history: Jesus Christ, Lao Tzu, Bhudda to name a few. In more recent times Mother Teresa and Ghandi are examples. There are many more besides these. Chances are you have living trainers in your life too. Think of the people you most respect. Then ask yourself why is it you respect them so much. If you inquire into the why deep enough, you'll find the reason you respect them so much is because they have gained a certain level of mastery over their own horses. You may not have thought of it in these terms before now, but that's what is really going on. We all are drawn to master charioteers because they show us what we can become ourselves.

So instead of reading that next novel, pick up the writings of a master charioteer and begin to follow their examples. Seek out the company of people in your life that you respect and ask them how they do it and try to follow their example. Start to develop some training practices in your own life- things like daily reading of spiritual texts, daily meditation, giving up a certain food or beverage that your senses crave, but you know isn't good for you, asking and searching for ways you can lift other's burdens today instead of dwelling on your own.

Little by little, you'll start to make a difference. You'll see one of your horses pulling you somewhere you don't want to go and you'll summon the strength to pull back on the reigns and exert some control. You'll really have to put your back into it at first, but over time, your horses will learn to respond to the slightest tug of the reins. There will be lapses of awareness where old habits re-assert themselves and we find ourselves chasing mirages or blaming others or feeling depressed. That's OK- just use them as reminders to wake up once again and assume your rightful role as charioteer of your body and mind and master of your destiny.