It seems that in Og Mandino’s Scroll 3, the bull of the orient has been pretty controversial. Some people don’t like the fact that the bull and bull fighting are in the scroll and remove it. Now I love my animals and my little dogs and I prefer kindness towards animals so this has really made me look closer at this aspect of the scroll so that I can work it and gain what Og was intending me to learn from it. After about three weeks of reading this part of the scroll and thinking on it, here is what I have learned:
- We are in a life or death battle for OURSELVES! I read a comment somewhere and the person had mentioned that they didn’t’ like the bull story because the bull dies in a bull fight. I have realized that I die in my story too. Og says I persist as long as there is breath in me (I die). I also realized that if I don’t fight and charge on I die on the inside and become a spectator of my own life.
- A cool thing I came upon was also that in a bull fight the arena is full but there are only TWO playing the game. I become grateful that I am in the game when so many people aren’t and admitted that the game isn’t easy to swallow all the time.
- Then there was the simple picture of life being a battle in which I must have an attitude of FORGING and CHARGING ahead. Aggressiveness in purpose is fundamental for success. Life constantly produces piercing blows and we still keep charging on.
- Finally, I realize that bull fighting is not the choice of the bull. The bull didn’t ask for this and then there are all kinds of spectators getting a kick out of the bull getting beat down. This is probably the sickest part of the story but I saw a life truth in it. It seems……….that in life we find ourselves in arenas that we seemingly didn’t choose and people are all around laughing at us and kind of hoping we fall and fail. What does Og say we do, charge on despite these stings of life.
Although I understand that many don’t like the picture of Bull Fighting and I don’t really like it either, but I just wanted to find something good in the story and I think I did.
Changing life with the Master Key 
Great insights and blog! Thanks for sharing!
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you are welcome
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How very clever of you to see this in the first paragraph. I an in an arena that has lots of bullying, horizontal violence and my fav, the crabs in a pot analogy. If we think about what others who might be laughing, we loose our own focus. Thanks for sharing that point of view.
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Thanks jwest. Great knowledge is in your comment
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Very insightful post, and puts the bull fighting in a perspective that makes it a little easier to relate to. Thanks for the great post.
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Thanks Shelby for reading my “controversial” post hahaha. I appreciate your support
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Jason, very well done. A very thought provoking post. I loved your perspective view adn that is a great picture of that bull. I don’t think he would let anyone push him around.
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Thanks Joe. I understand why some people don’t like the bull story but I do think Og meant the story for good not bad so I wanted to find some good. Positivity bias eh?
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Wow, this is probably the best explanation of the third scroll I have heard. I Iike the way you go through the analysis of the three parts are beautiful and well thought out. Thank you I am now looking at the scroll From a new perspective.
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What a fantastic comment Brian. Thanks so much for reading the post. I am glad it was helpful and scroll three is pretty awesome so I figured I would share some things I got out of it
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HI Jason, I’m European and although bull-fighting is now banned, it wasn’t that long ago that it was a popular spectator sport and provided employment for many men. Young men dreamed of being a Matador and fighting the bull until it was tired when they delivered the fateful stab. It was the culture and at the time Mandino wrote this, it was acceptable culture. Times change though and you are right, you have to look for the meaning and lesson behind it.
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Yeah I never personally minded the bull thing but I know for others it was a real block that’s why I wanted to share this post.
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I shall tell you a funny story then. A man goes into a restaurant in Spain. He sees someone on the table next to him have a plate placed before him with two extra large ‘meatballs’. He asks the waitor, “what is that?” The waiter replies “ah, sir, that is the pride of the bullring, it is the bulls balls, fresh from today’s fight.” So the man decides he will return tomorrow to try to get the ‘pride of the bullring’.
The next day the man returns to the restaurant and asks his waitor for the ‘pride of the bullring’. The waiter returns a short time later with a plate with two very very small ‘meatballs’ on it. He looks up at the waiter disappointedly as says “what is this, I wanted the ‘pride of the bullring’?” “Ah”, says the waiter, “sometimes the bull wins.”
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Loved this. Cracked up first thing in the morning reading it. Great way to start the day.
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Hi Jason,
I like your perspective on the bullfighting. I am a vegetarian and stopped eating meat 25 years ago because of the way our society treats animals. I too was at first displeased with the analogy of the bulls being picked on. It is a metaphor and as such I changed the tense into the past for my readings and as such it is water down the river and does not happen any more in my present world and I can still learn from it. You also have a great writing style. Thank you, G
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