“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci (Adopted by Steve Jobs)
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An Ass was bearing a heavy load and was being driven along a high road by his Driver.
As the Ass looked over the side of the road, he determined that jumping over would get him to the bottom much faster!
So, he bolted to the precipice.
When in the act of throwing himself over, his Driver warned him and seized him by the tail, trying to stop him. But, the Ass persisted and refused to consider the Driver’s warning.
Finally, the Driver had to let him go, and said: “Do as you may wish; but it is at your peril,” following which the Ass fell to his death.
Moral of the Story: Fools fail to heed rational advice to their peril.
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Introduction – The Essential Aesop – Epilogue
Related Articles: The Entrepreneurial Cardinal Virtues™
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Why We Loved It: Aesop’s usual self-destruction for the fool. Sometimes the fool does not know better, being foolishness in the first instance. And sometimes the fool knows better, but will not do better, being foolishness in the second instance. [1]
Here, the Ass made a foolish decision and could have been saved by the advice of the Driver. But, alas, the Ass refused to heed good advice. Moreover, the Driver tried to constrain the act of the Ass by external force, but, again, alas, the Ass would not concede.
Implicit in Aesop’s fable is his lesson on stubbornness. The Ass made a bad decision and then was stubborn to change notwithstanding good advice.
Therefore, this fable is not really focused on the first bad decision (the quick-fix jump), but rather the second bad decision (not to listen to sound advice). This fable is not about the foolish decision to go somewhere, but the foolish decision to stay somewhere.
That is, the decision not to change, when change would have been wise. Not changing when changing is wise is another way of identifying stubbornness, of course. In The Two Goats, Aesop taught the concept of stubbornness in the context of the vice of pride, and in The Boy and the Filberts, he taught it in the context of the vice of selfish desire. [2, 3] We might say here that it is Aesop’s subtle lesson that the vice of sloth is very convincing.
We might leave the lesson there: Aesop teaches the ill consequences of stubbornness. But, that would not help us perhaps to understand—by critical thinking—the causation of the effect.
We need to isolate the attributive nature of stubbornness in decision-making. The reason is because stubbornness is in the nature of a vice, but confidence and conviction are in the nature of a virtue. Therefore, we need to find that element in the decision that changes the nature of a decision from virtue to vice, or vice versa.
This is a similar assessment—if not a corollary—of what appears to be confidence in a human being is actually an insecurity. And, sometimes, it is not possible to make the determination from the outside-in, but only from the inside-out. The conundrum is that the only person capable of the inside-out assessment is not in the correct state of mind to make it.
In this condition, we consider that stubbornness is the realm of emotion, whereas confidence and conviction are in the realm of lucid wisdom.
A sage, who is disciplined and in control of emotion, and uses emotion only as controlled power—like wind for a rudder—will remain lucidly open-minded to a new tack of decision. Firm but flexible. It must needs be. But undisciplined emotions—out of control toward capsize—will close the door on thinking, convinced without considering new thought. [4, 5] Therefore, it is exactly at the point where confidence and conviction will not permit a contrary or new idea that the virtue tends toward vice.
Now, having said that, we might twist up this fable a bit—just to keep thinking—and applaud the Ass, at least at the first instance. Why?
The Ass was thinking “out of the box” on how to achieve the most efficient method to reach the bottom.
In a think-tank brain-storming meeting, sure the Ass might suggest jumping off the cliff to get to the bottom faster, with a response from the leader, “Great thought, Ass. We’ll all die with that suggestion, but, hey, great thought. This is the ‘No Judgment Zone.’ Every thought is valuable. Come on, Team, let’s keep thinking. Hey, Icarus, what do you think about jumping? Can we build some wings?“
Even bad ideas can be glue to other good ideas, or not.
In any case, where the Ass went wrong was not in the thinking, but in the refusal to change his mind. If jumping would not be deadly or injurious, jumping would be courageous, a virtue. Perhaps the statistical assessment by the Ass was different than the Driver, who was a coward. And that is a function of rational judgment, as it has been said, “Discrimen inter iens ad crepidinem et transitum super crepidinem, est parvus gradus.” (“The difference between going to the edge and going over the edge, is one small step.”) One small step is the difference between salvation and destruction, success and failure.
Here, the Ass refused to be open-minded to other views and perspectives as a secondary consideration, and, in this, Aesop teaches that the Ass was a fool. The stubborn Ass failed where clear heads prevail.
[1] The Two “Master Virtues” – The Executive Summary [#GRZ_209]
“Discrimen inter iens ad crepidinem et transitum super crepidinem, est parvus gradus.” (“The difference between going to the edge and going over the edge, is one small step.”) ~grz
© 2013 Arnold Zegarelli and Gregg Zegarelli, Esq. Gregg can be contacted through LinkedIn. Arnold Zegarelli can be contacted through Facebook.
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