Meeting Wolf

There are no words

inside his mouth,

inside his golden eyes.

So we stand, silent,

both of us tense

under the speechless but faithful trees.

And this is what I think:

I have given him

intrusion.

He has given me

a glimpse into a better but now broken world.

Not his doing, but ours.

I can hear my spouse speaking in my mind now, for over the last few days we have spoken about "needs based ethics."  This ethical process doesn't have principles, or categories of people., therefore there isn't blame or praise.  For example,  "animals have the same rights as human animals,"  Ethical principles are one framework for guiding our behavior, but in reality our modular brains, our emotional limbic system, and our other subconscious motivations for behavior influence our actions more than any cognitive framework. 

You might ask then that with such wild brains as ours and without judgment of what is moral, how do we heal the world and stop the harming and breaking?

In Needs Based Ethics (NBE) what we do is integrate our mind's conscious and subconscious functions by keeping our hearts open to the needs of all beings.  It is an ethic of com-passion in that we bring our feelings to the situation of ourselves and others so that we can empathize with others' needs. These needs aren't desires or strategies, but are universal and fundamental to the species in question.

So as in my reflection yesterday, we humans are not more "right" or "wrong" than the wolf, squirrel, or owl.  We do things to fulfill life and the basic needs of protection, security, connection, and creativity.  It's just that the strategy that we pick to meet these life fulfilling needs have tragic consequences. 

My tenets of the day:

We break relationships, bodies, and the earth.

We must meet the wolf our self-interests and mourn our choices.

We are not an intrusion upon the earth, but one of many beautiful beings.

We are worthy and so are others.

May my actions so reflect these understandings.

What are your tenets today?