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This week we talk to Conor O’Brien about celebrating our uniqueness
Conor O’Brien is an Irish singer and songwriter for the band Villagers.
In This Interview, Conor O’Brien and I Discuss…
- The One You Feed parable
- Using art to explore our inner challenges
- His “meditation” song
- His song about smiling into the void- Nothing Arrived
- Embracing the difficult
- How most music tries to cover up the cracks in life
- How music that seems sad can be very comforting.
- Being part of something bigger
- Realizing how little we know
- Becoming more comfortable talking about his sexuality
- Being an introvert
- The sweet relief of knowing nothing comes for free
- Looking for shortcuts in life and how they don’t exist
- Why being on The One You Feed is sort of like going to a therapist
- How therapy is less accepted in Ireland as much as America
- Having faith in the things that make you different
- Finding the things in ourselves that are unique and magnify them
- The mood in Ireland after the referendum on gay marriage
- Humility in a celebrity driven culture
Conor O’Brien Links
A grandfather is talking with his grandson and he says there are two wolves inside of us which are always at war with each other.
One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear.
The grandson stops and thinks about it for a second then he looks up at his grandfather and says, “Grandfather, which one wins?”
The grandfather quietly replies, the one you feed
The Tale of Two Wolves is often attributed to the Cherokee indians but there seems to be no real proof of this. It has also been attributed to evangelical preacher Billy Graham and Irish Playwright George Bernard Shaw. It appears no one knows for sure but this does not diminish the power of the parable.
This parable goes by many names including:
The Tale of Two Wolves
The Parable of the Two Wolves
Two Wolves
Which Wolf Do You Feed
Which Wolf are You Feeding
Which Wolf Will You Feed
It also often features different animals, mainly two dogs.
Edie Banks says
I’ve been listening to your podcast for over a year or so. I had an “Aha” moment when you said Art feeds the good wolf. I think I get caught up in is my hobby aren’t or a “craft” as opposed to what it really does for me.