Fable of the Frog and Scorpion

Please Don't Hurt Me

In the fable of the frog and the scorpion, Scorpion asks Frog to carry him across the river on his back. Frog refuses because he knows that Scorpion will sting him. Scorpion promises not to so Frog agrees to take Scorpion across the river. As they move through the water Scorpion stings Frog twice and each time promises not to do it again. But with the third sting, Frog asks Scorpion why he did that because Frog is going to die. Scorpion replies that he stung Frog because he is a scorpion and that is what scorpions do. And they both drown. You can read this fable on the website by clicking here.

Like the scorpion, there are people in our lives who hurt us. While we take their behavior personally, it is the way they are. But we want them to be nice, kind, thoughtful and considerate. So we agree to engage with them as their enlightenment teachers, hoping that they will recognize our generosity of spirit and open up to their higher aspects. And they sting us, again and again, because that is where they are in their spiritual evolution. They have lessons to learn where they are and are not ready to cross their river of understanding.

We go through many lifetimes saying "please don't hurt me" to those who have hurt us again and again, trying to undo our past by getting them to change what they do or have done. Like the Frog in the fable, we do not listen to our inner guidance and hope that the outcome will be different. But we still get stung and instead of asking why we put ourselves in that situation, we ask the other person why they acted that way. Like Scorpion, they are not ready to embrace enlightenment and understanding. They are doing what feels right to them. We are victims of our karma and they are victims of their energies. And we both drown.

We can look back on our life and find the "scorpions" that we have tried to help, only to find ourselves bruised, battered, hurt, and disillusioned. The solution is not to carry yet another scorpion across the river, but to discover why we feel the need to heal ourselves by helping someone else heal. We hold out healing like a brilliant light to those who are content to be in the darkness, hoping that by helping them find the light we will achieve a lifetime healing milestone. Yet this is simply our lesson in acceptance, forgiveness and release. By letting go of the scorpions we can find peace and joy, giving ourselves the gift of healing and light and allowing those who chose the darkness to be where they need to be.

Uriel Heals Newsletter
Jennifer Hoffman
November 2, 2009