A story about beliefs...

A story about beliefs
Socrates had gone for a walk outside the city walls of Athens. He was taking a rest, sitting on a mile post on the road about 5 miles from the city. As he rested he watched a traveller come along the road.
“Greetings, friend! Can you tell me, is this the road to Athens?” Socrates assured him it was. “Carry straight on ahead. It’s quite a big city. You can’t miss it.”
“Tell me,” said the traveller, “what are the people of Athens like?” “Well,” said Socrates, “tell me where you’re from, and what the people there are like, and I’ll tell you about the people of Athens.”
“I’m from Argos . And I am proud and happy to tell you that the people of Argos are the friendliest, happiest, most generous people you could ever wish to meet.”
“And I’m very happy to tell you, my friend,” said Socrates, “that the people of Athens are exactly the same.”
A few moments passed and another traveller approached. “Greetings, friend! Can you tell me, is this the road to Athens?” Socrates assured him it was. “Carry straight on ahead. It’s quite a big city. You can’t miss it.”
“Tell me,” said the traveller, “what are the people of Athens like?” “Well,” said Socrates, “tell me where you’re from, and what the people there are like, and I’ll tell you about the people of Athens.”
“I’m from Argos. And I am sad and disappointed to tell you that the people of Argos are the meanest, most miserable and least friendly people you could ever wish to meet.”
“And I’m very disappointed to tell you, my friend,” said Socrates, “that the people of Athens are exactly the same.”

Another story about beliefs..
The woman was walking past the elephants, and as she watched them, she became fascinated that these wondrously massive animals were being restrained by a relatively thin rope attached to a leg. She expected they would need to be secured by chains or wire ropes – and it was clear to her that these huge creatures could easily snap the rope and just walk off. Because she was now intrigued she questioned the animals trainer and asked why they made no attempt to escape. “Good question,” said the trainer, “when the elephants are small calf’s the same rope is used to secure them and at that young age it is strong enough to restrain them. As they mature and become larger they are conditioned to believe they can’t break the rope. They believe the rope is still stronger than they are, so they never even try to break free.”  The woman was astonished. The elephants could, at any time, break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. You might say an invisible boundary created by the mind……. In a similar way, how many of us proceed through life clinging (unconsciously) onto a belief that we can’t do something, simply because we failed at it once before?