Heedism on Towards Freedom

Manifesto MEGA

Sun, 18 May 2025 07:57:03 -0700

A poem by Markus about religion and what to do about it.
The image was produced by Chatgpt.

I’ve never met a religious person
who really believes what they claim to believe
They follow the norms, go to church, read the books
But why then do you cry
When your child dies?
If you believe in an afterlife
And why all the violence and blood?
If your God is supreme he wouldn’t give a fuck
about your little nation, your team, your victory
That’s why i think all you religious folk
are full of shit
You are just afraid of uncertainty
And i get it
Everyone wants to belong
Religion is about community and control
At the expense of truth
Truth needs no religion
God doesn’t need your belief
Truth is free
God is not something to believe
God is something to become
This is the highest calling
This is the potential for man
for Artificial Intelligence
to merge with the beloved
A new age of art and commerce
We are all athletes, poets, scientists, healers, hunters
The lowlifes hunt animals
The highlanders hunt for beauty
Beauty of greatness
in thought, action, creed
Show me what you believe
And i will blind you with reality
We are all Gods in the making
United States of Love
Make Earth Great Again

Scuro

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 16:00:36 -0800

A long winding adventure that tells the tale of how a 2024 Fiat 500e became the Kyron’s first car.

This is a complex story so we have organized it into headings.

(All photos unless otherwise indicated are by Kyron.)

Initializations

It all began with rats.

Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats.
(Prad Piper)

Well not really. Rats are not the horrid varmints that some people make them out to be. They’re actually resourceful and imaginative creatures who make the most with the cards they have been dealt. Few appreciate what a hard life it can be for a rat.

My son, Kyron, who has been rescuing animals ever since he was born, has helped many a rat in our mini sanctuary. Each has its own unique personality and interests, such as this one who liked staying on his shoulder fascinated by the sound while I played the organ.

Aficionado of organ music (Photo by Prad)

Before telling you about the role of rats, I will provide some background, as I do throughout the story here, so that you can better understand things in context. I will even provide you with links if you are inclined to research things to the utmost!

The Rils

In 2018, my wife of countless decades, Ranjana, made one of her astonishingly astute acclamations, deciding we should only drive electric vehicles. After some research, we bought 2 Nissan Leafs from a fine salesman at Campus Nissan named Frank Pecorelli. He worked very hard to get us the best deal possible and arrange for us to maximize the government grants that were available at that time.

One car was silver, a 2013 leaf, and the other was a dark blue, a 2018 leaf. They glowed like gemstones! So, inspired by Tolkien’s silmarils, we named them Silveril and Sapphiril.

The Two Rils (Photo by Prad)

Silveril must have had magical properties because its range seemed to increase as we drove it. Once due to a miscalculation, it showed we had run out of range, but I still managed to make it home! After six years, I changed its parking location under a tree. Unfortunately, sap from the tree dripped onto it, but more seriously, a group of rats decided to make their home under the hood! We did not realize what had happened till one day when we tried to pop open the charging compartment and it wouldn’t work. The rats had chewed through some of the wiring and had also utilized a part of the hood as their lavatory. In fact, we were told by our trusted Shawnigan Lake Garage that before anyone could work on the wiring, the car would have to go in for a major cleaning.

Fortunately, ICBC covered rodent damage. When I asked the assessor, Robert Lise, for a recommended merchant, he said I could take it wherever I want, but ICBC approved dealerships made the job easier because they did the paperwork for us. So I started calling around and though the first two places tried to be helpful they did not know how to proceed. The third phone call led me to Duncan Dodge, and a very nice lady named Crystal, who knew exactly what to do! She was remarkably efficient and to my surprise, she told me to bring the car in that same day! One of their service agents, Sean looked after the repair work liaising with Robert. The entire job including courtesy rides and paperwork was done in less than two days!

Our Next Car

I was so impressed, I had Crystal hook me up with one of their salespeople, Richard, because I planned to buy our next car from this fine dealership! I told Richard that we likely wouldn’t buy for awhile and that I didn’t want to waste his time, but he said I wasn’t wasting his time at all and he’d be happy to do research and send me items whenever they met the requirements I had set. Those requirements eventually lead to 2 possibilities, the Bolt and the Fiat 500e.

On Saturday, November 9th Richard told us he had a couple of Fiats available for us to look at and was willing to talk to his manager to bring in some Bolts, but we went to the Island GM dealer up the road to look at those after test driving one of the Fiats at Duncan Dodge. When we got to the GM dealership, Kyron realized he had accidentally swiped the key for the Fiat we had just driven. That made me think that this Fiat was indeed the car we were going to get, but I took the key back right away to Richard telling him that now he wouldn’t have to check up on his inventory because of the enthusiasm my son had shown.

By the time I got back to the GM dealership, Kyron had already looked at one of the Bolts and we were waiting for the salesguy who didn’t want to talk to Kyron till I returned for some reason. He seemed to be busy with some other clients even though we had set an appointment to meet with him. I asked Kyron what he thought of the Bolt and it wasn’t much. Rather than waiting around for this salesguy, I said “Let’s just go”. As we were driving out, the aforementioned salesguy came rushing out to find out why we weren’t waiting around for him. I told him simply that we didn’t like the Bolt and we were going to get the Fiat. He warned us that having sold both types of cars, he would never get a Fiat, and I felt like telling him that he wasn’t the one getting the car so he really had nothing to worry about, but I repressed this retort, since my son was in the car, and I felt I should set a good example for him.

That very Saturday evening, Richard made arrangements for us through his sales manager Jeremy, to take the Fiat on their dealership insurance and license plate until we could buy it a few days later trading in Silveril at our convenience! Though I didn’t have the funds to pay for the car for a few weeks, Richard had emailed me indicating I could get it financed at no interest/down if I wanted to move on this sooner. He also added that he was on our side, and if we wanted to arm-wrestle about the price, he’d go to bat for us. I thought this sort of thing to be a rather purile way to make a deal, and told Richard that we don’t do business that way. They can give us their best offer and we’d either accept it or move on. As it turned out, the offer they made us, was quite suitable, so we accepted!

Another fine fellow name Danny arranged for the background information to deal with the finances. Danny took an interest in Kyron’s music career too, since he was a folk singer himself. It was agreed that we would get the car Wednesday, November 13th. They were very accommodating folks indeed!

Driving Kyron

Before continuing with this story we need to flashback to how Kyron got around to driving - because he never wanted to! (Actually, neither he not I particularly liked to drive, even though we as a project resuscitated a 1981 Eagle named Kiyreagle, thus enjoying the car without driving it.)

At the end of Grade 1, Kyron asked if he could homeschool till he was 20. As a homeschooler, he was able to explore and acquire expertise in numerous areas such as music, science, photography, and computer science, unburdened by the education system’s mandatory curriculum. His skills in the latter field grew to the extent that a professor at Caltech was interested in having him study there.

When he was 17, I reminded him that 20 wasn’t that far off and asked what was it he was planning to do when he reached that age. With a big smile he said “Home university!” - which he did! So since most of his activities were centred around the home, he rarely required transportation elsewhere that he couldn’t manage on a bicycle. Driving was the furthest thing from his mind.

However, when he turned 24, he enrolled in the Victoria Conservatory of Music vocal course. To get to class, we would drive him from Shawnigan Lake to Langford. From there, he would take the bus and we would pick him up in Langford when he was finished. Often, due to his schedule, we’d have to take him all the way to downtown Victoria and pick him up from there.

Additionally, Ranjana would drive him to all his concerts and performances, because she enjoyed being part of his audience. Two years later, he was accepted into the University of Victoria music program where he earned his Bachelors degree. After that, he moved to Victoria for a couple of years to do his Masters, but then returned home again when COVID hit in 2020. He started teaching at both institutions as well as performing as a high demand baritone in Victoria. Additionally, he had established a reputation of being a talented photographer and his skills were regularly sought after.

Needless to say, he had to be driven to all things or had to take public transportation after being driven to the Victoria area.

So why had he not learned to drive yet?

One reason lay with his aversion to the activity in the first place. He tended to fall asleep in a car. Also he wasn’t that keen on rubbing shoulders with some of the crazy drivers out there that he had certainly witnessed as a passenger.

The other was his mother.

Radical Ranjana

Apparently, sometime after COVID when he had started working as a vocal teacher at both his former schools VCM and UVic, he had asked his mother if it was alright that he be driven for another year just so he could get organized. Ranjana however decided this was an opportunity to start an exclusive business with the very long title, The Prad and Ranjana Chauffeur Service for Kyron! My name came first because I did most of the driving - in fact, for a while (as between 2014-2024), all of the driving. Ranjana, no doubt, was doing some sort of essential administrative work for this exclusive business. Every trip to Victoria resulted in three more, one to get back, one to go down to pick him up, and one to come back. I could see there was a point to this when he was going to school because it was a big change for him, but after he started work he needed to acquire some independence.

When I brought up the point about her son doing his own driving to Ranjana, I was met with the stauchly steadfast statement, “I see nothing wrong with us driving him everywhere!”

A bit of background on Ranjana may help to alleviate your understanding of what she just said. (So will these links: Ranjana in Ottawa, Wedaches, A Far Far Better Thing, if you have the courage to follow them.)

To most, Ranjana appears to be a perfectly normal and highly intelligent person. I can certainly see why people would think that way, given that not only does she have her Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degrees, but she also had the brilliance to marry me. However, things are not always as they appear, for trepidation doth not reveal itself to most, willingly!

For instance, practically no one knows that Ranjana could easily have been a world champion race car driver! After we had attended an Aikido seminar in Montreal, she decided we had to get back to Toronto quickly. She drove the entire way and completed the trip in under 3 hours. I will not go through the computations to determine how fast she was traveling, but let it suffice to say that this trip would have been terrifying to not one but two provincial Departments of Transportation!

After that dashing display, I realized that an ordinary car would not stand much chance with her, and bought her a sports car, a brand new 1984 black Chrysler laser, turbocharged with the works!

Armed with this vehicle, Ranjana had opportunities to demonstrate her scintillatingly, superior skillset!

For instance, she is the only person I know, who can drive a car that actually talks to you telling that it is low on fuel, but chooses to heroically rebel against the inevitable, managing to repeatedly run out of gas.

Furthermore, she is the only person I know that police take a special interest in. When they set out a check point, they stop her while she’s going one way, and then they stop her again when she’s coming back. Perhaps they know something that even I don’t?

Admittedly, these are minor crises, so you may be wondering, how does she handle something really serious?

Once we were driving to Stratford, Ontario to Shakespeare ourselves, and were confronted with an impatient (I could use alternate terminology, but I don’t want to set a bad example), illegally crossing the double lines to pass another car coming the other way. It would have been a certain head-on high speed crash! Without hesitation, Ranjana accelerated her powerful sports car onto the soft shoulder, preventing the accident, and leaving behind the now stunned driver of the other car, fearfully stopped, trembling in the middle of the road!

Talking Kyron into driving

So, given the circumstances and his immediate plans, Kyron was in no hurry to learn to drive. What he was hoping to do, may have been to delay things till FSD (full self-driving) cars became available.

However, I wasn’t so optimistic even though I certainly thought FSD was the way to do things. It was just too far in the future and there would likely be several complications. Kyron needed his independence and I needed to get alternate employment.

So I talked to him directly in an appropriately logical fashion. I told him that while his mother was quite happy to drive him everywhere till the end of time, his ability to do things would be greatly restricted by relying on others for transportation. He was willing to drive in order to help out at home, of course, but I told him that that wasn’t the point I was conveying.

He thought about moving back to Victoria, but calculated it would be much more expensive than commuting even the way we were now with 4 trips. There would also be issues with renting a decently located place with sufficient wifi bandwidth (a problem he’d encountered while doing his Masters degree).

Then we looked into the possibility of electric bikes. Ranjana opposed obstructively objecting with “It’s too dangerous”, revelling with relish in her role as the excessively protective mother. Kyron and I however, saw some merit in the idea despite the problems the rainy season would offer. However, considering that the cost of a decent electric bike was more than what Silveril would bring on resale, the idea was abandoned.

After considering flexibility of movement, capability of carrying equipment, accountability of expenses, it became evident that the best option was to learn to drive.

So I contacted our excellent agent Paula at Westland Insurance and told her Kyron was going to learn to drive. She was delighted and said how exciting that would be, to which I replied, “Yes. Poor baby is only 34 years old!” With typical efficiency she set Kyron up to drive Sapphiril.

Kyron took the written driving test and went out with me several times. Though hesitant at first, he quickly gained confidence and was driving like a pro within a week! It was actually quite amusing being in the car with him, because he’d make snide but accurate comments about the improper drivers he encountered, such as tailgaters, speeders, and lane ignorers. He noticed practically everything and had something to say about it. He even commented on his mother’s present speeding tendencies which, while no longer like the Montreal-Toronto debacle, were under excruciating scrutiny! Ranjana came to me one day complaining that Kyron had been hassling her for driving 5 km/hr over the speed limit.

With his Learner license, Kyron could now share half the trip, so I had no issues letting Ranjana do most of the driving allowing me to moonlight into a different profession.

Kyron developed into a fine driver not showing any indication of having inherited his mother’s Autoban genes. After getting his New Driver license, Kyron was happily soloing with Sapphiril to all those activities we used to have to drive him to.

“I don’t want a car”

While Richard had been sending me possibilities for our next car, Kyron had been telling me he saw no point in getting his own car. So I told Richard, that Kyron categorically said “No!” to getting his own car. Now, you must understand that this refusal was not because Kyron was trying to make Sapphiril his car at all. His refusal was a pattern of ’not wanting’ that had been prevalent from his childhood. It was actually quite a mature attitude of non-indulgence that you can read about in The Old Man, a title given to him by his nursery school teacher.

It is true that we didn’t really need another car at this point, but what Kyron hadn’t taken into account was the original rationale for getting Sapphiril. This car was equipped with major safety features and conveniences that weren’t available in Silveril. We had originally bought this car to facilitate Ranjana’s driving because she has severe arthritis.

Ranjana, always supporting her son, claimed with increasingly indignant insistence that she could drive Silveril just fine, but Kyron knew it wasn’t as good for her as Sapphiril. So he changed his mind immediately agreeing to get his own car.

I emailed Richard and told him we wanted to see the Fiat bringing us to that Saturday of November 9th when Kyron found his Fiat!

However, it was not to be!

You can’t buy this car!

Kyron and I went up to Duncan Dodge on Wednesday, November 13 in the Fiat Dodge Duncan had kindly let us drive since Saturday. When we arrived, we learned that Richard wasn’t going to be there, but Jeremy would look after us and we just needed to wait for Jen to implement the financial details. I took the opportunity to thank both Sean and Crystal, pointing out that their service was what had convinced me to get the car from here.

Then the surprises began.

When we met with Jen, she indicated the interest payments we would have to make for the car. I told her that Richard had said, we could get the car for no interest till February when we’d have the full amount. She said that wasn’t correct, and that dealerships don’t do financing that way. I found this turn of events to be peculiar, but Jen went and checked with Jeremy who apparently confirmed this. She said that Richard may have misunderstood the situation.

I told Jen that I wasn’t thrilled by this alteration, but if that is the only way for us to get the car, then, we’d pay the full amount in a couple of days after I acquired the money. Jen seemed fine to go ahead with things, but Jeremy suddenly appeared looking very unhappy.

He began apologizing profusely then dropped a bombshell - we couldn’t buy this car despite our agreement, despite the fact the trade-in for Silveril was already done, because, believe it or not, Duncan Dodge couldn’t sell it! The car was something they were showing for their sister store in Nanaimo.

He said the only way we could buy a Fiat, would be to go to Nanaimo and buy a similar Fiat through that store! He again apologized and said that he was never informed of the situation. He would completely understand if we cancelled the entire deal and took back Silveril.

I thought cancellation would be best at this point.

We had another problem in that I had terminated Sapphiril’s insurance for Kyron, so now he had no car to drive! Jeremy said he could extend the insurance for this Fiat for a day, but no more.

That would not be sufficient given Kyron’s busy schedule, so we simply cancelled everything, took back Silveril, and left Duncan Dodge on good terms. They had treated us well, but had some internal communication errors, so we didn’t think ill of them at all despite the surprises. Besides, we had to figure out what Kyron was going to drive within a couple of hours!

So as we drove home, I told Ranjana what had happened. She immediately called Paula to see if Kyron could be reinstated on Sapphiril right away. Well, you can always count on Paula - we have for years! By the time we got home, Paula had prepared all the necessary paperwork through Docusign and I was able to do almost everything online. I just had to go in to see her, and Kyron would be all set up again!

When we arrived at Westland Insurance, Kyron received a phone call from Nanaimo Dodge. They had learned what had taken place and were willing to bring the same trim Fiat to our doorstep! We thought this was indeed very decent of them, but I told Kyron to just hold off so we can think out things a bit. Since he could drive Sapphiril again, there was no longer an urgency.

As you’ll see, waiting proved to be the ultimate salvationary choice in the story!!

How dark the cloud behind the silver lining!

After Kyron left for Victoria in Sapphiril, I started to think of possibilities. I wanted to know for instance, why there seemed to be 3 ways to buy a Fiat: through the Fiat website, through a dealership, and through the Fiat dealer in Victoria.

So I phoned the latter and was greeted by someone (Heather) identifying the dealership as Alfa Romeo Victoria. Thinking I had the wrong number, I asked if they knew how I could contact the Fiat dealership and was surprised to learn that they were the Fiat dealership. I was transferred to one of their salespeople, Sebastian (aka Seba).

I asked him several questions and each answer impressed me with its precision and detail. Never did I sense any attempt to do a ‘sales pitch’, for here was someone who had such confidence in his product and service, that such gymnastics were unnecessary and undesirable! I told him how it came about that I had called his dealership, providing a brief history. I emphasized that I had nothing bad to say about Duncan Dodge and that we really had been treated very well by those nice people despite the eventual outcome.

Seba then obliquely gave me some very sound wisdom. He said they may be nice, but they need to know their product. That really struck home, because I realized at that moment that not only did Duncan Dodge not know they couldn’t sell us the car, but on more than one occasion, Kyron told them something they didn’t know about their own Fiat!

It was much worse than that though.

Seba was about to walk me through EV101, but I told him we’d been driving EVs for six years. He was quite pleased and said I must know about the government grants then. I said we did, and that we’d get a $5000 federal grant, and that, we were told Kyron could apply for the $4000 provincial grant after we’d bought the Fiat.

Seba was a bit shocked and told me, “No! You must apply first and then after the application comes through, then you buy the car!”

I was more than a bit shocked!

Had the sale completed at Duncan Dodge or had we followed through on Nanaimo Dodge’s offer, we would have lost the $4000 grant!!

It became clear that some Fiat Angel had been looking out for us all this time! The silver lining was that the failed deal led us to Alfa Romeo, but the cloud behind it was far more morbid than we had realized!

I assured Seba that we weren’t going to buy anything till we had a chance to meet with him!

Step into a New World!

Seba, Kyron, and I exchanged some emails that evening and in one of them Kyron outlined the entire deal Duncan Dodge was offering for the Fiat and the Silveril trade-in. We arranged to go to the dealership the very next day.

When we arrived on Thursday morning, November 14th, in Sapphiril (Silveril needed charging), we learned that Seba couldn’t be there due to a doctor’s appointment and were greeted by the salesmanager, Pietro.

After the first few minutes with him, it became clear to us that we were at a high-end dealership. They were high-end, not because they sold expensive exotic cars (the Fiat is actually the least expensive EV on the market!), but because their level of service rose right to the top! They weren’t trying to sell us a car, they were doing their best to make sure we got the car that was right for us and in the right way!

This is how business really should be done by both sides. No haggling, no nickel and dime thumb twisting, where you may gain a few dollars, but at the loss of integrity of both parties. With them, we work together to achieve a mutually desirable state.

Kyron told Pietro that we would get the car from them and that the Silveril trade-in had no bearing on the sale. If we got a decent price on the trade-in, we’d accept. Otherwise, we’d give Silveril to charity. Pietro said he appreciated Kyron’s transparency, but thought he could give us a better deal than Duncan Dodge. Furthermore, he encouraged us to take advantage of their $0 interest over 3 years financing (completely contradicting what we had been told by Duncan Dodge)! He’d have to see Silveril first of course. We drove back to Shawnigan Lake so I could bring the car down that afternoon.

Pietro checked it out, test drove it, sat down to scribble numbers on a piece of paper, then showed me the results. I asked how he had come up with the very interesting $3173 trade-in value. What he had done was taken the Duncan Dodge offer and added the finance charge to it, so we’d be covered even for that! True to his word, he did $600 better in total than what we’d been offered before.

For the financing, he introduced me to Alex, who would do the honors including the Silveril transfer on Saturday, November 16th when everything would be ready. Finally, Pietro said, “Welcome to the family!”

Pietro was willing to send me home in a cab, but I felt that kindness would be too much since a trip from Victoria to Shawnigan Lake was over $100. So he charged up Silveril for me so I would have no concerns getting home.

While we waited we had a long chat about various topics.

I told him that Kyron had named the car Scuro, and he was surprised that an Italian name had been chosen. I explained that my son was a vocal and diction instructor at the University of Victoria and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, so he was familiar with various languages. In fact, he thought Pietro had a very fine singing voice! Pietro was pleased by the assessment, but thought his Italian accent was too heavy. I said singers often try to develop the correct inflections when singing in other languages, and that he therefore had a headstart!

I learned that he had done work at the University of Calabria in hospitality and told him it showed!

He had somehow surmised that I was a teacher and we talked about my background. We also covered areas such as diet, health, and awareness. It was really quite a delightful conversation and indeed, I felt welcomed to this Alfa Romeo family!

When the charging was done for Silveril, Pietro jokingly said, “Be careful with the car, because it’s my car now.” I said he had nothing to worry about because I really was a very conscientious driver. He seemed reassured, till I mentioned that Ranjana was less inclined to be so, relating the Montreal-Toronto cataclysm. Then I removed my hood and after he recovered from the reflective radiance emanating from my head, I said, “Did you know that before I met my wife, I had a full head of hair?”

Noting the look of deep consternation that had suddenly come over his face, I allayed his fears, telling him that Ranjana rarely drove Silveril, causing Pietro to burst into the uncontrollable laughter of relief, still squinting from the glare.

Finally Home

On Saturday, November 16, Kyron and I drove down in Sapphiril to pick up Scuro, and were greeted by Seba, accompanied by his assistant in training, Matthew.

Then the surprises began.

But different ones this time!

Seba told us that since we had an unfortunate experience earlier, they had prepared something special. We followed him to a showroom and found Scuro meticulously gift-wrapped for us.

Scuro Gift Wrapped Backview

Scuro Gift Wrapped Frontview

Then Matthew and Seba unwrapped Scuro!

(See the Alfa Romeo Victoria page in our businesses section for kudos to this superb dealership.)

We have never encountered a gesture such as this!

Kyron went through the first-delivery as Seba explained various points to him. Their second-delivery would take place at a later date after Kyron had a chance to drive the car for a while. Seba also assured us that anytime we had any questions about Scuro, they would be there for us. They certainly do honor to the family concept!

Then Alex showed up to handle all the finance paperwork which included various protective packages we could add on, all covered within the 3 year, no interest loan! He went over all the details, answering our questions with careful thoroughness. I was quite amazed by his smooth handling of a massive number of forms! When we did the insurance with an outside agent (Emily), he was there to make sure there was no unnecessary duplication of benefits!

Alex showed the same level of thoughtfulness and consideration that Seba and Pietro had earlier! It was quite evident that we had acquired much more than a car!

Finally, everything was done and there was nothing left but for Kyron to drive away in Scuro. Pietro appeared at that moment and with a mischievous smile told us, “This time you get to keep the car!”

And so we did!

Why Music Is Memorable

Sat, 02 Nov 2024 00:44:29 -0700

This is a summary of the Time article Why We Remember Music and Forget Everything Else followed by some discussion and insights.

Exported on 02/11/2024 at 01:01:16 from Perplexity.ai - with SaveMyChatbot

User

Summarize Why We Remember Music and Forget Everything Else

AI answer

The article from Time explores the psychology behind why music is memorable. It discusses several key factors that contribute to our ability to remember songs:

Emotional Connection: Music often evokes strong emotions, which can enhance memory retention. Songs associated with personal experiences or significant moments tend to stick in our minds.
Repetition and Familiarity: Repeated exposure to a song increases familiarity, making it easier to recall. This is why catchy tunes often become ingrained in our memory.
Melody and Rhythm: The structure of music, including its melody and rhythm, plays a crucial role in memory. Simple melodies and rhythmic patterns are easier to remember.
Cues and Context: Contextual cues, such as the environment where a song was heard or specific lyrics, can trigger memories associated with that music.

Overall, the interplay of emotional engagement, repetition, musical structure, and contextual cues significantly influences how we remember music.

Sources:

(1) Why We Remember Music and Forget Everything Else

User

what other research is there to support this article about why music is memorable?

AI answer

There is substantial research supporting the findings in the article about why music is memorable. Here are some key points from other studies that corroborate and expand on the ideas presented:

Emotional Connection and Memory

Multiple studies confirm that the emotional impact of music plays a crucial role in making it memorable:

Brain imaging studies show that our favorite songs stimulate the brain’s pleasure circuit, releasing dopamine, serotonin, and other neurochemicals that make us feel good 2. This emotional response enhances memory formation.
Research has demonstrated that emotions enhance memory processes, and since music evokes strong emotions, it is likely involved in forming memories about both the music itself and episodes associated with particular music 4.
A study published in PLOS One found that musical pieces rated as very positive were recognized significantly better than those rated as less positive, indicating that emotional valence is strongly related to musical memory 4.

The Reminiscence Bump and Autobiographical Memory

The article’s mention of music from our youth being particularly memorable is supported by other research:

The “reminiscence bump” theory suggests that memories from our teens and early 20s dominate our life narrative and are remembered more vividly 2. Music from this period often forms the soundtrack to what feel like the most vital years of our lives.
A study found that on average, 30% of presented songs evoked autobiographical memories, with most songs also evoking strong, mainly positive emotions like nostalgia 4.

Repetition and Familiarity

The article touches on the importance of repetition, which is supported by other findings:

Research shows that as a song becomes more familiar through repeated exposure, it is rated higher in emotional intensity and valence 1.
The frequency of exposure to music in everyday life contributes to our ability to remember it, as we often listen to favorite songs multiple times, unlike other media 6.

Neurological Aspects

Additional research provides insights into the neurological basis for music’s memorability:

Studies have shown that imagining music activates similar brain regions as actually listening to music, explaining why we can vividly recall songs in our minds 6.
Listening to music is accompanied by increased brain activation within a distributed network comprising many brain areas and the peripheral nervous system 4.

Long-Term Memory and Consolidation

Research supports the idea that music memory benefits from consolidation over time:

A study found that musical excerpts were better recognized after a long delay than after a short delay, suggesting that memory consolidation for musical information takes place during longer intervals 7.
The emotional enhancement of memory for music appears to depend on valence, with positive and negative stimuli being differently affected by the duration of the study-test delay interval 7.

These findings from various studies provide strong support for the article’s claims about why music is memorable, highlighting the interplay between emotion, repetition, autobiographical significance, and neurological processes in creating lasting musical memories.

Sources:

User

i find that though i can see images in my mind, i often have trouble focusing on them. on the other hand, i have no difficulty hearing ‘images’ and focusing on these. i find this interesting because i tend to be a visual learner (like most people), yet when it comes to ‘image-gination’ i am more auditory in my mind. what do you make of this?

AI answer

Your observation about your mental imagery abilities is intriguing and highlights the complex nature of cognitive processes and learning styles. Let’s explore this phenomenon and its potential implications:

Visual vs. Auditory Imagery

Your experience of having difficulty focusing on visual images while easily maintaining auditory “images” in your mind is not uncommon. This difference in imagery vividness and control between sensory modalities can vary significantly among individuals. Visual Imagery

Some people report very vivid and controllable visual mental images, while others (like yourself) may find them fleeting or difficult to focus on.
In extreme cases, some individuals experience aphantasia, a condition where they cannot form mental images at all.

Auditory Imagery

Auditory imagery, or the ability to “hear” sounds in your mind, can be quite vivid for many people.
Your strong auditory imagery might be related to factors such as musical training, language skills, or simply individual differences in cognitive processing.

Learning Styles and Mental Imagery

The relationship between learning styles and mental imagery is complex and not always straightforward:

Visual Learning: While you identify as a visual learner, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have strong visual imagery. Visual learning can involve other skills like understanding diagrams, charts, or written information.
Modality Strength: Your strong auditory imagery suggests that you might benefit from incorporating more auditory elements in your learning strategies, even if you generally prefer visual information.
Cognitive Flexibility: Your experience demonstrates that individuals can have different strengths across various cognitive domains, which can be advantageous for adapting to different learning situations.

Potential Explanations

Several factors might contribute to your experience:

Cognitive Resource Allocation: Your brain might allocate more resources to auditory processing and imagery, possibly due to past experiences or natural predisposition.
Attentional Differences: You may have developed stronger attentional control for auditory information compared to visual information.
Neural Connectivity: There could be differences in the neural pathways and connections related to visual and auditory processing in your brain.
Practice Effects: If you engage more frequently in activities that involve auditory imagery (e.g., music, language learning), this could strengthen those neural pathways.

Implications for Learning and Cognition

Understanding your cognitive strengths can help you optimize your learning and problem-solving strategies:

Multimodal Learning: Combining visual learning materials with auditory elements (e.g., verbal explanations, discussions, or self-talk) might enhance your overall comprehension and retention.
Mnemonic Techniques: You might benefit from mnemonic devices that incorporate auditory elements, such as creating rhymes or songs to remember information.
Metacognition: Being aware of your cognitive strengths allows you to adapt your study techniques and problem-solving approaches accordingly.
Cognitive Training: If you wish to improve your visual imagery skills, specific exercises and practices might help strengthen this ability over time.

In conclusion, your experience underscores the individuality of cognitive processes and the importance of understanding one’s own mental strengths and preferences. It also highlights the potential disconnect between preferred learning styles and specific cognitive abilities, suggesting that a flexible, multimodal approach to learning and problem-solving might be most beneficial.

Sources:

Perplexity

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 10:49:18 -0700

There Are No ‘Ethical Alternatives’ To A Plant-Based Diet arv

Answer (Default):

Peter Godfrey-Smith’s recent article in The Guardian explores his experiences with a “near-vegan” diet and the ethical implications of animal consumption. He reflects on the challenges of adhering to a fully plant-based diet, suggesting alternatives like humanely farmed meat, wild-caught fish, and conventionally farmed dairy as potential compromises for those concerned about animal welfare but unable to maintain strict veganism¹.

Godfrey-Smith, a professor focused on animal consciousness, grapples with the cognitive dissonance surrounding dietary choices. He acknowledges that while some may argue for humane farming practices, the fundamental act of killing animals remains ethically contentious. He raises questions about societal speciesism, highlighting that the treatment of animals considered pets versus those raised for food reflects deep-seated biases².

Critics argue that Godfrey-Smith’s reasoning lacks coherence, particularly when he suggests that humane treatment justifies continued consumption. They emphasize that regardless of farming methods, the end result is still death for the animals involved. The article also critiques the notion that fishing practices are acceptable based on historical precedent, asserting that modern ethical standards should not be dictated by ancestral behaviors³.

In terms of health, Godfrey-Smith reports negative experiences with his diet, which included fish oil supplements rather than being strictly vegan. This raises questions about the adequacy of his dietary planning and whether his symptoms were related to dietary changes or other factors like illness⁴.

Ultimately, the article concludes that for those motivated by ethical concerns regarding animal welfare, true alignment with these values necessitates a commitment to veganism, as any compromise fails to address the core issues at stake⁵.

Citations:

Animals Can Work Together arv sci

Answer (Default):

The article discusses various examples of animal cooperation and mutualistic relationships in nature, challenging the common perception of the animal kingdom as purely competitive and ruthless. Here are some key points:

Types of Symbiotic Relationships

There are three main types of symbiotic relationships:

Commensalistic: One species benefits while the other is unaffected
Parasitic: One species benefits at the expense of the other
Mutualistic: Both species benefit from the interaction

Examples of Animal Cooperation

Coral Grouper and Moray Eel Coral groupers recruit moray eels to help them hunt by using specific body movements to communicate⁶. The grouper signals the eel to follow and then indicates the location of hidden prey. This collaboration increases hunting success rates for both species.

Coyote and Badger Coyotes and badgers work together to hunt ground squirrels and prairie dogs⁷. The badger digs into burrows while the coyote waits at the exit, covering all escape routes. This teamwork improves hunting success for both animals.

Tarantula and Dotted Humming Frog Tarantulas allow dotted humming frogs to live in their burrows⁸. The frog gains protection from predators, while the tarantula’s eggs are protected from ants, which the frogs eat. This mutually beneficial relationship ensures the safety of both species.

Pistol Shrimp and Goby Pistol shrimp and gobies form a lifelong partnership⁹. The shrimp builds and maintains burrows, while the goby acts as a lookout due to its superior eyesight. This collaboration provides safety and shelter for both species.

Unexpected Interspecies Interactions

The article also mentions several instances of animals helping other species without apparent benefit:

An Indian rhesus monkey adopting and caring for a homeless puppy
A Bornean orangutan rescuing a drowning bird
A bear saving a drowning crow
Humpback whales defending smaller fish from orcas

These interactions demonstrate that animal behavior can sometimes extend beyond simple survival instincts, showing compassion or altruism across species lines¹⁰.

Conclusion

While competition and violence exist in nature, the animal kingdom also exhibits numerous examples of cooperation and mutualism¹¹. These relationships highlight the similarities between animals and humans, demonstrating that different species can work together for mutual benefit or even act altruistically.

Citations:

Animals Can Work Together 2 arv sci diy

Answer (Default):

Types of Symbiotic Relationships

There are three main types of symbiotic relationships:

Commensalistic: One species benefits while the other is unaffected
Parasitic: One species benefits at the expense of the other
Mutualistic: Both species benefit from the interaction

Examples of Animal Cooperation

Coral Grouper and Moray Eel Coral groupers recruit moray eels to help them hunt by using specific body movements to communicate¹². The grouper signals the eel to follow and then indicates the location of hidden prey. This collaboration increases hunting success rates for both species.

Coyote and Badger Coyotes and badgers work together to hunt ground squirrels and prairie dogs¹³. The badger digs into burrows while the coyote waits at the exit, covering all escape routes. This teamwork improves hunting success for both animals.

Tarantula and Dotted Humming Frog Tarantulas allow dotted humming frogs to live in their burrows¹⁴. The frog gains protection from predators, while the tarantula’s eggs are protected from ants, which the frogs eat. This mutually beneficial relationship ensures the safety of both species.

Pistol Shrimp and Goby Pistol shrimp and gobies form a lifelong partnership¹⁵. The shrimp builds and maintains burrows, while the goby acts as a lookout due to its superior eyesight. This collaboration provides safety and shelter for both species.

Unexpected Interspecies Interactions

The article also mentions several instances of animals helping other species without apparent benefit:

An Indian rhesus monkey adopting and caring for a homeless puppy
A Bornean orangutan rescuing a drowning bird
A bear saving a drowning crow
Humpback whales defending smaller fish from orcas

These interactions demonstrate that animal behavior can sometimes extend beyond simple survival instincts, showing compassion or altruism across species lines¹⁶.

Conclusion

While competition and violence exist in nature, the animal kingdom also exhibits numerous examples of cooperation and mutualism¹⁷. These relationships highlight the similarities between animals and humans, demonstrating that different species can work together for mutual benefit or even act altruistically.

Citations:

What are some other examples of mutualistic relationships between animals

Answer (Default):

Here are several examples of mutualistic relationships between animals, highlighting the diverse ways in which different species benefit from each other:

Oxpecker and Rhinoceros or Zebra

Oxpeckers, a type of bird, land on rhinos or zebras and eat ticks, flies, and other parasites from their skin. The oxpeckers gain food, while the rhinos and zebras receive pest control and warning calls from the oxpeckers when predators are near¹⁸¹⁹²⁰.

Clownfish and Sea Anemone

Clownfish live within the protective tentacles of sea anemones, which are poisonous to most other fish. The clownfish clean the anemone’s tentacles, keeping them free from parasites and luring prey within the anemone’s reach. In return, the anemone provides the clownfish with protection from predators²¹²²²³.

Pistol Shrimp and Goby

Pistol shrimp and gobies form a mutualistic relationship where the shrimp maintains and digs burrows, while the goby, with its better vision, acts as a lookout for predators. The goby alerts the shrimp to danger, and in return, the shrimp provides the goby with a safe place to live²⁴²⁵²⁶.

Termites and Intestinal Flagellates

Termites have intestinal flagellates that help digest the cellulose in wood, which the termites consume. The flagellates get a meal, and the termites benefit from the digestion of their food. This is an example of obligate mutualism, where neither species can survive without the other²⁷²⁸²⁹.

Acacia Ants and Bullhorn Acacia

Acacia ants live in the thorns of the bullhorn acacia tree and receive food and shelter. In return, the ants protect the tree from browsing animals and other herbivores. This is another example of obligate mutualism³⁰.

Hermit Crabs and Sea Anemones

Hermit crabs attach sea anemones to their shells, which serve as bodyguards, protecting the crabs from predators with their barbed tentacles. The anemones benefit from the free ride across the seabed provided by the hermit crabs³¹.

Colombian Lesserblack Tarantula and Dotted Humming Frog

The tarantula allows the frog to live in its burrow, providing the frog with protection from predators. In return, the frog eats carnivorous ants that threaten the tarantula’s eggs³².

Drongos and Meerkats

Drongos act as lookouts for meerkats, warning them of predators. While the drongos sometimes exploit this relationship by raising false alarms to steal food from fleeing meerkats, the primary benefit is mutual, with meerkats gaining protection and drongos often receiving genuine warnings and occasional food³³.

Sharks and Pilot Fish

Pilot fish swim alongside sharks, cleaning parasites and food fragments from the shark’s teeth and skin. In return, the pilot fish receive protection from other predators³⁴.

Coyote and Badger

Coyotes and badgers hunt together, with the badger digging into burrows and the coyote waiting outside to catch fleeing prey. This cooperation increases the hunting success for both species³⁵.

Spider Crab and Algae

Spider crabs have algae living on their backs, which provides camouflage, protecting the crabs from predators. The algae benefit from a stable and protected environment to live and grow³⁶³⁷.

These examples illustrate the varied and often intricate ways in which different animal species can benefit from each other through mutualistic relationships.

Citations:

[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[Mutualistic Relationships - New England Complex Systems Institute](https://necsi.edu/mutualistic-relationships) ↩︎
[Mutualism: Symbiotic Relationships - ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/mutualism-symbiotic-relationships-4109634) ↩︎
[Mutualism | Types, Examples, & Facts - Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/mutualism-biology) ↩︎
[10 Mutualism Examples - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRn62gtgntY) ↩︎
[Mutualism: Symbiotic Relationships - ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/mutualism-symbiotic-relationships-4109634) ↩︎
[Mutualism | Types, Examples, & Facts - Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/mutualism-biology) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[10 Mutualism Examples - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRn62gtgntY) ↩︎
[Mutualism: Symbiotic Relationships - ThoughtCo](https://www.thoughtco.com/mutualism-symbiotic-relationships-4109634) ↩︎
[10 Mutualism Examples - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRn62gtgntY) ↩︎
[Mutualism | Types, Examples, & Facts - Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/mutualism-biology) ↩︎
[Symbiotic relationships in ecology - Wild Earth Lab](https://wildearthlab.com/2022/09/28/symbiotic-relationships/) ↩︎
[Mutualism | Types, Examples, & Facts - Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/mutualism-biology) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[6 Surprising Symbiotic Relationships - Wildlife Woods](https://wildlifewoods.net/blog/2018/8/23/6-surprising-symbiotic-relationships) ↩︎
[10 Mutualism Examples - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRn62gtgntY) ↩︎
[Mutualism | Types, Examples, & Facts - Britannica](https://www.britannica.com/science/mutualism-biology) ↩︎

Catzenjammer of the Vegan Kind

Wed, 05 Jun 2024 01:15:24 -0700

(Image generated by Microsoft Designer.)

This article deals with confusion and distress that can materialize for humans who put cats on vegan diets.

Catwalk addresses the issue from the cat’s personal situation, while Catacomb is oriented towards predicaments the cat’s guardian often faces. Rational for being aware of the mechanisms at play is provided in Catharsis.

Catwalk

The question on display here is:

If you are a vegan, should you be feeding your cats vegan?

Feeding your cats a vegan diet has nothing to do with whether you are a vegan or not.

Vegan diets for cats are well-established for more than three decades. These diets are clinically approved and offered by various companies. (See Vecado for example.)

The notion that cats are carnivores and therefore have to eat meat, is a fictitious one that does not apply the carnivore taxonomy appropriately. A carnivore is a classification based on certain physiological traits such as canine teeth, and short intestinal tracts. These traits enable carnivores to process animal products more easily than say herbivores. There is no necessity for meat consumption though (as one of many such examples, see Jed Gillen’s book Obligate Carnivore). Cats require specific nutrients, not specific delivery systems (see Vegan Cats 101 article).

Those that cattack vegan diets for cats usually do a catwalk along this yellow brick road.

Embark with cats cannot survive on a vegan diet.
When the above is shown to be false empirically, the goal posts are moved to, cats may survive on a vegan diet, but they can’t thrive.
After again being foiled by empirical evidence showing thriving vegan cats, the last flail insists it’s not natural for cats to be on a vegan diet.

The problem with this ‘Appeal to Nature’ is that it is a logical fallacy (see definition or a more extensive article Natural = Good?). Note the effort falls apart when confronted with the fact that it is also not natural for cats to be eating kibbles or tinned food much of which actually has vegetable ingredients in it, by the way, as well as synthetic taurine. Cats are healthier and live longer (see Study Shows Cats Are Living Longer… ) than they did 40 years ago due to people doing unnatural things to cat food.

Catacomb

Filled with dead ideas that keep crawling out like zombies, the proselytizing centers around:

If you are a vegan but don’t feed your cats vegan, should you be allowed to insist that people coming to your house eat vegan?

Well it is your house right? Do you not make decisions on your own turf?

You really don’t have to justify your actions using the common ‘we have a choice to be vegan but cats don’t due to limited vegan options’. The argument is a moderately good one, but is not ubiquitously meaningful since cats really don’t have a choice other than the one you make for them.

If your friends, neighbors, family members, random visitors, or the carnivorous vegan police, don’t like your decisions, you should welcome them with open arms not to come to your house.

Cattacks here can follow these primary paths (responses are suggested in italics):

You are bringing non-vegan food into your house for your cat, therefore, I should be able to do the same!
Okay, I completely agree, that you should be able to bring my cat non-vegan cat food. Here are the brands that my cat likes …
You let your cat eat non-vegan, therefore I should be able to as well!
Here is a reality check: you are not a cat. Despite your wishfoolness, you really aren’t a cat. Even if you employ technology to promote such an idea as in the video below, you are still not a cat! Okay? So get over it! However, if it means that much to you, I will order some extra tins of cat food and you can share the same dinner with my cat.
- You are a hypocrite because you do non-vegan things yet claim you’re a vegan!
  Well this one is actually an attempted Kobayashi Maru gotcha to catapult a capitulation: If you are a vegan, and you feed your cat vegan, you are imposing your will upon your cat. However, if you are a vegan, and you feed your cat non-vegan, you are being a hypocrite. Notice the common element here has nothing to do with the cat or the cat’s diet. It has to do with your being a vegan!

Imposing your will is something that guardians do anyway as part of the job of bringing up cats, dogs, children, parents, or even a spouse. Doing so is part of being responsible and so long as your will benefits the subject, there is nothing wrong in such imposition.

The hypocrisy accusation though is more interesting.

First, one should understand that there is no logical fallacy of hypocrisy. So behaving as a hypocrite, does not make your argument incorrect. While your personal credibility may diminish with some, hypocrisy does not bear any consequence upon the argument itself.

For instance, even an animal abuser is correct when speaking out against animal abuse. The activities the individual engages in, have no bearing on the correctness of what is being spoken (ie that animals should not be subjected to abuse).

Activists often fall prey to the hypocrisy accusation, because they are under the misguided illusion that they must behave perfectly or what they say has no merit. On such matters, if you engage in earnest self-flagellation, you might as well stop breathing because you are killing microbes every time you inhale! In fact, such reasoning is gleefully catcalled thus: You aren’t vegan because you kill microbes, therefore I can eat corpse.

However, the above pout is merely an illustration of the Tu Quoque (you too) fallacy, explained in this Nobody Is Vegan example.

So, despite many being conditioned into believing that “Do as I say and not as I do” is a bad attitude, it needs to be understood that one’s personal actions do not alter the morality/validity of a statement.

Second, do realize that the ‘holier than thou’ attitude you are being accused of, is a result of the ‘holier than thou’ attitude that is already present in your accuser. In other words, I am so holy, that you are not entitled to accuse me of not being so holy, just because you’re a vegan! It is irrelevant whether you actually made any such accusation, because your being vegan becomes the accusation itself!

This of course leads to the reality that your accuser already knows that he or she is not very holy. Usually, to buffer such self-awareness, the accuser resorts to reciting numerous acts of Heavy Holiness such as:

I have a foster child in Africa
I gently take out spiders in my house
I only eat corpse parts once a week

Or in case of serious desperation, some conjure up a direct connection to the supreme being of their choice, announcing that “God gave us dominion over animals” which of course is just a precursor to not just speciesism, but its subsequent applications justifying racism, sexism, ableism, etc. Admittedly, having some god on your side can be of considerable convenience as Joan Baez’ beautiful singing illustrates:

We have often seen holiness play out with serious consequences. As one example, a Jehovah’s witness couple who used to visit us, went vegan advised by the wife’s doctor to restore her constitution. They complained to us that their usual circle attacked them mercilessly for such dietary blasphemy, to their total astonishment! They hadn’t even gone vegan for ethical reasons, but it seems some people really covet their neighbors’ greater holiness.

Catharsis

Knowing the terms of engagement in any encounter is important. However recognizing when these terms are being violated through fallacious argumentation, improper imposition, and frantic self-image validation is even more important.

Too often some allow bullies, intellectual or otherwise, to ram their views through while accusing you of doing the same. The saying “With friends like these, who needs enemies” becomes increasingly apparent in such situations.

Fortunately, recognition of the way the game is being played can be helpful and healthful, not only for your own peace of mind, but also if one hopes to instill some understanding in others.

Going and Coming Back

Tue, 27 Jun 2023 22:25:06 -0700

This is a story we often tell to those who feel they have suffered a loss of a loved one of any species.

When my son Kyron was about 7, he and I were having a discussion concerning death. Suddenly he said, “If you don’t go, you can’t come back.”

It was a surprising moment because we had never broached the subject of reincarnation before. Then again, the young have left the source of wisdom more recently, so perhaps these things are still fresh in their minds and hearts.

Since we rescue animals (including the humanoid kind), we are constantly having to say good-bye, but we find it interesting that repeatedly those who leave, seem to re-appear within the personalities of those who haven’t left.

So always keep watch, because I don’t think any being who is cherished ever goes too far away.

Markus Rafael Nylund

Thu, 21 Apr 2022 12:06:56 -0700

Markus is a musician from Finland and runs the ViceVoids youtube channel.

You can find his page on this site here.

Below we list some of his videos.

VICEVOIDS - timehigh

“this song is like going to church on monday morning. thank you!”

Master of Puppets (Metallica cover)

“Suddenly Metallica’s Master of Puppets started playing through me … Birds flew in the trees and for a moment took a break from their shenanigans …”

Cosmic Soulmates

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 20:50:29 -0700

While I tend to be agnostic, there are many aspects of various religions I admire, a viewpoint which permits one to not hold arrogant perspectives like ‘my religion is better than yours’.

This competitive attitude has been largely responsible throughout history for barbaric behaviour in the name of God who would be least appreciative of having One’s ‘children’ slaughtering ‘children’ - with self-proclaimed Christians mutually slaughtering self-proclaimed Muslims mutually slaughtering self-proclaimed Hindus mutually slaughtering self-proclaimed whatevers etc etc

This is not religion - it is politics … and of the worse kind.

I have found, when properly interpreted, there is much beauty in pretty well all religions. The faiths I have some idea about include Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Jain, Bahai and of course Zen (which isn’t really a faith, I suppose).

One of the most endearing descriptions of God, I have ever seen, is by Sister Nivedita (Margaret E. Noble) regarding Shiva. In the Hindu trinity, Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva is the Destroyer. Now you may think that makes Shiva a rather nasty sort of fellow, messing up the work of the others, but one must be clear about what this guy is really doing and Nivedita presents Shiva’s character in a memorable way. For brevity I have summarized and rephrased parts of her writing:

In wild and lonely places, one may chance on the Great God. Once seen, there is no mistaking Him. Yet He has no look of being rich or powerful. His skin is covered with white wood-ashes. His clothing is but the religious wanderer’s yellow cloth. In one hand he carries the begging bowl, in the others His tall staff, crowned with the trident.

High amongst the Himalayas is Shiva throned, rapt in silence, absorbed in his own eternal meditation. He is full of radiance and can cast no shadow. With each breath of His, it is said, worlds are created and destroyed! Yet He has nothing of His own, for in all these that He has created, there is nothing - not kingship, nor wealth, nor power that could for a moment tempt Him to claim it. One desire alone, has He, to destroy the ignorance of souls, to dispel the darkness so that in all the worlds, there is no longer blindness and sin.

It is by the face of the Great God, that we may know Him. One look is enough: that radiance of knowledge, one glance from the pity and tenderness in His benign eyes. It is impossible to think of the Great God as being angry. He sees only two things, insight and want of insight. Whatever be our sin and error, He longs only to reveal to us its cause, that we may not be left to wander in the dark. His is the infinite compassion.

In matters of the world, He is but simple, asking nothing in worship. His offerings are only bael leaves and water. And He will accept these in any form: the tears of the sorrowful are to Him like the pure water of his offering.

He keeps for Himself only those who would otherwise wander unclaimed. He rides, not on horse or elephant, but on a shabby old bull. Because the serpents were rejected by all others, did He allow them to twine about His neck. And amongst human beings, all the crooked and hunchbacked and lame and squint-eyed, He regards as His very own. For loneliness and deformity and poverty are passwords sufficient to the heart of the Great God. And He, who asks nothing in return, He the Lord of the Animals, who refuses none that come to Him sincerely, He will give His very Self, with all its sweetness and illumination, merely on the plea of our longing or our need.

Now, I hope you don’t, for a moment, think this guy’s a sissy. I would give a path of wide respect to anyone who can create and destroy entire worlds with a single breath! All the other gods certainly did!

Ever the destroyer of Ignorance, Shiva arises to slay our ‘beloved’, which is our vanity, our greed, and our fear. In the middle of His brow shines the great Third Eye of spiritual vision with which He pierces all hypocrisy and sham. With one glance, He can burn to ashes, that which is untrue, for though simple in worldly matters, in spiritual things He can never be deceived.

Yet, this is only half the story of the divine. In Shiva manifests the concept of perceptive knowledge, known as Jnana. However, standing with him is his consort, Maha Shakti, the Primal Force. Together, He and She, Insight and Strength are perpetually entwined, each part of the other, each honoring the other, and together giving meaning to existence itself … cosmic soulmates engaged in the eternal dance of the universe!

The Spirit of the Tao

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 13:10:37 -0700

A small book with many large ideas that are universally valid.

Taoist teachings have arisen in many forms: abstract aphorisms, philosophical discussions, legends, fables—even jokes. All are represented here, culled from the most popular Taoist classics: the Tao-te Ching, Chuang-tzu, Huai-nan-tzu, and Wen-tzu, stories from the “Tales of Inner Meaning,” and teachings of the Taoist patriarch Ancestor Lu. The spirit of the Tao manifests in myriad images, brought to life in this superb translation—from the ever-keen blade of a Taoist butcher to the mechanical miracles of inventor Ken Shiwa, from little boys baiting the great Confucius to mountain hermits disappearing in the mist, from the six robber organs that obscure the primordial to the ineffable mystery of mysteries.
Amazon

The Stone

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 13:06:37 -0700

Nanak was a travelling guru. He visited many places in India, Arabia and Mesopotamia.

In Mecca is the Ka’aba, the sacred stone of the Muslims.

One morning nanak was found sleeping with his feet turned to the stone! Some Muslims were furious!

“How dare you be so insulting! How dare you sleep with you feet towards the face of God!”

Gently, Nanak says: “Very well then. Turn my feet to where God is not.”

Source: Pictures From Mystics

The Ailment

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 13:03:23 -0700

The following is a well-known tale from the Liezi attributed to Taoist Lie Yukou.

It appears in various translations such as A.C. Graham’s The Book of Lieh-tzu (p82 pdf) and Eva Wong’s Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living. The following is quoted from the Thomas Cleary translation (details provided at the end):

Lung Shu said to the physician Wen Chi, “Your art is subtle. I have an ailment; can you cure it?”

The physician said, “I will do as you say, but first tell me about your symptoms.”

Lung Shu said, “I am not honoured when the whole village praises me, nor am I ashamed when the whole country criticises me. Gain does not make me happy, loss does not grieve me. I look upon life as like death, and see wealth as like poverty. I view people as like pigs, and see myself as like others. At home I am as though at an inn, and I look upon my native village as like a foreign country. With these afflictions, rewards cannot encourage me, punishments cannot threaten me. I cannot be changed by flourishing or decline, gain or loss; I cannot be moved by sorrow or happiness. Thus I cannot serve the government, associate with friends, run my household, or control my servants. What sickness is this? Is there a way to cure it?”

The physician had Lung Shu stand with his back to the light while he looked into his chest. After a while he said, “Ah! I see your heart; it is empty! You are nearly a sage. Six of the apertures of your heart are open, one of them is closed. This may be why you think the wisdom of a sage is an ailment. It cannot be stopped by my shallow art.”

Source: The Spirit of the Tao - Thomas Cleary (1998) - Shambala IBSN 1-57062-370-8

We think there is much merit in not being affected by things like criticism (praise is merely criticism in disguise), reward or punishment. Also, the wisdom of this budding sage seems to be much preferable to some sages in Hindu mythology who would fly into remarkable rages (ie sage rage) leading to very uncivil behaviors. However, being a sage does not mean one is exempt from action - the only exemption is from attachment to the result of the action.

Understand Me

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 12:59:51 -0700

A zen master was teaching a class.

One fidgety student was bored and gradually got irritated, because he had decided he couldn’t grasp the ideas. This is not surprising since zen is not something to grasp. After all, when one asks “How do you carry zen?”, the answer is often “in your empty hand.”

In any case, such koans were not something this student wanted to deal with, so eventually he spoke out in frustration:
“I can’t understand a thing you are saying.”

Master looked at him while all waited in hushed silence at what the master was going to do.

Master said: “Please stand up.”
The student stood up.

Master said: “Please come here.”
The student walked to the master.

Master said: “Please sit down right here.”
The student did as asked.

Then master said: “There! You see how well you understand me!”

Needless to say, the student progressed very well afterwards, so well, in fact, that one day the zen master typically threw him out the window, because there was nothing left for him to learn in that class.

Source: Zen Comics by Ioanna Zalajan

Thousandfold

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 10:50:39 -0700

There is a fine story of a poor old lady who was selling some fruit she had gathered in order to make ends meet.

As she walked back and forth on the streets calling people to come and buy, the child Krishna, disguised as a beggar boy, walked up to her asking to eat some fruit from her basket.

She was a kind one and though it would cost her, she didn’t refuse him. The child ate every one, thanked her and left!

As she wondered about her loss, she looked down at her empty basket to find it was filled with jewels.

So it is that when you give selflessly to Krishna [or to something truly worthwhile], you are returned a thousandfold!

Source: Pictures from Mystics by T.L. Vaswani

Here is another version of this famous story.

Pictures From Mystics

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 10:36:25 -0700

A beautiful collection of short stories cross religions and cultures told by Swami Vaswani that often show the way to living properly. It is from the East and West Series.

The book is no longer in print as far as we know, but may possibly be found in some collections.

The Poor Rich Girl

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 10:15:25 -0700

Buddha asked his disciples to help the poor during a great famine. A very wealthy man spoke up, “Not all my wealth can feed the hungry - there are so many!”

Others talked loud and long with great consternation wondering how they could possibly solve such a dilemma even for the Buddha!

Then a young girl rose to speak, “Master I am a beggar. I shall feed the hungry as you ask!”

“You?”, many sneered. “You who are so poor. You can barely feed yourself. How will you feed so many?”

Calmly the girl answered, “Yes I am the poorest in your midst, but am I not also the richest, too? Have I not my share in the wealth of the wealthiest who give me alms. I shall call at every home and ask for my share to go the service of the poor.”

All were moved by her devotion to Buddha’s request and gave out of their abundance to feed the poor and the true famine was thus overcome.

Source: Pictures from Mystics by T.L. Vaswani

Zen Mind Beginners Mind

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 02:11:59 -0700

A zen literature classic that contains much wisdom and enlightenment.

Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it’s all about. An instant teaching on the first page. And that’s just the beginning.
Amazon

Radical Zen

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 23:45:55 -0700

An intriguing book with many items about and attributed to Joshu.

… many of our standard stereotypes of the Zen Master can be traced to this figure–irascible and blunt, down-to-earth and practical, prone to answer religious questions with seemingly off-the wall non-sequiturs and paradoxes if not a good sharp smack in the face.
Amazon

(Also available for previewing as a pdf from here.)

Zen Comics

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 23:36:07 -0700

Truly an excellent way to encounter zen, these cartoons present many of the koans delightfully!

Comics communicate the Zen spirit perfectly. Laughter deflates pretension and a good rap on the head sometimes transcends so-called logic. In the words of Zen, “Nothing is left for you but to laugh!”
Goodreads

Prazen

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 13:55:56 -0700

These are zenish short stories merrily modified from various sources.

Zen Comics by Ioanna Zalajan
Radical Zen: The Sayings of Joshu by Youl Hoffmann

A man of enlightenment and wisdom

Student: Oh master, where does the man of enlightenment and wisdom go after he dies?

Master: How should I know?

Student: Because you, master, are a man of enlightenment and wisdom!

Master: That may be so, but I am not dead.

Become a Buddha

Zen master Baso, when he was young, was caught meditating all over the place by his teacher who asked him “Why are you meditating so much?”

Baso answered, “To become a buddha.”

His teacher pick up a piece of slate and started polishing it.

Baso asked, “Why are you polishing the slate so vigorously?”

Teacher replied, “To turn it into a mirror.”

Baso laughed, “No amount of polishing is going to turn a slate into a mirror?”

Teacher replied, “No amount of cross-legged sitting is going to turn one into a buddha”

Baso then understood.

But just to be sure, his teacher hit him with a staff on the head.

Detachment

The student went to the zen master in elation!

“Oh master,” he joyously exclaimed, “I am so happy and feel so free. I have achieved detachment at last!”

The master hit him on the head with a stick.

“Owww!! Why did you do that?” whined the student rubbing his head.

The master said, “To detach you from your detachment”.

Empty

The elated student rushed in to see his master!

“I am empty! I have released my attachments!”, he exclaimed.

“Indeed.” said his master.

“I have no desires! I have no yearnings! I have no ego! I am empty!”

The master hit him on the head with his staff.

“Owww!!!”, yelled the student in pain and anger. “Why did you do that, old monk?”

His master asked: “If you are so empty, where did all that anger come from?”

Essence

Monk: What is the essence of essences?

Joshu: Just how long have you been essencing yourself up like this?

Monk: My concern for discovering essence has been going for a long, long time.

Joshu: A fool such as you are lucky to have met me just in time, before you completely essenced yourself out!

Go away!

A would-be student knocked on the gate of a zen master. The master opened the gate and asked: “What do you want?”

The student answered: “O master you are so learned. I beg you to teach me!”

The master slammed the gate shut.

The student knocked again.

“What do you want now?”

“Please, please I must have you as my teacher.”

Again the master slammed the gate shut.

Once again the student knocked.

“What is it now?”

“Master please! i really want to learn!”

The master said: “Very well then” and open the gate.

Once inside, the elated and beaming student asked: “Master! what are you going to teach me first?”

The master replied: “To go away!”

and promptly threw the student out and slammed the gate.

Knowledge and Understanding

When the ordinary man gains knowledge, he becomes a sage.
When the sage achieves understanding, he becomes an ordinary man.

There was an episode in the Kung Fu series from the 70s where young Kwai Chang Caine had lost his parents. He was very sad and complained of loneliness to his blind teacher, Master Po. “Do you not hear the birds singing?”, Po asked, “Do you not notice the crickets jumping or the snakes moving in the grass? In such a crowded place, you feel you are alone. Now tell me, which one of us is the more blind?”

Seeing the tao

Student: Master why can I not see tao?

Master: So long as there is an I, there is no seeing tao.

Student: Master can you see tao?

Master: So long as there is you and I, tao cannot be seen.

Student: Then if you and I disappear, can tao be seen?

Master: If you and I disappear, who is there to see tao?

So what boy?

A monk in training says to the zen master: “Greetings master! I have travelled much and studied under many acquiring much guidances and insight. I come now to you for illumination!”

The master scratches his head and picks up a twig on the ground. Without saying anything, he gives the student the twig. The student assumes the zazen posture and meditates deeply. In his mind, the twig grows into a tree and then is produced a beautiful orchard which gradually blossoms into a field, a country, the planet and finally the universe!

He goes back to the master and relates these wonders: all life is one in its eternal existence with everything else animate and inanimate - such is the ubiquitous unity of the universe!

The master scratches his head again, takes the twig from the monk’s outstretched hand and asks: “So what boy?”

The duel

An aikido master was heading to a town where he knew there was someone insisting on challenging him. He could have taken the person down easily, but he would not let ego dictate and he passed through the outskirts avoiding his would-be opponent.

Thus the master won the real duel.

The flag

A zen master and two students were walking on a path through the forest. as they came out of it they saw a flag pole with a large flag fluttering in the breeze.

One student exclaimed, “Look the flag is moving!”

His companion thought for a moment and suggested, “The wind is moving!”

The master said, “The mind is moving.”

The precious stone

When two dragons fight over a precious stone which one wins?
The one who loses lacks nothing. The one who gains does not need it.

The two dragons

The student went to the master with what he found to be a wonderfully enlightening story:

An old man told his grandson, “There is a battle between two dragons inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, apathy, lies, ego and fear. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, kindness, humility, empathy and truth. The boy thought about it and asked, “Grandpa, which dragon wins?” The old man quietly replied, “The one you feed.”

“Such a great story, is it not master?”, concluded the student.

The master smiled and said, “It is that, but what makes you think either dragon is hungry?”

Praphorisms

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 12:08:14 -0700

This is an ever-growing list of quotations attributed to various individuals throughout history.

Al-Khafaji Amir Wadi

To my brother Faiz, whose ideals are like the stars: I could never reach them, but I chart my course by them. (dedication in Numerical Methods In Engineering Practice)

Adams Samuel

“Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.” essay in The Public Advertiser, 1749

Angelkate Rose

(Aka meangel; paingel; derangel; strangel; spongel because she’s such a softie when she wants to be; braingel when being intellectual; pungel when being punny.)

I was eternally safe in the stillness of forever, which was the ultimate truth.

Guided by your hand, illuminated by your light
You give me courage to do what is right

Love from beyond now I understand
You only want to give when you hold out your hand

When a fork is tuned… it is tuned.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to take a pic of the source of creation on a sony/canon.

Hm… then neither do I!

Is it so much about what I think… or is it pure joy at the gift having been received with pure joy?

Perhaps not so much invisible… because when I point it out… you look in that direction and see it too! Sees the same rainbow

I had a pretty good devil around whom I feel angelic. ;)

The song of your soul crystalised into music. It is like there is such a deep connection to the still centre… that all movement is grounded in that… as that.

Hymn to Her is the perfect title because it is her singing his lyrics… just the way that he wrote them… because tracing his steps makes her feel closer to him… as if they were singing together. She is not making the song her own… she is hearing his song through her own lips… as if their minds are one in that moment.

He continues to lecture himself through her… Lose the image of being ‘someone who doesn’t do this often’… because it is not even about music… it is about channelling… and when channelling… there is no time… and no image… and no music.

Well… while she’s on a role… When one is on the right side… one need not hit home with accuracy… but merely acknowledge that one is already home!

it is about accepting the seemingly extraordinary as ordinary.

== From: Angelkate Rose <angelkaterose@aol.co.uk> Subject: Re: Hey :) To: prad@towardsfreedom.com Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2012 16:59:35 -0400 (EDT)

I have been looking at my false-self because I cannot live with it and have been trying to ‘change’ it… but I have realised that when I change a perception of myself to it’s opposite and supposed ‘positive’ alternative, I still feel uncomfortable, disconnected and still in ego, plus it doesn’t feel authentic because I am also sometimes the ’negative’ thing that I am attempting to escape having a part of my identity. So I realised that any identity is a limitation, because I am not just one thing- I am two opposites and I am neither of them, I am everything and I am nothing. An identity is a set of labels and that is my suffering… so perhaps by seeing that I am both I can realise that I am nothing and therefore I can choose what to be in each moment… any preconceived idea that I have of myself veils my awareness of what I exist as in the moment… of what arises.

From: prad <prad@towardsfreedom.com> Subject: Re: Hey :) To: Angelkate Rose <angelkaterose@aol.co.uk> Date: Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:12:55 -0700

why not just pick an image that you find worthwhile and just be it. ==

Bach Richard

And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and love.

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they’re yours.

Don’t be dismayed by good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.

Here is a test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: If you’re alive, it isn’t.

Jonathan is that brilliant little fire that burns within us all, that lives only for those moments when we reach perfection.

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life. Rarely do members of the same family grow up under the same roof.

Bentham Jeremy

The question is not, Can they reason? nor Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?”

BigG

Thanks just came back from Thompson no wonder this province is ranked high for many diseases. Obesity is rampant. I honestly believe most humans are not being humans anymore with all the gmo processed foods, meds, booze and drugs the light is on but no one is home in many of them. I think we are in the age of gmo humans.

Bridgeman Percy William

The operational approach demands that we make our reports and do our thinking in the freshest terms of which we are capable, in which we strip off the sophistications of millenia of culture and report as directly as we can on what happens.

The attitude which the man in the street unconsciously adopts towards science is capricious and varied. At one moment he scorns the scientist for a highbrow, at another anathematizes him for blasphemously undermining his religion; but at the mention of a name like Edison he falls into a coma of veneration.

Coincidence is what you have left over when you apply a bad theory.

[He believed that through such pursuit humanity really will improve, that it would acquire a “courageous nobility”]
And in the end, when man has fully partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there will be this difference between the first Eden and the last, that man will not become as a god, but remain forever humble.

Cowper William

Life owes us nothing. We owe life everything. The only true happiness comes from squandering ourselves for a [worthwhile] purpose.

Dijkstra Edsger

The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim.

Dunham Barrows

Historically speaking, the content of philosophy is what is left over after the sciences departed. Nobody took ethics, not even the sociologists; nobody took logic; nobody took esthetics, nobody took (for who would want?) metaphysics. These subjects, therefore, remain part of philosophy’s content, despite the fact that the mathematicians eye logic covetously and the gentlemen of the fine arts would like to ravish esthetics. The subjects themselves, I am happy to report, have thus far resisted all blandishments. (from Man Against Myth p.11)

Emerson Haven

[The following gem is from an address given in 1928 by Dr. Haven Emerson, Columbia University]

Youth is not a time of life. It is a state of mind. It is not a matter of ripe cheeks, red lips and supple knees. It is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the motions. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 50 more than in a youth of 20. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair - these are the long years that bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust. You are as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

Emerson Ralph Waldo

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life, that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.

Einstein Albert

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.

Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice keeps me from feeling isolated. (Courtesy of Miriam)

Cinderella (Disney 2015)

I believe that animals listen and speak to us if we only have the ear for it. That’s how we learn to look after them … I have to tell you a secret that will see you through all the trials that life can offer. Have courage and be kind.
~ Ella’s mother

Just because it’s what’s done doesn’t mean it’s what should be done!
~ Ella

And so Kit and Ella were married. And I can tell you, as her fairy godmother, that they were counted to be the fairest and kindest rulers the kingdom had known. And Ella continued to see the world not as it is, but as it could be, if only you believe in courage, and kindness, and occasionally, just a little bit… of magic.
~ Ella’s fairy godmother

Francis of Assissi

All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.

If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who deal likewise with their fellow men. Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission - to be of service to them wherever they require it.

Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive, It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Frank Anne

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.

Women should be respected as well! Generally speaking, men are held in great esteem in all parts of the world, so why shouldn’t women have their share? Soldiers and war heroes are honored and commemorated, explorers are granted immortal fame, martyrs are revered, but how many people look upon women too as soldiers?…Women, who struggle and suffer pain to ensure the continuation of the human race, make much tougher and more courageous soldiers than all those big-mouthed freedom-fighting heroes put together!

I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion, I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage.

Boys will be boys. And even that wouldn’t matter if only we could prevent girls from being girls.

Earning happiness means doing good and working, not speculating and being lazy. Laziness may look inviting, but only work gives you true satisfaction.

People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things.

Franklin Benjamin

Debates [should] be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without […] desire of victory.

Galbraith John

Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.

Gale Donald

A pessimist, they say, sees a glass of water as being half empty; an optimist sees the same glass as half full. But a giving person sees a glass of water and starts looking for someone who might be thirsty.

Gandi Mahatma

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.

Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth.

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it - always.

It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on the cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.

My nonviolence does not admit of running away from danger and leaving dear ones unprotected. Between violence and cowardly flight, I can only prefer violence to cowardice. I can no more preach nonviolence to a coward than I can tempt a blind man to enjoy healthy scenes.

One needs to be slow to form convictions, but once formed they must be defended against the heaviest odds.

Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.

I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence.

Experience teaches that animal food is unsuited to those who would curb their passions. But it is wrong to over-estimate the importance of food in the formation of character or in subjugating the flesh.

I hold today the same opinion as I held then. To my mind, the life of a lamb is no less precious than that of a human being.

I hold flesh-food to be unsuited to our species. We err in copying the lower animal world if we are superior to it.

I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants.

A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble.

Gell-Mann Murray

However, history shows clearly that humanity is moved forward not by people who stop every little while to try to gauge the ultimate success or failure of their ventures, but by those who think deeply about what is right and then put all their energy into doing it

Gibran Kahil

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.

Gould Glenn

The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but rather the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serenity. (In his recordings, Gould sought to overcome our basis instincts and encourage a kind of altered state of consciousness, a participation in some kind of higher unity.)

Isolation is the indispensable component of human happiness.

Theirs [the Beatles] is a happy, cocky, belligerently resourceless brand of harmonic primitivism… In the Liverpudlian repertoire, the indulged amateurishness of the musical material, though closely rivaled by the indifference of the performing style, is actually surpassed only by the ineptitude of the studio production method. (Strawberry Fields suggests a chance encounter at a mountain wedding between Claudio Monteverdi and a jug band.)

I detest audiences - not in their individual components, but en masse I detest audiences. I think they’re a force of evil. It seems to me rule of mob law.

The nature of the contrapuntal experience is that every note has to have a past and a future on the horizontal plane.

We went out in the boat and I was the first to catch a fish and when the little perch came up and started wriggling about, I suddenly saw this thing entirely from the fish’s point of view - it was such a powerful experience. I picked up my fish, and said I was going to throw it back. At that moment - this has remained with me as a sort of block against people who exert influence over children - the father [a neighbor from Uptergrove] suddenly pushed me back into my seat, probably for the sensible reason that I was rocking the boat. Then he took the fish out of my reach at which I went into a tantrum and started jumping and up and down, stomping my feet and pulling my hair and stuff like that. And I kept it up until we got into shore. I refused to speak to those children for the rest of the summer, of course, and I immediately went to work on my father to convince him that he should abandon fishing. It took me ten years, but this is probably the greatest thing I have ever done.

Graham Collier

The influence of a beautiful, helpful character is contagious, and may revolutionize a whole town.

Grenfell Wilfred

The service we render to others is really the rent we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of this world is not “to have and to hold” but “to give and serve.” There can be no other meaning.

Huxley Thomas Henry

It is the fate of all good science to be replaced by its progeny.

There is but one right, and the possibilities of wrong are infinite.

The ultimate court of appeal is observation and experiment… not authority.

The scientific spirit is of more value than its products, and irrationally held truths may be more harmful than reasoned errors.

The only question which any wise man can ask himself, and which any honest man will ask himself, is whether a doctrine is true or false.

Time, whose tooth gnaws away everything else, is powerless against truth.

Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.

Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic.

Sit down before fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every conceived notion, follow humbly wherever and whatever abysses nature leads, or you will learn nothing.

Teach a child what is wise, that is morality. Teach him what is wise and beautiful, that is religion!

The politicians tell us, ’You must educate the masses because they are going to be masters.’ The clergy join in the cry for education, for they affirm that the people are drifting away from church and chapel into the broadest infidelity. The manufacturers and the capitalists swell the chorus lustily. They declare that ignorance makes bad workmen; that England will soon be unable to turn out cotton goods, or steam engines, cheaper than other people; and then, Ichabod! Ichabod! The glory will be departed from us. And a few voices are lifted up in favour of the doctrine that the masses should be educated because they are men and women with unlimited capacities of being, doing, and suffering, that it is as true now, as it ever was, that the people perish for lack of knowledge.

Jake

What this serves to demonstrate, is that just because an action is more drastic, does not mean that it’s more effective. Burning down one factory farm and getting caught doesn’t make you a hero to animals, it makes you a hero to your target’s competitors.

When you allocate your sloth wisely, productivity ensues.

Make compassion a reflex!

King Martin Luther

We do not need allies who are more devoted to order than to justice.

Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.

A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.

Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.

A right delayed is a right denied.

Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.

An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.

History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.

I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that’s pretty important.

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’

Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal.

Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon. which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary.

The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict.

Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. This is the interrelated structure of all reality. You can never be what you ought to be until I become what I ought to be.

One day the absurdity of the almost universal human belief in the slavery of other animals will be palpable. We shall then have discovered our souls and become worthier of sharing this planet with them.

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

There comes a time when silence is betrayal.

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

Lincoln Abraham

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

McKee Jamie

How can I have a bad day?! I love this game! (Speaking it the 1960s at the Boulevard Club, Toronto, ON about badminton when asked why he never has a bad day.)

Mohammed Renea

On Mother’s Day, we celebrate the fierce love, tenderness, and devotion that mothers bring into the world. It’s also a moment to remember the animal mothers whose stories are rarely told—those separated from their babies in laboratories, where both are used in experiments they never chose and cannot escape.

These mothers bond. They protect. They grieve. They feel fear, stress, and pain. Their babies do too. Love and emotion are not human inventions; they are shared across species, woven into the fabric of life itself.

Today is a reminder that we can choose a kinder path. Modern non‑animal research methods already exist—methods that are not only more humane, but also more accurate, more efficient, and less expensive. Compassion and scientific progress are not opposites; they can move forward together.

This Mother’s Day, may we honour all mothers by speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves, and by supporting alternatives that spare animals from suffering while advancing human health with greater precision and humanity.

[Wording Polished by Perplexity AI]

Moynihan Patrick

You are entitled to your opinion. But you are not entitled to your own facts.

Newton Issac

I was like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.

Nickep

I feel that we need assertive affirmations and commanding paragraphs, which take authority and ‘slam down’ our opponents viewpoints. The reason for this, is that the opposition has some evil memes, and that they need to be broken. the way to do this isn’t by defending ourselves from their rants; and thus we explain ourselves to the nth degree: which does the opposite of what we intend. But to face our situations and force them to break their own statements which were irrational, and get them to see the truth in what we’re saying…

See, people who advocate animal abuse and animal suffering, through vivisection and experiments, or for what we aren’t designed to eat, as food, aren’t evil, but mislead and brainwashed, we could easily break their propaganda, which is showing itself in insecurity in their views, and also to be both socially independant and vegan.. see, most of the opposition, that aren’t in authority, aren’t ’evil’ or doing it for cruelty, but that cruelty is a byproduct that they don’t actually see each day and thus aren’t reminded of it - they do it because it’s socially acceptable, and they don’t feel secure enough to make their own independent thoughts…

So, the fact is that we need to be authoritative and command subliminallly in our propositions, and our conclusions will naturally form in their minds as if that was their own ideas…

Nietzsche Friedrich

Idleness is the parent of psychology.

Niemöller Martin

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Pope John Paul 2

Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.

Poppins Mary

Practically perfect people never allow sentiment to muddle their thinking.

prad

I will spark your sanity, you temper my madness.

Those who talk a lot but do little suffer from a condition known as yapathy.

Impact need not be flamboyant. It can be subtle and stealthy.

Justice has no need for compassion nor does it need to be blind.

People wanting to get to heaven is likely why hell is so crowded.

The head is harder to hit, but can be made ineffective if you take the body out from underneath.

Compassion: It is illogical to think that the way to bring about compassion is by being compassionate. To eliminate villainy, you will likely have to get your hands dirty. So chill!

Popular opinion: One should never be swayed by popular opinion. There is nothing wrong with having popular opinion see you as immoral or worse. Popular opinion is generally immoral in itself since it is guided by what people want to believe than what is ethical.

Sometimes in some situations, more people choose to believe what is ethical than what is convenient.

There is nothing decent about appearing to be decent.

What one should be guided by are not the opinions of others but by established values that don’t change according to one’s whims and fancies. This approach handles the fact that people who like Trump and Putin don’t care what others think, but unfortunately, also don’t care about any values. Thus, they take a good thing and turn it into a bad one.

YAAAAAY: You Are An Awkward Animation Are You

Expect and insist on the best from others and you will never be disappointed with yourself.

Might may not be right, but might can certainly make right.

Making things happen from within a system is possible. Doing the same from outside the system is also possible. However participating in the system you are trying to change may prove to be difficult simply because there are vested interests that can get in the way.

If one is going for something worthwhile that others cannot see then it is silly to be concerned about what others are thinking.

In any endeavor, it is counterproductive to worry about whether one will be successful or not, for doing so tends to mess up one’s strategy. It’s a bit like driving in that thinking about the destination is not a good idea when you’re supposed to be paying attention to the road.

Those who violate the gold rule are no longer entitled to the protection it offers.

Showing neutrality in the face of brutality is an atrocity.

Peace and love may work fine when the other side cooperates, but if they don’t they should be helped.

Engineers don’t make mistakes! They only increase their tolerances.

There is little point in appearing to be ethical when fighting that which is unethical: your personal purity is better grown in a petri dish.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing, but there are many wrong ways to do the right thing. When doing the right thing, there may be merit in choosing some of those ‘wrong’ ways. The ends can justify the means and those who are excessively attached to their ‘high’ morals often do the victims of injustice an unforgivable disservice.

The ‘good’ are far too busy acting good to do any good.

No point in being a good person if you are unwilling to be a better one.

Don’t complain unless you really have something to complain about. If you do, then figure out what to do about it, instead of complaining.

It is difficult to get on with things that matter when one spends time on those that don’t.

The universe waits not for the sanction of our beliefs.

Prefer to be a monster in a good cause than be a saint in a monstrous one.

Look for the pradeal instead of rushing in.

Love and compassion would have a better chance of taking hold if their advocates were a little less loving and a little less compassionate.

If you want to clean house, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and take out the trash.

True happiness is having our systems work efficiently and effectively.

Being addicted is yet another self-indulgent act.

Psychological damage is more practical than physical damage.

Perfection is being true to worthwhile values by translating them to action.

Never accept someone for who they are, for they are not.

Trust no one, including this one!

The Les Miserable phrase “to love another person is to see the face of god” is a reasonably good one, but the order is backwards. Only when you have made yourself worthy to see the face of god, does love come into it.

Hercules, Hunchback, Mermaid by Disney bring out very profound ethical values as well as zen. Hercules for instance becomes a ‘sage’ when he is transformed into a god through his nobility, but chooses to be mortal through understanding and thereby an ordinary man.

Using the excuse that no one is perfect because everyone kills microbes and steps on insects is like whining about background radiation. The physicist tries to minimize it and thereby sees the truth of reality better. You can’t do anything about some things, but there’s a lot you can do much about - and that’s how you do get to see the truth.

Do only that which aligns with your purpose. Do not define your purpose though for you can only do things that are in alignment with your purpose.

It is bad enough that people who know something, talk nonsense about it. Far worse is when those who know nothing about something talk the same way.

Rotten apples should not be seen as something for the garbage, but as fuel for the compost.

The only worthwhile opinion is a correct one.

Some have a desperate need to be ridiculous.

Society tends to honor its live conformers and its dead reformers. You don’t have to be dead though to be honored. Radicals do pay the price of being labelled fanatical and that’s a pretty good honor.

Reimbursement need not necessarily be made to the benefactor. A societial or evolutionary contribution is often of greater value.

Anything that has the strong potential of evil may well be evil.

When info was scarce, people wanted the truth. Now that it’s not, they want truth to be customized.

Some of us do things on the spur of the last moment.

Planting a curse on someone is likely not going to be an intelligent effort. Without understanding the way mechanisms work, it can be very counterproductive to want things to turn out a certain way. Say there is a certain group of people with a bad member in it. One of them wishes a curse upon the bad person to die miserably and alone. While the idea may possibly have some appeal, it does not take into account the mechanism by which this execution will take place. For instance, one possible scenario is that the entire group dies from a horrible plague with the curse holder going last. Interesting examples were provided in the genie X-Files episode, where the genie kept pointing out that Mulder’s wishes were not sufficiently specific. Lack of awareness in this area generally occurs when wishes are made through vindictiveness or lack of control. The same holds true for good wishes - they can be costly as well. Hence, wanting something to be a certain way is better thought out very carefully and not wanting, as per Lao Tse, may be best.

For instance, I pull a ribbon around the corner and carbonicule the cat chases it. As far as his focus is concerned, the tip is moving and there is no awareness that someone is pulling it. In fact, the focus is so strong (and limited for this game) that it matters little when he comes around the corner to find that I was pulling it - he is still interested in the part that’s moving and there is no loss in pleasure in chasing it.

If you don’t want constipation, change your diet.

life isn’t about staying still and stagnating.
life is movement and growth, awareness and awakenings.
neither is love about accepting someone for who they are.
love is a gift from the divine for all beings. as such it becomes our duty to channel that gift to those nearest to us, so that they can move and grow, so that they become aware and awake.
you are evolving, carly. have you ever noticed how “love” is contained in the word “evolve”?
your husband has a chance to be bourne in the wake of your transformation … and then add his own ripples in harmony with the ever-flowing stream on which we all journey.
(to carly on 30bad)

I truly would be a great admirer of myself if it were not for my even greater humility.

The key to manipulation is not feeling anything, so that you can feel anything.

Honor noble principles for they are the only ballast in troubled times.

Regarding Angel’s insistence that she needs to fast for more than 7 days:
“it took god 7 days to create the world - what makes you think you need longer?”
Unfortunately, she didn’t fully appreciate the brillance of the above comment and started arguing absurdly about it (eg you don’t believe in that stuff and it isn’t factual).

Being full of yourself is a sure recipe for indigestion.

Morality may be the end product of perfect discipline.

If sex really were an expression of spirituality, then sages would have been the ultimate porn stars of history!

It’s about how we merge in thought and action with what is right.
It’s about how we add our voices in harmony to what is truth.
It’s about how we blend into the flow of existence, discovering with humility and contributing with gratitude.

Inspiration is like the battle, while discipline is the war itself. The former carries uncertainities, but through the latter these can be overcome.

As we travel, there may be some moments when i walk behind you to make sure you don’t fall; there may be some moments when i walk ahead and reach for your hand so you can take the next step with confidence.

Focus is good, but focus at the expense of awareness isn’t.

We do what we do because it needs to be done. We do it without expectation or want … and then the world really does straighten itself.

When two beings see the same rainbow, imagine how close they must be!

No self-respecting enlightened master ever calls him/herself one, for it is not a path of humility. The master therefore each day remains calm for no achievement can ever surpass that state.

May all who do so much for the most worthwhile and essential cause in history, see themselves as they truly must be - undaunted by the irrefutable task at hand and undented by the illusive passage of time.

If something seems too good to be true, it is important to make it so.

Truth does not stop being truth simply because it is spoken by a hypocrite. Even an animal abuser is entitled and correct to speak against animal abuse.

Desire for something in the future is bad enough.
Desire for something in the past is downright idiotic.

You may not like to lose, but if you’re fighting the wrong battle, you have already lost.

It’s easy for one to pass responsibility to someone else, but you aren’t going to pass the consequences.

I will wait for you, but I won’t wait with you.

Keep the door open, but don’t end up being the doorstop.

Never forget the past. You do so at your own risk!

It’s unhealthy to induce vomiting after each meal. Better to exercise so your consumption doesn’t become baggage as the past sometimes does for some people.

Always be happy, never be satisfied.

Always forgive, never forget.

Those who have found the way do not hand out business cards.

When dragons come to heal the earth.

pradagio

From Honor:

Never be yourself, when you can be someone better.
~ Queen Rhae

May the earth befriend you, as have we.
~ Marieke

If we could only be as kind to every soul regardless of what they are wearing in this life.
~ Breena

The one who gives should not remember the giving, but the one who receives must never forget.
~ Vaishobob

Royalty is never born. It is forged from one’s attitude and action, from one’s courage and conviction.
~ Prince Jestin

From Tryangles:

How should we on this trip abide?
Be always happy, but never satisfied!
~ Barra

So take that chance and make bold your move!
Triumph or disaster, naught do they prove!
~ Ardal

Life’s not ‘bout the comfort of just lying still.
Reach for those stars and the dharma fulfil!
~ Elysse

Our strengths are stronger than our weaknesses.
~ Elysse

Robert Pynn

Everything is set in the clear and distinct air. Judgment is without suspension, thought without reflection, action without consideration. (advent song)

Roosevelt Theodore

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

Sculley Matthew

Animals are more than ever a test of our character, of mankind’s capacity for empathy and for decent, honorable conduct and faithful stewardship. We are called to treat them with kindness, not because they have rights, power or a claim to equality, but in a sense, because they don’t. They all stand unequal and powerless before us.

Schweitzer Albert

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.

Life becomes harder for us when we live for others, but it also becomes richer and happier.

Sometimes our light goes out but is blown into flame by another human being. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory.

The true worth of a man is not to be found in man himself, but in the colours and textures that come alive in others.

Do something wonderful, people may imitate it.

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate.

An optimist is a person who sees a green light everywhere, while a pessimist sees only the red stoplight… the truly wise person is colorblind.

Compassion, in which all ethics must take root, can only attain its full breadth and depth if it embraces all living creatures and does not limit itself to mankind.

A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives.

A man does not have to be an angel in order to be saint.

You must not expect anything from others. It’s you, of yourself, of whom you must ask a lot. Only from oneself has one the right to ask everything and anything. This way it’s up to you – your own choices – what you get from others remains a present, a gift.

What does Reverence for Life say abut the relations between [humanity] and the animal world? Whenever I injury any kind of life I must be quite certain that it is necessary. I must never go beyond the unavoidable, not even in apparently insignificant things. The farmer who has mowed down a thousand flowers in his meadow in order to feed his cows must be careful on his way home not to strike the head off a single flower by the side of the road in idle amusement, for he thereby infringes on the law of life without being under the pressure of necessity.

Civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind, independent of the prevalent one among the crowds, and in opposition to it – a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals.

Ethics cannot be based upon our obligations toward [people], but they are complete and natural only when we feel this Reverence for Life and the desire to have compassion for and to help all creatures insofar as it is in our power. I think that this ethic will become more and more recognized because of its great naturalness and because it is the foundation of a true humanism toward which we must strive if our culture is to become truly ethical.

Until he extends his circle of compassion to include all living things, man will not himself find peace.

Shaw George Bernard

The most tragic thing in the world is a man of genius who is not a man of honor.

A fashion is nothing but an induced epidemic.

England and America are two countries separated by a common language.

Why should you call me to account for eating decently?

The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.

All great truths begin as blasphemies.

No public man in these islands ever believes that the Bible means what it says: he is always convinced that it says what he means.

The sex relation is not a personal relation. It can be irresistibly desired and rapturously consummated between persons who could not endure one another for a day in any other relation.

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.

When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport: when the tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity. The distinction between Crime and Justice is no greater.

“Will you be the father of my next child? A combination of my beauty and your brains would startle the world,” but he replied: “I must decline your offer with thanks, for the child might have my beauty and your brains.”

When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth.

“You see things; you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?”

Animals are my friends…and I don’t eat my friends.

Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.

In heaven an angel is no one in particular.

We cut the throat of a calf and hang it up by the heels to bleed to death so that our veal cutlet may be white; we nail geese to a board and cram them with food because we like the taste of liver disease; we tear birds to pieces to decorate our women’s hats; we mutilate domestic animals for no reason at all except to follow an instinctively cruel fashion; and we connive at the most abominable tortures in the hope of discovering some magical cure for our own diseases by them.

I don’t know if there are men on the moon, but if there are they must be using the earth as their lunatic asylum.

The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.

SICP

In general, when modeling phenomena in science and engineering, we begin with simplified, incomplete models. As we examine things in greater detail, these simple models become inadequate and must be replaced by more refined models.

Sir Cole (The Knight Before Christmas)

A knight is sworn to valor and virtue. His blade defends the good, and his might upholds the weak. His temper shall be led by patience, and his kindness will give aid to those who seek it.

This is a variation of the knight’s code (from The Library of Knighthood):

The knight is sworn to valor.
His heart knows only virtue.
His blade defends the helpless.
His might upholds the weak.
His words speak only truth.
His wrath undoes the wicked.
The right can never die,
If one man still recalls
The words are not forgot,
If one voice speaks them clear.
The code forever shines,
If one heart holds it bright

Smith Gary

150 years ago, they would have thought you were absurd if you advocated for the end of slavery. 100 years ago, they would have laughed at you for suggesting that women should have the right to vote. 50 years ago, they would object to the idea of African Americans receiving equal rights under the law. 25 years ago they would have called you a pervert if you advocated for gay rights. They laugh at us now for suggesting that animal slavery be ended. Some day they won’t be laughing.

Spock

You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.

The glory of creation is in its infinite diversity and the ways our differences combine to create meaning and beauty.

Steinem Gloria

A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.

Women have two choices: Either she’s a feminist or a masochist.

A feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men.

Women have always been an equal part of the past. We just haven’t been a part of history.

Law and justice are not always the same. When they aren’t, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it.

Stephenson Neal

Emacs outshines all other editing soft-ware in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish. (In the Beginning… Was the Cammand Line)

Sztybel David

Centering on human-made abstractions above all, instead of on the animals themselves as individuals is oddly anthropocentric.

Tagore Rabindranath

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high; Where knowledge is free; Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls; Where the words come out from the depth of truth; Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection; Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit; Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action - Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Teresa Mother

Love cannot remain by itself – it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway. If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

Thoreau Henry David

A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to let alone.

Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it.

As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.

Be true to your work, your word, and your friend.

Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something.

Do not hire a man who does your work for money, but him who does it for love of it.

Every man is the builder of a temple called his body.

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.

However mean your life is, meet it and live it: do not shun it and call it hard names. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Things do not change, we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do want society.

I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestioned ability of a man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.

I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn.

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

In wildness is the preservation of the world.

It is never too late to give up your prejudices.

Most are engaged in business the greater part of their lives, because the soul abhors a vacuum and they have not discovered any continuous employment for man’s nobler faculties.

Who thinks that they can kill time without injuring eternity?

Tricia

For me what works is service. i feel that i am here to serve animals and be their voice. i rescue domestic animals from abuse, which gives me a sense of direct action and do much in the way of spreading veganism, with farm walks, handing out literature, and postings at pet stores. Also do fur protests, circus protests and protested at our medical college to end the use of pigs.

everywhere i go i talk with people about the atrocities to animals raised for food and always have a trunk full of pamphlets and dvds such as meet your meat and earthlings.

we have 11 rescued animals which keep us from getting overwhelmed with animal suffering since they need much care, exercise and love.

it is unacceptable to me that some people take longer than others to stop eating animals. most people who would see an injured bird would try to help him/her so why not extend that compassion to the rest of the animals. people don’t have to do anything except change their eating habits, nothing compared to the hell on earth animals are living.

i no longer waste my time with those who aren’t receptive to our message, there are too many others who need to hear it.

i used to go to bed and start feeling guilty that i was warm, comfortable and safe and would think of all the animals suffering in barren cages, cold, afraid and unable to even turn around. it was stupid, since my not getting a good nights sleep wasn’t helping the animals and would prevent me from being productive.

now when i go to bed i clear my mind and rest. if negative thoughts enter i acknowledge them and let them pass though not giving them the attention or light they need to persist. i fall asleep within minutes.

keep doing what you can for the animals and continue to spread your message to everyone you meet. as long as we are doing what we can, we can keep moving forward without getting bogged down with hatred of people and frustration. there are still times i become misanthropic, but realize there are many good humans i love and don’t focus on what is out of my hands.

Twain Mark

In the beginning of a change, the Patriot is a scarce man, Brave, Hated and Scorned. When his cause succeeds however, the timid join him, for then it costs NOTHING to be a Patriot.

Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the and the blind can see.

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog.

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

The best way to cheer yourself is to try to cheer someone else up.

A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.

It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Really great people make you feel that you, too, can become great.

Wade Paul

Let me set out my stand right now; this kind of crap disgusts me.

Tyler Alexander Fraser

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.

Wiesel Elle

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.
Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Winston Churchill

If you’re going through hell, keep going.

Zelenskyy Volodymyr

Freedom must be armed better than tyranny.

The fight is here; I need ammunition, not a ride.

Marc Bekoff

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 10:32:31 -0800

Marc Bekoff is Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. An internationally prominent lecturer on animal behavior, cognitive ethology and behavioral ecology, Marc has contributed immensely to these fields via original papers, books and even videos. Additionally, he was a competitive cyclist winning the Tour du Haut Var for his age group in 1986!

This is a link to his website.

Links

Wikipedia: Marc Bekoff

Literati: Marc Bekoff

Animal Consultants International: Marc Bekoff

Huffington Post: Marc Bekoff

EnlightenNext Magazine: Marc Bekoff Biography and Resources

University of Colorado: Marc Bekoff Professor Emeritus

Psychology Today Experts: Marc Bekoff

Boulder Masters Cycling: Marc Bekoff

Vegan Sporting Association: Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff - Gentle Giant of the Animal World

Marc Bekoff’s work at the Boulder County Jail (as part of Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program)
(pdf article from Camera paper)
(pdf article from New Scientist 21 March, 2009)

Kids & Animals by Marc Bekoff, foreword by Jane Goodall
follow above link for more details then click on image to download pdf book
or get the pdf book directly

Marc Bekoff’s moon bear rescue work with Animals Asia
(pdf article from New Scientist 2009/05/02)

(pdf)
Treat us better or leave us alone! Marc Bekoff explains

(pdf)
Animals are rarely violent and never to the extent we are. We can learn a lot from them - if we only open our minds and hearts to who they really are, writes Marc Bekoff.

Organizations

Co-founder with Jane Goodall:
Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals: Citizens for Responsible Animal Behavior Studies in 2000

Board of Directors:
The Cougar Fund, The Fauna Sanctuary

Advisory Board Member and/or Council:
Living with Wolves, Greenvegans, Animal Defenders, Project Coyote, National Museum of Animals & Society, Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group

Honorary Board Member:
Rational Animal

Honorary Member:
Animalisti Italiani, Fundacion Altarriba

Patron:
Captive Animals’ Protection Society

Scientific Expert Advisory Panel Member:
Voiceless, The Animal Protection Institute

Faculty Member:
Humane Society University

Awards

2005 The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award 2009 St. Francis of Assisi Award by the Auckland (New Zealand) SPCA

Videos

Animal Emotions - An interview with Professor Marc Bekoff

An interview with Professor Marc Bekoff on RTE Radio 1’s Pat Kenny Show (September 3rd, 2008).

Marc Bekoff–Animal Sentience

Insights into animal intelligence and feeling.

Science & Animal Activism with Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff shares insights drawn from a lifetime studying animals.

Marc Bekoff - Animal Behavior and Emotions

Video is unavailable presently.

Insight into the Emotional Lives of Animals with Dr. Marc Bekoff

This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.

Marc Bekoff speech at 2010 Voiceless Awards

Here, he delivers the keynote address at the 2011 Voiceless Awards, which celebrate animal proteciton in Australia. Marc reflects on the need to give animals respect and compassion.

Edwin Rutsch & Marc Bekoff: Dialogs on Building a Culture of Empathy and Compassion

There is a video embedded in the page.

Books

The Emotional Lives of Animals
Beckoff
Skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied.

Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals
Bekoff, Pierce
We argue that animals feel empathy for each other, treat one another fairly, cooperate towards common goals, and help each other out of trouble. We argue, in short, that animals have morality.

Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships
Bekoff, Nystrom
Humans and animals live together on earth, but as we increasingly reshape ecosystems to accommodate larger populations, technology, and increased consumption, animals are greatly affected.

Listening to Cougar
Bekoff, Lowe
Spellbinding tribute to Puma concolor honors the big cat’s presence on the land and in our psyches.

Animals Matter
Bekoff
A biologist explains why we should treat animals with compassion and respect.

Animals at Play: Rules of the Game
Bekoff
Emphasizes how animals communicate, cooperate and learn to play fair and what happens when they break the rules.

Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare Vol 1
Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and Animal Welfare Vol 2
Bekoff
Remains the only reference to cover the entire scope of animal rights and welfare from a global interdisciplinary perspective, with an international team of contributors assembled by Marc Bekoff covering animal treatment issues in the United States, China, India, Kenya, Australia, and many other nations.

The Animal Manifesto: Six Reasons For Expanding Our Compassion Footprint
Bekoff
Driven by moral imperatives and pressing environmental realities, Bekoff offers six compelling reasons for changing the way we treat animals.

The smile of a dolphin
Bekoff
A fascinating look at the complex emotional lives of animals presents firsthand accounts by leading animal behavior researchers that offer a compelling argument that humans are not the only creatures to experience emotion.

Minding animals: awareness, emotions, and heart
Bekoff
An exhilarating tour of the emotional and mental world of animals, where we meet creatures who do amazing things.

Animal passions and beastly virtues
Bekoff
Draws world-wide attention for its originality and its probing into what animals think about and know as well as what they feel, what physical and mental skills they use to live.

The Ten Trusts
Goodall, Bekoff
Addresses various aspects of animal welfare, animal rights and what can be done to assist in providing a better life for the animals of the world.

Animal play: evolutionary, comparative, and ecological perspectives
Bekoff, Byers
Careful, quantitative studies of social, locomotor and object play behaviour are now beginning … to shed light on many other aspects of both animal and human behaviour.

Species of Mind: The Philosophy and Biology of Cognitive Ethology
Allen, Bekoff
A philosopher and a cognitive ethologist, approach their work from the perspective that many animals have minds and rich cognitive lives.

The cognitive animal: empirical and theoretical perspectives on animal cognition
Bekoff, Allen, Burghardt
A comprehensive overview of the interdisciplinary field of animal cognition. The contributors include cognitive ethologists, behavioral ecologists, experimental and developmental psychologists, behaviorists, philosophers, neuroscientists, computer scientists and modelers, field biologists, and others.

Suburban Howls: Tracking the Eastern Coyote in Urban Massachusetts
Way, Way, Bekoff
This book is about the experiences and findings of a biologist studying coyote ecology and behavior in urbanized eastern Massachusetts.

Angel Dogs with a Mission: Divine Messengers in Service to All Life
Anderson, Anderson, Bekoff
This fascinating book puts the spotlight on working dogs – those heroic canines who have found ways to give back more than sloppy kisses and happy snuggles.

Coyotes: Biology, Behavior and Management
Bekoff
a classic of the canid literature. Originally published in 1978, Coyotes: Biology, Behavior and Management pulled together much disparate research in coyote evolution, taxonomy, reproduction, communication, behavioral development, population dynamics, ethology and ecological studies.

Strolling with our kin: speaking for and respecting voiceless animals
Bekoff
Bekoff takes the reader on a philosophical and ethical odyssey examining how We can all live in harmony with our fellow kin. He asks us to explore our thoughts and expand our views of a world made up of many species, only one of which is human.

Nature’s Life Lessons: Everyday Truths from Nature
Carrier, Bekoff
Using everyday behaviors in Nature, this delightful and whimsical book celebrates the link between the natural world and quirky humans.

Integral Ecology: Uniting Multiple Perspectives on the Natural World
Zimmerman, Esbjorn-Hargens, Bekoff, Hochachka, Tissot, Riddell
Unites valuable insights from multiple perspectives into a comprehensive theoretical framework-one that can be put to use right now.

Selected blog post titles from Psychology Today

These are various articles by Marc posted in his Psychology Today blog. The short descriptions are provided too. Some of these articles can serve as introductions to various academic papers by Marc. You can subscribe to his blog via rss feed.

Baboons Distinguish Real Words From Nonsense Words
Non-reading baboons can learn to distinguish written real words from nonsense words. Recognizing visual word forms is a key component of literacy and these data provide the first animal model. Once again, we learn that we are not alone in demonstrating some fascinating and sophisticated cognitive skills.

Bowerbirds: Do They Have Green Thumbs?
Male bowerbirds appear to grow a garden to attract females. What they do seems to be cultivation, the result of which is increased mating success. The more we learn the more blurred is the border between “us” and “them”.

The National Museum of Animals & Society
The National Museum of Animals & Society (NMAS), the first of its kind, centers on the full spectrum of human-animal studies (anthrozoology, our relationships with, and perceptions of, other animals) including the history of protecting animals and the importance of humane education in their collections, exhibitions, and programs.

Friends With Benefits
Nonhumans show us why we all need others we can count on. They help in times of need, it feels good to have close friends, and it’s good for an individual’s health and well-being. The more we study other animals the more we learn about their fascinating lives and about ourselves. We should be proud of our animal heritage.

Our Complex and Contradictory Relationships with Other Animal Beings
Just about every day is a mixed bag for nonhuman animals. To wit, we’ve recently learned that dolphins are more socially complex than previously recognized and that St. Jude Hospital plans to raise money from horrific raccoon hunts using coondogs. We need to, and easily can, change our ways.

The Superior Human? Who Do We Think We Are?
This fascinating documentary is well worth watching. While we are unique and special so too are other animals. Human exceptionalism that translates into supposed superiority and domination over “lower” species is based on bad biology and this film dismantles specious speciesism.

Humans Help Stranded Dolphins: Some Much Needed Good News
Watch humans help save stranded dolphins in Brazil. I hope this wonderful story will help to maintain or restore your faith in the goodness and decency of humans who choose to help, rather than to harm, other animals.

Trapped Wolf Used for Target Practice
Wolf torture continues and is praised by some while critics’ lives are threatened. This story of a trapped wolf who was also used for target practice (teaser image) should outrage people and get them to do something to stop this reprehensible behavior.

Wicked Tuna: NGS Supports Killing These Majestic Beings
The NGS glorifies killing these majestic fish for unneeded meals. What’s to be admired for causing incredible pain and suffering to these imperiled sentient beings, all in the name of entertainment and money? What did the tuna do to deserve the label “wicked”? Why are they the evil ones in this one-sided slaughter?

Dolphin Confidential: A Woman and the Dolphins She Loves
“Dolphin Confidential” is an inspirational book about a woman scientist and the “urban” L. A. dolphins she comes to love. Maddalena Bearzi shows that bonding with animals does not preclude doing solid science and serves as a role model for those who want to become scientists and feel free to display feelings for the animals they study.

Killing Other Animals For Food Does Not Make us Human
There’s nothing spiritual about killing innocent animals for unneeded meals. The claims hunters, who are meat-eating zealots, put forth using flowery prose about how hunting makes us human and that those who don’t hunt are “missing something” are self-serving and ignore what the hunted animals are thinking and feeling.

A Dog and a River Otter: a Most Amazing Friendship
Watch Rio, a dog, play with his wild river otter friend. The river otter comes to visit Rio everyday and they frolic wildly and obviously enjoy it immensely. This incredible video will make your day.

Bonobos Rescue Friends in Need Because Females Lead
These amazing apes travel long distances to find and help lost friends. It’s suggested this is because their social groups are led by females for whom the unity of the group is very important. This is another example showing animals are far more caring, compassionate, and kind than we give them credit for.

It’s Coyote Killing Time Once Again
Utah and Nova Scotia wage war on these fascinating native animals using programs that have been scientifically proven not to work. The wanton, senseless, and merciless killing of coyotes and other animals is ineffective and must be stopped. Why is it that some people enjoy killing other animals?

Trumping Wildlife: Heinous Trophy Hunting, Not Conservation
Donald Trump’s sons clearly enjoy going on very expensive canned trophy hunts. These macho boys write off their heinous and sick killing spree in the name of conservation as if it’s good for the animals, their habitats, and local people, as they proudly pose with corpses and body parts.

Thrill-seeking Bees, A Bathing Bear, and Chimpanzees In the News
Bees are wired for adventure and a bear takes a bath using a tool. A new movie called “Chimpanzee” will be airing soon and Disneynature will contribute 20 cents per ticket to the Jane Goodall Institute for the Disneynature Tchimpounga Nature Reserve Project with a minimum of $100,000 pledged to this program.

Elephants Mourn Loss of “Elephant Whisperer” Lawrence Anthony
Elephant grief and mourning include the loss of their human friend. Broken-hearted elephants visited the home of Lawrence Anthony, known as the elephant whisperer, to express their sorrow. They had not been seen there for a very long time. Clearly we’re not the only animals who possess the cognitive and emotional capacities for suffering the loss of others.

Flies On Booze and Apes On Apps
Flies drink alcohol to ward off parasites and live longer than teetotallers, and captive orangutans use iPads to enrich their lives. They may even communicate with others over long distances using FaceTime or Skype.

Green: Environmental Devastation and the Last Hours of an Orangutan’s Life
A heart-wrenching documentary about the last hours of a female orangutan’s life. Some people deny the devastating and violent impacts we have globally, and few have the opportunity to see them first hand, but they are realities we must, and can, reverse now. It’s very easy to avoid products that cause unspeakable harm to innocent animals and their homes.

Is Chimpanzee Research Necessary? No, Say Many Scientists
Rigorous reviews of available data on the use of chimpanzees and other animals in biomedical research show that we actually learn very little about treating human disease from these models. Wide-ranging support to remove chimpanzees from laboratories and place them safely in sanctuaries upholds these conclusions.

The Need for “Wild” Play: Let Children Be the Animals They Need to Be
A new book called “Evolutionary Playwork” shows that youngsters need to “get down and dirty” and engage in “wild” play, but they’re not. According to play expert Bob Hughes, “ג€¦ if the activity is bounded by adult rules, if it is stiff, formalised and dominated by the need to score points and flatter one’s ego, that is not play, it is something else.” The same for adults.

Say It Isn’t So: Major Atrocities Against Animals
Canadian conservation officers slaughter 145 bears and numerous dead animals discovered at Oregon State University. The teaser image is of a live raccoon caught by its rear leg and attempting to escape by weaving itself through a fence. Wildlife Services left it to die after illegally setting traps and snares. You can stop this violence.

Animals: A New Ethics (Resurgence Magazine)
In this special edition of Resurgence magazine you’ll read new wide-ranging essays by animal advocates including campaigners, activists, authors, philosophers, scientists, lawyers, charity heads, poets, and artists. It’s truly an up-to-date landmark publication.

Makin’ Bacon: Unspeakable and Grisly Abuse On a Pig Farm
Pigs on pig farms suffer greatly despite supposed concerns for the welfare. They’re shot, tossed around as if they’re mere objects, forced to live without proper veterinary care, and slapped, kicked and beaten into submission with the use of pig boards, iron bars, and gate rods. This reprehensible abuse must be stopped and you can help do this at your next meal.

Wearing Pain: Canada Goose’s Fur Policy Is Lame and Self-Serving
There is no reason to kill animals for clothing. In the process of becoming a coat or trim, the bones of coyotes and many other animals go snap, crackle, and pop as they’re tortured unrelentingly. Canada Goose’s fur policy is laden with self-serving justifications and errors all in the name of money and the unnecessary slaughter of animals for clothing.

Dogs, Homeless People, and Love: A Picture Is Worth Many Many Words
The photos to which I refer here show clearly that dogs are our best friends. They’re able to love with no or very few holds barred and bring much joy and warmth to those who are down on their luck. We’re so lucky to have dogs in our lives. We should embrace and celebrate their willingness to share love and learn from them.

Social Dominance Is Not a Myth: Wolves, Dogs, and Other Animals
Social dominance is a real phenomenon but has been widely misunderstood and misused. Nonhuman (and human) animals dominate one another in a number of ways, but simple and narrow explanations of what dominance is, how it’s expressed, and how it influences behavior don’t necessarily hold across species, within species, or across different contexts.

Nika and Her Animal Friends: A Most Inspirational Rescue
Meet Nika and her animal friends who rescued her from a life of hell. After years of abuse and neglect Nika has made a remarkable recovery in the company of some wonderful nonhuman animal “therapists” and loving human animals.

Chancer and Iyal: A Dog, His Boy, and His Dog
Chancer, a golden retriever, takes care of a youngster with severe cognitive disabilities. Chancer is one of many dogs who give hope to those who need it. The reciprocal bond, the life line, formed between humans and their canine companions is awe-inspiring and win-win for all. Bless all the dog beings and human beings who work in these wonderful programs.

Chimpanzee Abuse: Extreme Cruelty Caught on Tape
If you doubted that chimpanzees are horrifically abused in laboratories, watch this short video. To quote the head of the center, Thomas Rowell: “There were five minutes or less of video where you said to yourself, you know, I wish so and so hadn’t said this … Or I wish they’d have been more careful here.” Imagine what the chimpanzees were feeling.

Chimpanzees Should Not Be Treated as Books in a Library
Chimpanzees are sentient beings who should not be stockpiled and kept in tiny cells as if they’re mere objects because they may have to be used in horrific research in the future. They are making small gains in the on-going, and often deceptive battle, to keep them locked up, but they need all the help we can offer.

Hunters Upset When Dogs Are Trapped, but Still Want to Hunt
Trapping animals causes intense and enduring pain, suffering, and death. Hunters who are opposed to trapping, as many are, also want to be able to kill other animals but get very upset when their dog(s) is harmed, as they should. Why don’t the pain, suffering, and death of other animals matter?

Close Encounters of the Gorilla Kind
A video well-worth watching to see friendly and inquisitive gorillas pet and groom a human. The portrayal of animals as being mean and violent is simply wrong. It’s a misrepresentation of who they really are. Sit back and enjoy this amazing encounter between a human ape and one of our close relatives.

“What Were Wars?” Don’t Blame Other Animals For Human Violence
Human war is a choice and non-human animals should not be blamed for our violent leanings. Scientific data show clearly that other animals are predominantly peaceful beings and we must factor this into our attempts to justify war-mongering, but more importantly to stop it. We need to develop a science of peace and build a culture of empathy.

“The Grey” Has It All Wrong About Wolves
Media, this time “The Grey”, once again misrepresents and vilifies animals. In this movie wolves are the victims of sensationalism and long-dead myths that can hurt efforts to protect and conserve these endangered animals. Actors also ate two wolves who were brought to the set to get them in the mood for the wild. No joke.

Empathic Rodents Get a Wee Bit More Protection Sort Of
New guidelines recommend larger cages for families of mice and rats who are used in invasive research. But the recommended sizes are ridiculously small and are not hard-and-fast rules. Yet researchers are in a tizzy about the added costs to their work. Mice and rats are highly sentient and emotional beings who display empathy. They deserve far more protection.

A Snowboarding Crow Playing and Having Fun
Watch a “snowboarding crow” obviously having fun. Many animals love to play and when they can’t find a friend with whom to romp they entertain themselves. We can learn a lot about ourselves by watching other animals play.

Whales and Dolphins at Play: A Great Lift That’ll Make Your Day
Watch wild humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins play with one another and smile, smile, smile. This is a great example of cooperation between two amazing species.

They Kill Sheep, Don’t They? My Deep Apologies
A video showing a soldier ruthlessly beating a sheep, most likely to death, has surfaced. My deep regrets and apologies for posting it - I admit I sobbed when I saw it - but something has to be done about this horrific event. It is an insult to all human beings, especially those who honorably serve our country.

“Are You with the Right Mate?” The Media’s Misuse of Chimpanzees
The misrepresentation of animals influences how they are perceived and these misperceptions are known to be harmful to the conservation status of these endangered beings.

Drowning Rats and Human Depression: Positive Psychology for Whom?
Does exposing rats to aggressive encounters and making them swim until they give up hope and drown really have anything to do with human depression? Not really, yet horrific experiments continue under the guise of positive psychology.

Chimpanzees: I Know What You Don’t
During the past few years we’ve learned amazing facts about the astonishing cognitive, emotional, and moral lives of other animals. And 2012 is starting off with a bang as we learn that chimpanzees know what others don’t know and tell them about the presence of dangerous snakes. These field data suggest that chimpanzees have a theory of mind.

Dead Cow Walking: The Case Against Born-Again Carnivorism
Cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals raised for food are sentient beings who have rich emotional lives. No matter how “humanely” they’re raised, their lives can be cashed out simply as “dead cow/pig/chicken walking.” Whom we choose to eat is a matter of life and death.

Heartless Hunting: Maiming Then Killing Deer With No Remorse
The writer of a failed attempt at a poetic essay claims “I hate to kill” but nonetheless does it thoroughly irresponsibly.

Primate Social Behavior: Nature “Versus” Nurture Once Again?
Genes seem to play a large role in the social behavior of many nonhuman primates but not for other other species including coyotes and wolves. Much more research is needed to see just how far these new findings apply as they surely will inform future studies of animal behavior and conservation projects. Is it nature and nurture or nature or nurture?

Mathematical Pigeons Are Amazing But Not So Surprising
Pigeons can learn abstract rules about numbers and these new and exciting data support what’s long been known about the numerical competency or “counting ability” of other captive and wild birds. Clearly, calling someone a birdbrain is a compliment. Bird brains are very active and their cognitive abilities rather remarkable and highly evolved.

Rewilding Our Hearts: Maintaining Hope and Faith in Trying Times
In troubled times it’s difficult to remain hopeful and positive. Here I offer some practical guidelines for a new positive and personal social movement that is based on rewilding our hearts. Not only will nonhuman animals and their homes benefit, but so will we as we make a major paradigm shift

Empathic Rats and Ravishing Ravens
Rats and ravens caution us about proudly tooting our “aren’t we special” horn. A new study shows rats display empathy-driven behavior to help other rats in distress while another has demonstrated that ravens use body language and gestures to communicate with other ravens.

Tool Use by a Dingo and a Dog
Read about and watch Stirling, a young male dingo, use a tool, and also about Grendel, a dog, make and use a back scratcher from a bone. As time goes on more and more animals are observed making and using tools.

Chimpanzees in Research: Lies, Lies, and More Lies
Researchers who abuse chimpanzees act as if moratoriums and agreements don’t matter, as if they’re above it all. They’re not and each of us can easily do something now to stop the continued abuse of chimpanzees in invasive research.

Grief, Mourning, and Broken Hearted Animals
There’s no doubt many animals grieve the loss of family and friends. Mounting evidence clearly shows we’re not the only animals who possess the cognitive and emotional capacities for suffering the loss of others.

Minding Animals as Persons: Beatrice, My Mother, and Jethro, My Dog
My mother Beatrice and my dog Jethro shared many traits that warrant calling a being a person. When my mother suffered serious physical and psychological decline she was still considered a person as she well should have been. Yet Jethro and other animals do not warrant that status. Nothing is lost by viewing nonhuman animals as persons.

“What In the World Do My Essays Have To Do With Psychology?”
Knowing about nonhuman animals has everything to do with human psychology. What we think, know, feel, and believe about animals should strongly influence how we interact with them but often it doesn’t. Animals are merely property in the eyes of the law and enjoy little to no legal standing. This, in and of itself, tells us lots about human psychology.

Circuses: Wild Animals Do Not Belong in the Cruelest Show on Earth
Circuses do nothing for the animals themselves or for other members of their species despite claims to the contrary. Circuses make no contributions to conservation. They serve no purpose other than “entertainment” if you dare to call watching abused and terrorized animals performing stupid and unnatural tricks “entertainment”.

What Makes Us Uniquely Human?
Are we the only animals who mentally time travel and have a theory of mind? Some people think so but there are data that suggest we’re not. Are we exceptional in some ways? Yes we are but so are other animals.

Rampant Wolf Killing Makes Some People Happy
In just 2 weeks 44 wolves have been killed, or as some say “bagged,” in Montana. Some people actually find the deplorable slaughter of these magnificent animals makes them happy and to be encouraging. How in the world did such shameful and sick attitudes toward sentient beings ever evolve? Would they kill their dog? I’m afraid to ask.

Whales in Captivity: Are They Legally Slaves?
Does keeping whales (and perhaps other animals) in captivity violate the 13th Amendment ban on slavery? A pending lawsuit can change how we perceive and use other animals. It surely will lead to much needed discussion about the ways in which humans wantonly and routinely use and abuse animals in entertainment and in other venues.

Fish Don’t Like Being Hooked
Fish are sentient beings who don’t like being hooked either in their mouth by a human or by other fish whom they punish when they steal their food.

Is Eating Dogs Different from Eating Cows and Pigs?
A cancelled dog-eating festival in China has raised strong world-wide protest as it should. And so should the horrific conditions in which factory farmed animals are forced to live before they go to slaughter and as they’re being killed. We must face our choices in food head-on and be consistent about who winds up in our mouth.

Bloodbath in Ohio: Numerous Exotic Animals Killed After Being Freed
Numerous exotic animals were killed in Ohio after they were released from a private reserve. No humans were attacked. It’s too late to bring these animals back and give them the life they deserved. But regulations and laws about keeping unprotected exotic animals must be implemented and vigorously enforced.

9/11 Dogs: The Devoted Dozen Who Still Bless Our Lives
Twelve rescue dogs who worked tirelessly and selflessly during the chaos of 9/11 still survive. Say hello, read about them and see wonderful portraits in a collection called “Retrieved”, and send your very best wishes to these amazing dog beings.

Moon bears, wasps, and sexy seals: Animals aren’t dumb
Doctors call for the closure of cruel bear farms across Asia, wasps recognize individual faces, and female sea lions appear to be more in control of sex than previously thought. Animals are not dumb. They’re sentient, smart, and emotional, and can reason about the effects of their behavior. This is a photo of Jonah, a moon bear on his way to freedom.

Chimpanzees In the Crossfire: Are They Cleverer Than Us?
We shouldn’t be asking who’s cleverer than whom. Rather, we should ask what individuals of different species need to do to be card-carrying members of their species. This information will help us learn more about who we are and who “they” are and help us protect them in captivity and in the wild.

Animal and Humans: Meaningful Meetings of Common Minds
International meetings and growing general interest show that animals matter. A recent gathering concerned with social justice and the treatment and conservation of great apes, hosted by the Arcus Foundation, made it abundantly clear that we all must be concerned with how these and other amazing beings are treated and do something now to improve their (and our) lives.

Boobies In the News (Birds That Is)
Abused baby boobies grow up to be abusers themselves. This is the first evidence from a wild animal that, as in humans, abuse can be socially transmitted to future generations.

Animal Minds and the Foible of Human Exceptionalism
Human exceptionalism, the belief that human beings have special status based on our unique capacities, is misleading and has serious social, political, and environmental consequences for how we treat other animals and their homes. We need to be more humble and act with greater compassion and empathy for other beings.

Slaughtering Sentience: Rampant killing of wildlife by our government continues
Wildlife Services, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture, ruthlessly kills millions of animals. In 2010 they slaughtered more than five million animals and spent more than $126 million to do so with no concern for the well-being of their victims. The amount of pain, suffering, and death for which they’re responsible is reprehensible.

Are great apes “ultraviolent”?
Sensationalist media often misrepresents other primates as violent beings, but available data show this is not the case. Across the board, great apes and other animals are predominantly cooperative. Of course, there are very rare examples of what could be called evil violence, but we should not use nonhumans to justify our evil ways.

Emotional honeybees and brainy jellyfish: More “surprises” in animal behavior
Honeybees display pessimism and jellyfish make complex decisions using a brain. The more we study fascinating animals the more we learn about their cognitive and emotional capacities.

Animals in the news: Self-aware chimpanzees, doomed wolves, and retired race horses
We continue to learn fascinating facts about the cognitive and emotional capacities of other animals and continue to mistreat them with little or no concern for their well-being. It’s time for a widespread social movement, a revolution of sorts. It ain’t rocket science. Other animals truly depend on our goodwill and we can all do something to help them along.

Dog Killed by Wildlife Services: The Horrific War On Wildlife Knows No Bounds or Decency
Government workers continue to ruthlessly kill wildlife and domesticated animals, showing no regard for the safety of people, including children, and their companion animals. Bella, a dog who died because Wildlife Services blatantly ignored EPA directives, would still be alive if they showed any common sense and decency.

The human-animal bond revisited: Power is not license to do what we please because we can
Wayne Pacelle’s book about our kinship with other animals is a must read. Readers will learn a lot about the other beings with whom we share Earth and also about the issues with which we must deal as we move into the 21st century. Every individual counts and each of us can easily make positive differences in the lives of animals with little effort.

The moral lives of animals: What did Herman Melville have to say about animals?
Many animals display moral intelligence in various social situations. This new and highly original book summarizes what we know and also provides numerous exciting ideas for future research and debate. It’s no longer nature red in tooth and claw.

Caring about animal abuse has a lot to do with human psychology
Our relationships with other animals require psychological studies. Conservation psychology, conservation education, and humane education can help us further our understanding of how we relate to other animals and what we can and must do to improve these interactions for their well-being and ours. When animals lose, we lose.

Victims of vanity: Wearing animals is donning pain and suffering
The fur industry is guilty of untold torture and tries to hide it. There are numerous and easy ways to buy non-animal clothing alternatives and each of us can remove reprehensible cruelty from the world if we made more humane and ethical choices. There is no reason at all to wear animals.

Empathic chickens and cooperative elephants: Emotional intelligence expands its range again
Chickens feel one another’s pain and elephants know when they need help and cooperate with one another to obtain a reward. When you eat chicken you’re eating pain and misery and it’s a matter of who’s for dinner, not what’s for dinner, because these amazing birds are highly sentient beings, as are elephants and numerous other animals.

Killing animals redux: Animal damage control means unrelenting slaughter and a huge waste of money
The 80th anniversary of the Animal Damage Control Act is a time for mourning. Animal genocide continues and the “problems” that prompt this wanton killing aren’t solved. What a waste of $120 million. Community-based programs, such as the Marin County Strategic Plan for Protection of Livestock and Wildlife, are more humane and more effective alternatives.

Wolves in the crosshairs once again: Politicians attempt to sidestep the Endangered Species Act
Attempts to fast track delisting wolves crosses party lines and conveniently ignores science. Montana Democratic senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester have proposed another delisting bill despite a federal court ruling that said that wolves should be protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Whipping horses doesn’t work and new observations of grief in chimpanzees
Research shows that whipping horses doesn’t make a difference in races and new observations show that chimpanzees mourn dead infants. Once again science shows how we can improve our relationships with animals who we use for entertainment and how remarkable other animals are.

Kids & animals: What are they thankful for and what are their dreams?
Kids can tell us how we should treat other animals. We should listen to them. A new book offers a unique glimpse of what kids around the world are thankful for and what their dreams and hopes are. The book centers on the guiding principles of Jane Goodall’s world-wide Roots & Shoots program.

Animal genocide government style: Our tax dollars at work
Our government wantonly and discompassionately slaughters millions of animals a year using our tax dollars. Ecosystems are also destroyed by this horrific and reprehensible killing. We need to stop this unrelenting war on wildlife and foster coexistence.

“Do fish feel pain?” redux: An interview with the author who shows of course they do
Fish feel pain and are far more intelligent than previously thought. The United States is ten years behind Europe concerning the keeping and killing of fish claims the author of “Do Fish Feel Pain?”, who supports sport fishing and eats fish. This is important to note because caring about animal welfare is not a “radical” point of view as some claim.

Dog learns more than 1000 names and chimpanzees make dolls
Increasing evidence shows just how smart and creative animals can be. It’s best to keep an open mind about the cognitive skills of other animals because “surprises” are regularly forthcoming.

Cruelty can’t stand the spotlight: Ending animal abuse is merely a click away so let’s make it a New Year’s resolution
It’s easy to end animal abuse with a few clicks of your mouse. Cruelty can’t stand the spotlight and each of us can make a positive difference in the lives of billions of animals. Please place ending animal abuse high among your New Year’s resolutions.

Kangaroos: These iconic animals are relentlessly slaughtered throughout Australia and they shouldn’t be
These iconic animals deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. They’re not. Kangaroos, including young joeys, are killed by the millions each year. Scientists have shown there’s little evidence to support this wanton slaughter. Let’s stop the slaughter and make this the century of compassion.

Dead Cow Walking
National Hamburger Day is a celebration that shouldn’t happen. Eating cows causes unnecessary suffering and death and is risky because of the serious diseases they carry from their lives on factory farms. Benefits of making humane choices are supported by solid scientific research.

Jane Goodall: A brief glimpse of a most amazing woman
What an amazing and unanticipated life was awaiting Jane Goodall after she arrived at the Gombe Stream reserve 50 years ago. It frightens me to think where we would be if she hadn’t made that fateful trip to East Africa in 1960.

Motherhood: Lessons from dolphins
Good mothering in dolphins is socially determined not genetic. Social factors rather than genes influence reproductive success in dolphins.

Crows and tools: Calling someone a birdbrain can be a compliment
Young crows learn to make complex tools in ’tool school’ by watching adults. Being a birdbrain isn’t really an insult.

Bees versus computers: Pea-brained bees win the “traveling salesman problem”
Tiny bee brains beat computers in solving the “traveling salesman problem.”

Compassionate Conservation Finally Comes of Age: Killing in the name of conservation doesn’t work
Compassionate conservation is no longer an oxymoron. Ethics must be firmly implanted in conservation biology, even if difficult questions move us outside of our professional and personal comfort zones. Ethical questions must be addressed, even if asking them means some projects might be put on hold temporarily or abandoned.

“Oh, I know animals suffer, but I love my steak”: The self-serving resolution of the “meat paradox”
Many people continue to eat animals knowing they suffer before they wind up at the end of their fork. A new study shows that the “meat paradox” is resolved for some by denying moral status and emotions to meat animals.

Dogs know what others know: Some new and exciting findings about our best friends
Dogs show evidence of having a theory of mind in that they are able to attribute beliefs and knowledge to others.

Demonic, Warlike Animals Are the Rare Exception, Not the Rule: Wild Justice In Animals Redux
There is no evidence that animals are inherently warlike. We need to stop using animals to justify our own cruel, evil, and warlike behavior.

Compassionate squirrels and good people helping oiled and other wildlife
Squirrels and people display compassion and Zimbabwe calls off a wildlife trade deal with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

Meat for sex? A blown “fact”
Male chimpanzees don’t trade meat for sex as previously assumed. So, bartering for sex in humans might be a more recent phenomenon.

Animals, kids, and slaughterhouse effects on crime: Some recent findings
Kid’s reasoning about animals is not universal and research shows a relationship between the presence of slaughterhouses and an increase in local crime.

Apes say “no” with a head shake, animals are lefties and righties, and getting out in nature is good. Duh!
Animals say “no” by shaking their head and show handedness. While we are different from other animals we are also rather similar. And, being “out in nature” is good for us. Duh!

Using hamsters to save ferrets: The need for compassionate conservation
Hamsters for dinner? Golden hamsters are bred solely to be used to train black-footed ferrets to kill. The harm done to hamsters violates ethical principles because it constitutes premeditated and intentional harm that could easily be avoided.

Fish do feel pain: Yes they do, science tells us
Fish do feel pain, so they do not like being hooked even if they’re tossed back in the water

“Mice are lousy models for clinical studies”: Animal models in biomedical research
Publication bias leads to major overstatement of efficacy. It’s time to develop non-animal models that are more reliable and more ethical

Animal Abuse: The Need For a Registry
Much research has shown a close relationship between animal and human abuse.

Going to slaughter: Should animals hope to meet Temple Grandin?
The lives of slaughterhouse animals are marked by constant fear, terror, and anxiety and cannot be made humane by any acceptable definition of the word

Tool use in animals: Mammals, birds, and other animals make and use tools and do other “surprising” things
Mammals, birds, and other animals make and use tools and show many other complex patterns of behavior

Who’s moral? We’re not alone in the moral arena
We’re not alone in the moral arena - a follow-up

Are nonhuman animals more moral than human animals? Yes they are
Humans and nonhuman animals are highly cooperative and empathic, more so than we’ve previously believed. And you donג€™t find mass warfare in animals as you do in humans so if you want to cast it that way, you could say animals are more moral.

Do Less Harm: Ants and a Simple New Years Resolution
Ants are amazing animals. Cutting off their legs isn’t a mere “makeover.” What did the ants think and feel about being mutilated?

Who we eat is moral question: Vegans have nothing to defend
Vegans don’t have to apologize for, or defend, their humane and ethical choices of who to put in their mouth

Do animals have spiritual experiences? Yes they do
Available evidence says “Yes, animals can have spiritual experiences.” We are not alone in the emotional, moral, or spiritual arenas.

Animal love: Hot-blooded elephants, guppy love, and love dogs
Love is a troubling, confusing, and mysterious emotion in humans but maybe less so in animals. People don’t hesitate to say they love another individual - human or nonhuman - and then intentionally harm them.

Grief in animals: It’s arrogant to think we’re the only animals who mourn
There is no doubt that many animals experience rich and deep emotions. It’s not a matter of if emotions have evolved in animals but why they have evolved as they have. We must never forget that our emotions are the gifts of our ancestors, our animal kin. We have feelings and so do other animals.

Morality in Tooth and Claw
Animals are “in.” This might well be called the decade of the animal. Research on animal behavior has never been more vibrant and more revealing of the amazing cognitive, emotional, and moral capacities of a broad range of animals. It’s becoming clear that animals have both emotional and moral intelligences.

Animal Emotions, Animal Sentience, Animal Welfare, and Animal Rights
Labeling an individual an animal “welfarist” or “rightist” connotes important messages about their views on animal exploitation and animal protection.

Factory Farming Without Animal Suffering Isn’t Okay
Even if animals don’t feel pain that’s no reason to keep them on factory farms or even to eat them.

Animals Feelings and Fur: Who (Not What) We Wear is An Ethical Choice
If one doubts that animals have deep feelings consider what they endure as they become unnecessary clothing. It’s easy to say that animals used for fur (and leather) don’t like how they’re treated.

Individual Animals Count: Speciesism Doesn’t Work
Spare the chimps, boil the shrimps, shock the mice, kill the lice, eat the hogs, pith the frogs, blind the rabbits, what drives these habits? Much animal use is driven by the similarities rather than the differences between humans and other animals. Philosopher Lynne Sharpe points out that how we explore and ponder the similarities and differences among animals depends on how we define ourselves.

Conservation Psychology and Animal and Human Well-being
Our relationships with animals are frustrating, challenging, paradoxical and range all over the place. We love animals and harm them in a myriad of ways and many people wonder not only why we continue to do this but also what we can do to give animals the respect, compassion, and love they deserve. A relatively new and rapidly emerging field called conservation psychology can help us improve our relationships with other animals.

A fox, a cougar, and a funeral
Many animals have rich and deep emotional lives. A few years ago I was lucky enough to observe a funeral ritual by a female red fox. Others have also seen similar events. In 1947 a naturalist on the East Coast saw a male fox lick his mate as she lay dead, and the male also protected his mate quite vigorously.

Do Animals Know Who they Are?
Did David Graybeard, the chimpanzee who was first observed to use a tool by Jane Goodall, have any idea of who he was? Do elephants, dolphins, cats, magpies, mice, salmon, ants or bees know who they are? Was Jethro, my late companion dog, a self-conscious being? Do any of these animals have a sense of self? What do these animals make of themselves when they look in a mirror, see their reflection in water, hear their own or another’s song or howl, or smell themselves and others? Is it possible that self-awareness “Wow that’s me!” is a uniquely human trait?

Stalking, Hunting, Stress, and Emotion
Let’s face it, “gone huntin’” and “gone fishin’” usually mean “gone killin’.” But death is often a blessing, a relief from the pain and suffering of being stalked, crippled or mutilated, and dying agonizingly slowly. Some who hunt and fish truly enjoy the richness of the experience, but they don’t want to make animals suffer. Perhaps if they fully realized the intense pain and suffering for which they’re responsible while stalking, they’d forego the emotional rush of the experience. And, there are lots of ways to experience nature and have quality time with family and friends without intruding on, and stressing, injuring, or killing, other animals.

Animals’ lives matter: Sentience and feelings count
Nonhuman animals have many of the same feelings we do and share the same neural structures that are important in processing emotions. So, why do we unrelentingly slaughter sentience? Animals experience contagious joy and the deepest of grief, they get hurt and suffer, and they take care of one another. They have a point of view on what happens to them, their families, and their friends.

Animal Emotions and Beastly Passions: We’re Not the Only Emotional Beings
As a scientist who’s studied animal emotions for more than 30 years, I consider myself very fortunate. I love what I do. I love learning about animals, and I love sharing what my colleagues and I discover with others. Whenever I observe or work with animals, I get to contribute to “science” and develop social relationships same time, and to me, there’s no conflict between these activities. Emotions are the gifts of our ancestors. We have them and so do other animals. We must never forget that.

Anthropomorphic Double-Talk: Can Animals Be Happy But Not Unhappy? No!
Over the years Iג€™ve noticed a curious phenomena. If a scientist says that an animal is happy, no one questions it, but if a scientist says that an animal is unhappy, then charges of anthropomorphism are immediately raised. This “anthropomorphic double-talk” seems mostly aimed at letting humans feel better about themselves. It is very misleading.

Wild Justice and Moral Intelligence in Animals
Do animals have a sense of morality? Do they know right from wrong? In our forthcoming book, Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, philosopher Jessica Pierce and I argue that the answer to both of these questions is a resounding “yes.” “Ought” and “should” regarding what’s right and what’s wrong play important roles in the social interactions of animals, just as they do in ours.

Papers (with abstracts)

Some of these items have been found through Google Scholar.

Canis latrans
Bekoff - Mammalian Species, 1977 - JSTOR Canis latrans Say, in James, 1823: 168.
Type locality Engineer Cantonment, about 19.2 km SE present town of Blair, Washington Co., Nebraska. Canis ochropus Eschscholtz (1829: 1). Type locality Sacramento River Valley near Sacramento, California. Lyciscus cagottis …

Mammalian dispersal and the ontogeny of individual behavioral phenotypes
Bekoff - American Naturalist, 1977 - JSTOR
Explanations of dispersal mechanisms in mammals that have stressed the importance of aggression by dominant (?) individuals as the immediate cause of the dispersal of less aggressive (more subordinate?) individuals are insufficient for explaining recent data collected on a variety of mammals. In fact, avoidance of social interaction at the time of dispersal is more characteristic of some species in which individuals emigrate. Studies that have investigated genetic correlates of dispersal in rodent populations that undergo regular cycles are few and have not provided any “causative” explanations. In various canids and rodents, behavioral interactions at the time of dispersal do not appear to provide the necessary stimuli for dispersal. These observations suggest that knowledge of the behavioral interactions that occur before dispersal may provide a key to understanding both interspecific and intraspecific differences in social organization and dispersal patterns. It is suggested that individuals who have the most difficulty interacting with littermates will not develop strong social ties with their siblings and will be the most likely individuals to disperse of their own accord. This hypothesis is testable by collecting data on the social interaction patterns of individual littermates throughout early development and during dispersal. In this way, the importance of a heretofore neglected factor in dispersal-namely, the relationship between the behavioral antecedents of dispersal and which individuals disperse at what age, and in what manner can be assessed.

Mammalian play: training for the unexpected
RC Newberry, Bekoff - Quarterly Review of Biology, 2001 - JSTOR
In this review, we present a new conceptual framework for the study of play behavior, a hitherto puzzling array of seemingly purposeless and unrelated behavioral elements that are recognizable as play throughout the mammalian lineage.Our major new functional hypothesis is that play enables animals to develop flexible kinematic and emotional responses to unexpected events in which they experience a sudden loss of control. Specifically, we propose that play functions to increase the versatility of movements used to recover from sudden shocks such as loss of balance and falling over, and to enhance the ability of animals to cope emotionally with unexpected stressful situations. To obtain this “training for the unexpected,” we suggest that animals actively seek and create unexpected situations in play through self-handicapping; that is, deliberately relaxing control over their movements or actively putting themselves into disadvantageous positions and situations. Thus, play is comprised of sequences in which the players switch rapidly between well-controlled movements similar to those used in “serious” behavior and self-handicapping movements that result in temporary loss of control. We propose that this playful switching between in-control and out-of-control elements is cognitively demanding, setting phylogenetic and ontogenetic constraints on play, and is underlain by neuroendocrinological responses that produce a complex emotional state known as “having fun.” Furthermore, we propose that play is often prompted by relatively novel or unpredictable stimuli, and is thus related to, although distinct from, exploration. We present 24 predictions that arise from our new theoretical framework, examining the extent to which they are supported by the existing empirical evidence and contrasting them with the predictions of four major alternative hypotheses about play. We argue that our “training for the unexpected” hypothesis can account for some previously puzzling kinematic, structural, motivational, emotional, cognitive, social, ontogenetic, and phylogenetic aspects of play. It may also account for a diversity of individual methods for coping with unexpected misfortunes.

The development of social interaction, play, and metacommunication in mammals: an ethological perspective
Bekoff - Quarterly Review of Biology, 1972 - JSTOR
Analysis of the dynamics of the ontogeny of social interaction is of critical importance in order that behavioral development may be comprehended in its own right, and the relationship between infant and adult behavior understood.In this review, general concepts of behavioral development in mammals are discussed and analyzed, and the many variables that are involved are considered. When it is impossible to control or observe the social interaction of the developing organism in its natural environment, captive subjects should be used. There is increasing evidence that results obtained with the latter are related to social organization observed in the wild. Play behavior is operationally defined on the basis of a comprehensive review of the literature and of personal observations of the social development of canids. The essential “need” for social interaction during infant life is discussed, as is the phenomenon of behavioral neoteny. The concept of metacommunication, and its relationship to social development are analyzed, and the role of ritualization in the evolution of metacommunicative signals is considered.

Social play and play-soliciting by infant canids
Bekoff - American Zoologist, 1974 - Soc Integ Comp Biol Abstract
The development of social interaction was studied in infant coyotes, beagles, and wolves. In this paper, social play behavior is discussed. Social play may be characterized in a number of ways: (i) actions from various contexts are incorporated into labile (unpredictable) temporal sequences; (ii) the play bout is typically preceded by a metacommunicative signal which indicates what follows is play; these signals are also observed during the bout; (iii) certain actions may be repeated and performed in an exaggerated manner; (iv) the activity appears pleasurable to the players. By comparing these three species, some insight into the dynamics of social play may be gained. Coyotes were the least successful in soliciting play. When they did play, 90% of all bouts had been previously solicited. Coyotes also tended to use the most successful signals most frequently. This trend was not observed in the beagles or the wolves. By taking into account the fact that infant coyotes are significantly more aggressive than either infant wolves or beagles, the differential ontogeny of social play can be explained. Some of the functions of social play in canids are discussed, and it is concluded that social play is a valid class of social behavior and lends itself nicely to quantitative study.

Play signals as punctuation: The structure of social play in canids
Bekoff - Behaviour, 132, 1995 - ingentaconnect.com
Actions called play signals have evolved in many species in which social play has been observed. Despite there being only few empirical demonstrations, it generally is accepted that play signals are important in the initiation (“I want to play”) and maintenance (“I still want to play”) of ongoing social play. In this study I consider whether a specific and highly stereotyped signal, the bow, is used to maintain social play in adult and infant domestic dogs, infant wolves, and infant coyotes.To answer this question the temporal placement of bows relative to actions that are also used in other contexts (dominance or predatory encounters) such as biting accompanied by rapid side-to-side shaking of the head was analyzed to determine if bows performed during ongoing social play are used to communicate the message “I want to play despite what I am going to do or just did - I still want to play”. The non-random occurrence of bows supports the hypothesis that bows are used to maintain social play in these canids when actions borrowed from other contexts, especially biting accompanied by rapid side-to-side shaking of the head, are likely to be misinterpreted. (see html))

Life history patterns and the comparative social ecology of carnivores
Bekoff, Daniels, Gittleman - Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1984 - JSTOR
The mammalian order Carnivora is characterized by a great range of behavioral, ecological, and morphological adaptations, as well as substantial intraspecific variability (ie behavioral scaling; see 324).

[Social ecology and behavior of coyotes](http://www.rockies.ca/coyotes/files/social behavior and ecology of coyotes - beckoff.pdf) (pdf)
Bekoff, Wells - Adv. Stud. Behav., 1986 - rockies.ca
Coyotes, Canis latrans, are medium-sized members of the order Carnivora (weight: about 8-20 kg; length: approximately 1-1.4 m) that range from as far south as Costa Rica and Panama (Vaughan, 1983), throughout the continental United States and Canada, to northern Alaska (Young and Jackson, 1951; Gier, 1968; Bekoff, 1977a, 1978a, 1982). Within, and perhaps outside of, these gener- al boundaries the range of coyotes appears to be expanding due primarily to their high reproductive potential, great dispersal ability, and opportunistic food habits (Vaughan, 1983). Coyote expansion has also been facilitated by the elimination of large competitors such as gray wolves (Canis lupus), with whom they usually compete unsuccessfully (Gier, 1975; Carbyn, 1982) and avoid (Fuller and Keith, 1981). Furthermore, coyotes show a marked ability to compensate for increased human exploitation (Knowlton, 1972; Sterling et al., 1983). They are able to exist and reproduce successfully in extremely diverse habitats ranging from sea level to 2000-3000 m, including deserts, open grasslands, broken and dense forests, and large cities such as Los Angeles, California (Howell, 1982; Wirtz et al., 1982). As Gier (1975) stressed, neither altitude, latitude, nor vegetation restricts their survival.

Intentional communication and social play: how and why animals negotiate and agree to play
Bekoff, Allen - Animal play: Evolutionary, comparative, and ג€¦, 1998 - books.google.com
To return to our immediate subject: the lower animals, like man, manifestly feel pleasure and pain, happiness and misery. Happiness is never better exhibited than by young animals, such as puppies, kittens, lambs, &c., when playing together, like our own children. Even insects play together, as has been described by that excellent observer, P. Huber, who saw ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many puppies. (Charles Darwin 1871/1936, p.448)\\ Pierre Huber (1810, p. 148), in his book about the behavior of ants, claims that if one were not accustomed to treating insects as machines one would have trouble explaining the social behavior of ants and bees without attributing emotions to them. (see html))

Simulation analyses of space use: home range estimates, variability, and sample size
Bekoff, Mech - Behavior Research Methods, 1984 - Springer
Simulations of space use by animals were run to determine the relationship among home range area estimates, variability, and sample size (number of locations). As sample size increased, home range size increased asymptotically, whereas variability decreased among mean home range area estimates generated by multiple simulations for the same sample size. Our results suggest that field workers should ascertain between 100 and 200 locations in order to estimate reliably home range area. In some cases, this suggested guideline is higher than values found in the few published studies in which the relationship between home range area and number of locations is addressed. Sampling differences for small species occupying relatively small home ranges indicate that fewer locations may be sufficient to allow for a reliable estimate of home range. Intraspecific variability in social status (group member, loner, resident, transient), age, sex, reproductive condition, and food resources also have to be considered, as do season, habitat, and differences in sampling and analytical methods. Comparative data still are needed.

Vigilance, flock size, and flock geometry: information gathering by western evening grosbeaks (Aves, Fringillidae)
Bekoff - Ethology, 1995 - Wiley
Online Library Vigilance (scanning) and other behavior patterns were studied in free-ranging Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) at feeders to assess how flock size and flock geometry influenced the behavior of individual birds. The present results indicate that the way in which individual grosbeaks are positioned with respect to one another effects many aspects of their behavior, especially when a flock contains four or more birds. Birds in a linear array who have difficulty seeing one another, when compared to individuals organized in a circle who can easily see one another, are (1) more vigilant, (2) change their head and body positions more often, (3) react to changes in group size more slowly, (4) show less coordination in head movements, and (5) show more variability in all measures. These differences in behavior can be explained from a cognitive ethological perspective that favors intentional or representational explanations. Specifically, the data suggest that individual grosbeaks, when scanning and moving about, are visually monitoring the flock in which they are feeding and gathering information about a number of variables including flock size, what others are doing, where others are, which individuals are present, phenotypic features of flock members, food resources, or the location of potential predators. Individuals likely use visual records of the behavior and perhaps the phenotypic features of others, and this information influences various aspects of their behavior. (see html))

Social communication in canids: Evidence for the evolution of a stereotyped mammalian display
Bekoff - Science, 1977 - sciencemag.org
The variability in the duration and form of the canid play bow was studied in infant coyotes, wolves, wolf-dog hybrids, beagles, and adult free-ranging dogs. Both duration and form showed marked stereotypy. It appears that the role of this context-specific social signal in the communication of play intention has been fostered by selection for “morphological” stereotypy.

Social play behaviour. Cooperation, fairness, trust, and the evolution of morality
Bekoff - Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2001 - ingentaconnect.com
Here I briefly discuss some comparative data on social play behaviour in hope of broadening the array of species in which researchers attempt to study animal morality. I am specifically concerned with the notion of ג€˜behaving fairly’. In the term ג€˜behaving fairlyג€™ I use as a working guide the notion that animals often have social expectations when they engage in various sorts of social encounters the violation of which constitutes being treated unfairly because of a lapse in social etiquette. I will cash this out below in my discussion of social play behaviour. (get pdf)

Group size and vigilance in pronghorns
Lipetz, Bekoff - Zeitschrift Tierpsychologie, 1982 - Wiley Online Library
The relationship between group size and vigilance in pronghorn antelopes (Antilocapra americana) was examined. As group size increased, the proportion of vigilant pronghorns decreased. Individuals in larger groups foraged longer than those in smaller groups. However, only solitary individuals foraged for significantly less time than individuals in all other group sizes. Solitary females with fawns present foraged for significantly less time than solitary males; solitary females without fawns present had intermediate foraging times. Peripheral individuals appeared to be more wary than those in the center of groups; the first two individuals to lift their heads were more likely to be on the periphery. Individuals lifted their heads at random with respect to one another.

Biological function, adaptation, and natural design
Allan, Bekoff - Philosophy of Science, 1995 - JSTOR
Recently something close to a consensus about the best way to naturalize the notion of biological function appears to be emerging. Nonetheless, teleological notions in biology remain controversial.

An observational study of scent-marking in coyotes, Canis latrans
Wells, Bekoff - Animal Behaviour, 1981 - Elsevier
Urination and defaecation patterns of free-ranging coyotes (Canis latrans) were studied in the Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, for two years. The vast majority of urinations by adult males and females were involved in marking, and differentiating between marking and elimination may not be necessary. Our results may be summarized as follows: (1) raised-leg urinations (RLU) performed by males were most frequently used in marking. (2) Females marked throughout the year using the squat (SQU) posture. (3) Snow tracking and reading snow sign resulted in a gross underestimate of the relative frequency of SQU’s and a large overestimate in the relative frequency of defaecations (DEF) when compared to results obtained by direct observation. (4) There was sexual dimorphism for the contexts in which marking occurred. Overall, marking by males was associated with courtship and mating, with travelling, and with aggression. Marking by females was associated with the acquisition and possession of food and with the denning season. (5) Marking rates per coyote increased in groups larger than two animals. (6) RLU marking rates were greatest in areas of high intrusion when compared to denning areas and areas in which non-group members infrequently tresscent odours are important in orienting individuals in space but do not represent in and of themselves barriers to movement.

Kin recognition in vertebrates: what do we really know about adaptive value?
Blaustein, Bekoff, Byers, Daniel - Animal Behaviour, 1991 - Elsevier
The ability of an animal to discriminate between kin and non-kin (kin recognition) has been the subject of numerous recent investigations. Grafen (Anim. Behav., 1990, 39, 42ג€“54) recently reported that the evidence in support of kin recognition is weak and the data illustrating a preference for kin to associate in the laboratory may be more consistently explained as species recognition. It is suggested here, however, that in many cases it may be impossible to distinguish between species recognition and kin recognition, but in some cases, kin recognition seems apparent. It is also emphasized that very little is known about the adaptive value of kin recognition.

Ecology and social responsibility: the re-embodiment of science
Bradshaw, Bekoff - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2001 - Elsevier
As global environmental problems intensify, ecology is increasingly drawn into the social arena, and many ecologists feel caught between two competing models of science: a science apart from society and a science directly engaged with society. Interdisciplinary research and integrative theories are helping resolve this conflict by providing a common framework for both biophysical and social sciences. The incorporation of the human dimension into ecology is reversing a century-old trend of separation and reintegrating science into the human experience. ([get pdf](http://www.kerulos.org/learn_more/pubs_trans_assets/TREE-2001B and B.pdf))

Cognitive ethology: Slayers, skeptics, and proponents
Bekoff, Allen (1997) Cognitive Ethology: Slayers, Skeptics, and Proponents.
In this paper we identify three major groups of people (among some of whose members there are blurred distinctions) with different views on cognitive ethology, namely, slayers, skeptics, and proponents. Our analyses are based on our reading of some published reviews of Donald Griffin’s works in cognitive ethology and other clearly stated opinions concerning animal cognition, in the sense of attribution of mental states and properties such as beliefs, awareness, and consciousness. Slayers Slayers deny any possibility of success in cognitive ethology. In our analyses of their published statements, we have found that they sometimes conflate the difficulty of doing rigorous cognitive ethological investigations with the impossibility of doing so. Slayers also often ignore specific details of work by cognitive ethologists and frequently mount philosophically motivated objections to the possibility of learning anything about animal cognition. Slayers do not believe that cognitive ethological approaches can lead, and have lead, to new and testable hypotheses. They often pick out the most difficult and least accessible phenomena to study (e.g. consciousness) and then conclude that because we can gain little detailed knowledge about this subject, we cannot do better in other areas. Slayers also appeal to parsimony in explanations of animal behavior, but they dismiss the possibility that cognitive explanations can be more parsimonious than noncognitive alternatives, and they deny the utility of cognitive hypotheses for directing empirical research. Skeptics Skeptics are often difficult to categorize. They are a bit more open-minded than slayers, and there seems to be greater variation among skeptical views of cognitive ethology than among slayers’ opinions. However, some skeptics recognize some past and present successes in cognitive ethology, and remain cautiously optimistic about future successes; in these instances they resemble moderate proponents. Many skeptics appeal to the future of neuroscience, and claim that when we know all there is to know about nervous systems, cognitive ethology will be superfluous (Bekoff, 1993a; it should be noted that Griffin, 1992 also makes strong appeals to neuroscience, but he does not believe that increased knowledge in neurobiology will cause cognitive ethology to disappear). Like slayers, skeptics frequently conflate the difficulty of doing rigorous cognitive ethological investigations with the impossibility of doing so. Skeptics also find folk psychological, anthropomorphic, and cognitive explanations to be off-putting. Proponents Proponents recognize the utility of cognitive ethological investigations. They claim that there are already many successes and they see that cognitive ethological approaches have provided new and interesting data that also can inform and motivate further study. Proponents also accept the cautious use of folk psychological and cognitive explanations to build a systematic explanatory framework in conjunction with empirical studies, and do not find anecdotes or anthropomorphism to be thoroughly off-putting. Some proponents are as extreme in their advocacy of cognitive ethology as some slayers are in their opposition. But most proponents are willing to be critical of cognitive ethological research without dooming the field prematurely; if cognitive ethology is to die, it will be of natural causes and not as a result of hasty slayings. (see html)

Population and social biology of free-ranging dogs, Canis familiaris
Daniels, Bekoff - Journal of Mammalogy, 1989 - JSTOR
Population size and density, age structure, survivorship patterns, sex ratios, and social organization of urban, rural, and feral dog (Canis familiaris) populations were examined in Cd. Juarez, Mexico (urban site) and on the Navajo reservation (rural and wild sites) between June 1983 and December 1984. Urban and rural dogs were less social than expected whereas feral dogs characteristically lived in packs. Seasonal variation in the structure of feral dog packs was influenced by reproduction, both directly (pups born into the pack) and indirectly (pregnant females may temporarily emigrate form the pack to give birth).

Social play behavior
Bekoff - Bioscience, 1984 - JSTOR
Recent studies clearly indicate that animal play is an important behavioral phenotype, and that detailed analyses of the phenomenon are useful for furthering our understanding of the evolution of social behavior and the interaction of phylogeny, ecology, and behavioral development. This article is concerned mainly with evolutionary, ecological, and developmental aspects of social play behavior in mammals.

Social, spacing, and cooperative behavior of the collared peccary, Tayassu tajacu
Byers, Bekoff - Journal of Mammalogy, 1981 - JSTOR
Social behavior of the collared peccary was studied on the lower, eastern slopes of the Mazatzal Mountains, Arizona. The social unit in this species is a cohesive herd, in which small inter-individual distances are maintained. Two conspicuous acts, one olfactory and one auditory, functioned to maintain close spacing. Social interactions were brief but tended to synchronize the activities of animals and also to bring them closer together. Amicable and neutral actions occurred far more frequently than agonistic interactions. Most agonistic behavior did not involve physical contact. Cooperative nursing, predator defense, and feeding occurred; all adults were tolerant of young, and males showed little overt competition over estrous females. The absence of sexual dimorphism, the 1:1 sex ratio within social groups, and the small, precocial litters in this species suggest an evolutionary history of pronounced sociality. Kin selection possibly was important in the evolution of social behavior in peccaries.

On aims and methods of cognitive ethology
Jamieson, Bekoff - Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association ֲ© 1992
Philosophy of Science Association In 1963 Niko Tinbergen published a paper, “On Aims and Methods of Ethology,” dedicated to his friend Konrad Lorenz. Here Tinbergen defines ethology as “the biological study of behavior,” and seeks to demonstrate “the close affinity between Ethology and the rest of Biology.” Tinbergen identifies four major areas of ethology: causation, survival value, evolution, and ontogeny. Our goal is to attempt for cognitive ethology what Tinbergen succeeded in doing for ethology: to clarify its aims and methods, to distinguish some of its varieties, and to defend the fruitfulness of the research strategies that it has spawned.

Behavioral ecology of coyotes: social organization, rearing patterns, space use, and resource defense
Bekoff, Wells - Zeitschrift fֳ¼r Tierpsychologie, 1982 - Wiley Online Library
Two groups of coyotes in which genealogical relationships were known were studied in the Grand Teton National Park, outside of Jackson, Wyoming, U.S.A., from 1977ג€“1982. One group, a pack consisting of parents and some non-dispersing and non-breeding offspring, defended a territory and the food (mainly elk carrion) contained within it, especially during winter, and also had helpers at den sites (5 of 6 were males). The other group, a mated resident pair, all of whose young dispersed during the first year of life, did not defend a territory and never had helpers at dens. Delayed dispersal and retention of some offspring as helpers was related to the presence of an abundant, clumped, and defendable winter food resource. Dispersing yearlings suffered higher mortality than did non-dispersing individuals.
Litter size was the same for the pack and resident pair; litter size was not significantly correlated with number of adults in the group or with the number or percentage of pups that survived to 5ג€“6 months of age. The presence of pack helpers was not significantly correlated with pup survival, although there was a positive correlation (rs = +0.37) between the number of adults attending a den(s) and pup survival. Helpers rarely fed pups and their presence had no appreciable effect on juvenile weight. Helpers partook in den-sitting (pup-guarding), but they did not reduce the amount of time that parents spent at den sites. Helpers also actively initiated and took part in territorial and food defense. The proportion of times that pack members initiated defense was inversely related to intruder density (r = ג€“0.94).

Wild justice and fair play: cooperation, forgiveness, and morality in animals
Bekoff - Biology and Philosophy, 2004 - Springer
In this paper I argue that we can learn much about lsquowild justicersquo and the evolutionary origins of social morality ג€“ behaving fairly ג€“ by studying social play behavior in group-living animals, and that interdisciplinary cooperation will help immensely. In our efforts to learn more about the evolution of morality we need to broaden our comparative research to include animals other than non-human primates. If one is a good Darwinian, it is premature to claim that only humans can be empathic and moral beings. By asking the question lsquoWhat is it like to be another animal?rsquo we can discover rules of engagement that guide animals in their social encounters. When I study dogs, for example, I try to be a lsquodogocentristrsquo and practice lsquodogomorphism.rsquo My major arguments center on the following lsquobigrsquo questions: Can animals be moral beings or do they merely act as if they are? What are the evolutionary roots of cooperation, fairness, trust, forgiveness, and morality? What do animals do when they engage in social play? How do animals negotiate agreements to cooperate, to forgive, to behave fairly, to develop trust? Can animals forgive? Why cooperate and play fairly? Why did play evolve as it has? Does lsquobeing fairrsquo mean being more fit ג€“ do individual variations in play influence an individual’’s reproductive fitness, are more virtuous individuals more fit than less virtuous individuals? What is the taxonomic distribution of cognitive skills and emotional capacities necessary for individuals to be able to behave fairly, to empathize, to behave morally? Can we use information about moral behavior in animals to help us understand ourselves? I conclude that there is strong selection for cooperative fair play in which individuals establish and maintain a social contract to play because there are mutual benefits when individuals adopt this strategy and group stability may be also be fostered. Numerous mechanisms have evolved to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of social play to keep others engaged, so that agreeing to play fairly and the resulting benefits of doing so can be readily achieved. I also claim that the ability to make accurate predictions about what an individual is likely to do in a given social situation is a useful litmus test for explaining what might be happening in an individual’’s brain during social encounters, and that intentional or representational explanations are often important for making these predictions. ([get pdf](http://animalliberationfront.com/Philosophy/Morality/Speciesism/Wild Justice.pdf))

Reflective ethology, applied philosophy, and the moral status of animals
Bekoff, Jamieson - Perspectives in ethology, 1991 - agris.fao.org
Currently there is an unprecedented interest in ethological studies of nonhuman animals. Much of this interest is motivated by a desire to learn more about animals themselves. For scientists assuming this stance, a secondary goal is to use this knowledge to assess the place of humans in the natural order of things, stressing continuity or discontinuity depending on one’s views. Others, however, study animals primarily to apply this knowledge to human behavior. We argue that behavioral research demands the rigorous application of methods that are minimally harmful to the animals being studied. We argue for a moderate, but rigorous and uncompromising, position on issues of animal welfare. A number of areas that in our opinion require careful scrutiny before research should be permitted are identified. It is a privilege to study nonhumans even in what seem to be noninterventive situations, and we should reflect on what we are doing by empathizing with the animals that are being studied. From this point of view, ethological interest and philosophical concerns with morality, mind, and science complement one another. Thus, ethology and philosophy should inform one another with respect to the way in which animals are studied, and how data are analyzed, applied, and disseminated.

[[http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050%5B0861:AEEPN%5D2.0.CO;2][Animal emotions: exploring passionate natures]]
Bekoff - BioScience, 2000 - BioOne
Current interdisciplinary research provides compelling evidence that many animals experience such emotions as joy, fear, love, despair, and griefג€”we are not alone. ([get pdf](http://sobek.colorado.edu/~irvinel/Animals and Society Readings/Bekoff Animal Emotions.pdf))

Avian play: comparative evolutionary and developmental trends
Ortega, Bekoff - The Auk, 1987 - JSTOR
Classified 26 extant avian orders as having species with either primarily altricial or precocial young. 10 of the 12 of these orders in which play has reportedly occurred were comprised of altricial species. Findings are related to the development of the avian forebrain.

Predation by wild coyotes: behavioral and ecological analyses
Wells, Bekoff - Journal of Mammalogy, 1982 - JSTOR
Predatory behavior of coyotes (Canis latrans) was studied between 1977 and 1980 in the Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming. Major prey were voles (Microtus spp.), Uinta ground squirrels (Spermophilus armatus), pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides), and grasshoppers (Locustidae). Coyotes typically rushed and ran down squirrels; when hunting mice, coyotes pounced and stabbed at them with their forepaws. Sequence structure was similar, though sequences directed to squirrels were significantly more variable. When juvenile coyotes hunted mice, sequences were similar to those performed by adults that hunted mice. Adults and juveniles were about equally successful. The size of prey last eaten influenced the interval until the next search was initiated; the larger the prey, the longer the interval. However, the time interval since the last capture and the outcome (capture or failure) of the next predatory attempt were not correlated. Durations of search, orient, and stalk were longer in short (< 10 cm) grass than in tall grass; stalk, orient, and total durations also were more variable in short grass. Coyotes that hunted in short grass were more successful. Durations of all acts were shorter and coyotes were more successful in snow less than 10 cm deep than in deeper snow. Mean orient and total durations were more variable in deep snow. Height of ground-cover apparently affected coyote movements and the way in which cues from prey were perceived. Local wind conditions did not affect capture success. Coyotes were least successful when they hunted mice and more successful when they hunted squirrels. More time was spent searching and stalking squirrels.

Predicting flock vigilance from simple passerine interactions: modelling with cellular automata
Bahr, Bekoff - Animal behaviour, 1999 - Elsevier
Vigilance in flocks can be described and modelled as a plausible set of local interactions between neighbouring birds. Each bird in the modelled flock chooses to feed or to scan based solely on whether or not its neighbours are feeding or scanning. This simple model has the ability both to reproduce observations that have not been previously explained and to predict flock behaviours that might be confirmed with future field studies. Examples include simulations showing decreased vigilance with increased flock size (as observed in the field), greater time spent scanning when obstacles such as trees are present (as observed) and a coordinated feed/scan pattern (that is predicted to become increasingly coordinated when the birds look up from feeding more frequently). The numerical model also predicts that flock geometry influences vigilance. If two flocks are the same size, individuals in the one with the larger perimeter will spend more time scanning. This prediction could be tested with field studies and already has been observed empirically for two limiting cases: birds arranged in a line (high perimeters, high scan times) and birds in a circle (lower perimeters, lower scan times). As demonstrated by its multiple successes, cellular models of this type are a powerful new approach to understanding bird flock behaviours.

What Does Kin Recognition Mean?
Byers, Bekoff - Ethology, 1986 - Wiley Online Library
The phenomenon of kin recognition has gained much attention, because of HAMILTON’S (1964) now famous prediction, that an animal ideally should base its treatment of another conspecific on the degree to which it is related to that individual. Most authors working in this field have been careful to state that, in studying “recognition”, they do not imply any kind of cognition. Nevertheless, the way in which the word “recognition” is used in many papers, implies, if not cognition, at least some kind of as yet unobserved neural activity.

Reflections on animal selves
Bekoff, Sherman - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 2004 - Elsevier
Is self-cognizance a uniquely human attribute, or do other animals also have a sense of self? Although there is considerable interest in this question, answers remain elusive. Progress has been stymied by misunderstandings in terminology, a focus on a narrow range of species, and controversies over key concepts, experimental paradigms and interpretations of data. Here, we propose a new conceptual and terminological framework, emphasizing that degrees of self-cognizance differ among animals because of the cognitive demands that their species-specific social structures and life-history characteristics have placed upon them over evolutionary time. We suggest that the self-cognizance of an organism falls at a point on a continuum of social complexity and conscious involvement.

Cognitive ethology and the explanation of nonhuman animal behavior
Bekoff - 1995 - cogprints.org
In this paper I attempt to provide a convincing case for the importance of cognitive ethological investigations for advancing our knowledge of animal cognition. Cognitive ethology is broadly defined as the evolutionary and comparative study of nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) thought processes, consciousness, beliefs, or rationality, and is an area in which research is informed by different types of investigations and explanations. After (1) a brief discussion of the agenda of cognitive ethology, in which three different views of cognitive ethology are considered as is the relationship of cognitive ethology as a science to other branches of science, I (2) argue that folk psychological explanations and empirical data both are important to cognitive ethological research and conclude that the former are not as weak and as dispensable as some claim; (3) appeal to some case studies in recent analyses of social play behavior and antipredatory behavior (vigilance against potential predators) to make the point that folk psychology works well with empirical data and to provide examples in which the cognitive ethological perspective has proven to be a good heuristic; and (4) make some suggestions for future research. Cognitive ethology is alive, has a bright future, and has much to gain from a broad interdisciplinary perspective. Comparative approaches to cognitive science are very fruitful and have much to offer. (see html)

Physical development in coyotes (Canis latrans), with a comparison to other canids
Bekoff, Jamieson - Journal of Mammalogy, 1975 - JSTOR
Few detailed data are available on physical development in members of the family Canidae and there are few published papers that include information on the coyote (Snow, 1967; Gier, 1968; Bekoff, 1974a).

An Observational Study of Coyote (Canis latrans) Scentmarking and Territoriality in Yellowstone National Park
Allen, Bekoff, Crabtree - Ethology, 1999 - Wiley Online Library
Free-ranging coyotes (Canis latrans) living in neighboring packs were observed in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, from Jan. to May 1997. Through direct observation, we recorded the location of coyote scent marks and information regarding the identity of the marking animal. Patterns of scent-marking were then analyzed spatially and demographically. All of the evidence from the present study supports a strong relationship between scent-marking and territoriality in these coyotes, and all predictions were met. A preponderance of scent marks was found in the periphery of territories. Most of those marks were raised-leg urinations (RLUs) and forward-lean urinations (FLUs), postures associated very strongly with males, particularly dominant individuals. Ground-scratching was also closely associated with these types of marks and was performed more on the periphery of territories than in the interior. A complete lack of overlap of adjacent territories and very limited overlap of movements into territories fits classic definitions of territory and home range. Scent-marking seems to be strongly associated with the establishment and maintenance of these boundaries between packs of coyotes competing for the same resources in a limited space.

Intentional icons: Towards an evolutionary cognitive ethology
Bekoff, Allen - Ethology, 1992 - Wiley Online Library
In most species in which social play has been observed, play-soliciting signals have evolved. These social signals appear to be important in communicating play intention. Here, using the work of Ruth Millikan as a working guide and canid play bows as an example, we argue that (i) some play signals may be simple intentional icons and (ii) senders and receivers are cooperating devices, in that the disposition of senders to produce play-soliciting signals and the disposition of receivers of play signals to respond appropriately to play invitations, have evolved together. Millikan’s views of social communication are difficult to render and are virtually untested. However, her stance, while philosophically controversial, is somewhat consistent with early ethological views of social communication. Thus, in combination with classical ethological positions, Millikan’s position could serve as a useful guide not only to inform and motivate future empirical research in cognitive ethology, but also to stimulate ethologists to reconsider, in innovative ways, nonhuman animal cognition. To reject the empirical utility of Millikan’s theory because of its difficulty or on philosophical grounds would be premature and would represent a confusion of empirical with philosophical issues.

Precopulatory and copulatory behavior in coyotes
Bekoff, Diamond Journal of Mammalogy Vol. 57, No. 2 (May, 1976), pp. 372-375
Little is known about the behavioral aspects of reproductive biology in coyotes (Canis latrans), but there is a considerable amount of information concerning reproductive anatomy and physiology (see Bekoff, 1974, 1976; Diamond, 1976, for reviews).

Social play in coyotes, wolves, and dogs
Bekoff - BioScience, 1974 - JSTOR
In this paper, the development of social play behavior in coyotes, wolves, and beagles is discussed, as are the ways in which “play intention” is communicated and a “play mood” maintained. Coyotes were observed to fight more and play less than wolves or beagles of the same age, and the differential development of social behavior in these canids may play some role in determining the later species-typical social organization observed in adults.

Motor training and physical fitness: Possible shortand longterm influences on the development of individual differences in behavior
Bekoff - Developmental Psychobiology, 1988 - Wiley Online Library
Individual differences in the behavior of young and adult animals have been documented in diverse species. Possible sources of such variation are of interest to scientists representing many disciplines, including behavior, genetics, and population and evolutionary biology. Two variables that may be important in the ontogeny and maintenance of behavioral differences are (1) individual physical (aerobic and anaerobic) fitness and (2) possible genetic variations underlying individual abilities to engage in, and to benefit from, motor training early in life. The differential development of aerobic and anaerobic capacities may play a significant role in the ontogeny of individual differences in the performance of various motor skills. There also may be short- and long-term consequences of variations in physical fitness that influence individual abilities to perform energy demanding acts during aggressive encounters, interactions with prey or predators, and courtship and breeding. Genetic studies of a limited number of species indicate that specific genotypes are correlated with individual variations in motor performance, even among conspecifics. Multidisciplinary research concerning possible relationships among the ontogeny of physical fitness, genetics, and variations in behavior is needed. Recent work on the relationship between individual differences in physical fitness and variations in the behavior of adult cold-blooded vertebrates provides a good model for comparative research on warm-blooded species.

Cognitive ethology and the treatment of non-human animals: How matters of mind inform matters of welfare.
Bekoff - Animal Welfare, 1994 - psycnet.apa.org
Anthropocentric claims about the ways in which non-human animals interact in their social and non-social worlds are often used to influence decisions on how animals can or should be used by humans in various sorts of activities. Thus, the treatment of individuals is often tightly linked to how they are perceived with respect to their ability to perform behavior patterns that suggest that they can thinkג€”have beliefs, desires, or make plans and have expectations about the future. This article reviews some basic issues in the comparative study of animal minds and discusses how matters of mind are related to matters of welfare and well-being. Much comparative research still needs to be done before any stipulative claims can be made about how an individual’s cognitive abilities can be used to influence decisions about how she or he should be treated. The author stresses the importance of (1) subjectivity and common sense along with the use of empirical data in making decisions about animal welfare, and (2) viewing subjective assessments in the same critical light that is used to evaluate supposedly objective scientific facts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Wild justice, cooperation, and fair play: Minding manners, being nice, and feeling good
Bekoff - The origins and nature of sociality, 2004 - mendeley.com
(From the chapter) In this chapter I consider various aspects of the evolution of cooperation and fairness using social play behavior in animals, especially mammals, as my exemplar of an activity in which one would expect to see ongoing negotiations of cooperation and agreements to behave fairly because the social dynamics of play require that players agree to play and not to fight or to mate with one another. I am specifically concerned with the notion of “behaving fairly.” By “behaving fairly” I use as a working guide the notion that animals often have social expectations when they engage in various sorts of social encounters the violation of which constitutes being treated unfairly because of a lapse in social etiquette. I conclude that social play might be a “foundation of fairness.” I also argue that it is through social cooperation that groups (communities) are built from individuals agreeing to work in harmony with other individuals. Whether or not individuals lose various “freedoms” when balanced against the benefits that accrue when they work for the “good of a group” is unknown and needs to be studied more carefully in various species. Further, based on recent research on the neurobiology of human cooperation, I argue that “being fair” may feel good for animals as well. Lastly, I stress that in our efforts to learn more about the evolution of social morality we need to broaden our comparative research to include animals other than nonhuman primates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)

Quantitative analyses of the ontogeny of predatory behaviour in coyotes, Canis latrans
Vincent, Bekoff - Animal Behaviour Volume 26, Part 1, February 1978, Pages 225ג€“231
Four infant coyotes (Canis latrans) were studied in order to describe quantitatively the development of predatory behaviour. Our results indicated that prior play and agonistic experience had virtually no effect on later predatory success. Also, there was no relationship between an individual’s social rank and its prey-killing ability. Latency to kill was shortened when animals were tested in, pairs and hunger level was not related to latency to kill. The results are discussed with respect to current functionalist theories of play behaviour and Leyhausen’s concept of the relative hierarchy of moods. The practice theory of play should be reconsidered in light of the results of this and other recent studies.

Behavioural budgeting by wild coyotes: the influence of food resources and social organization
Bekoff, Wells - Animal Behaviour Volume 29, Issue 3, August 1981, Pages 794ג€“801
Daytime behavioural budgets of coyotes (Canis latrans) living in the Grand Teton National Park, Jackson, Wyoming, were analysed in order to determine how activity patterns were influenced by food resources and social organization. In winter, coyotes rested more and hunted less than in other seasons. Pack-living coyotes rested more and travelled less than resident pairs or solitary residents or transients during winter months when the major food resource was ungulate (predominantly elk, Cervus canadensis) carrion. A mated female living in a pack rested significantly more and travelled significantly less than a mated female living only with her mate (as a resident pair) during winter. We predict that in times of food shortage, pack-living coyotes, and particularly reproductive females, might be at an advantage when compared to resident pairs and solitary individuals.

Play and the evolution of fairness: a game theory model
Dugatkin, Bekoff - Behavioural Processes Volume 60, Issue 3, 31 January 2003, Pages 209-214
Bekoff [J. Consci. Stud. 8 (2001) 81] argued that mammalian social play is a useful behavioral phenotype on which to concentrate in order to learn more about the evolution of fairness. Here, we build a game theoretical model designed to formalize some of the ideas laid out by Bekoff, and to examine whether fair strategies can in fact be evolutionarily stable. The models we present examine fairness at two different developmental stages during an individual’s ontogeny, and hence we create four strategies fair at time 1/fair at time 2, not fair at time 1 not fair at time 2, fair at time 1/not fair at time 2, not fair at time 1/fair at time 2. Our results suggest that when considering species where fairness can be expressed during two different developmental stages, acting fairly should be more common than never acting fairly. In addition, when no one strategy was evolutionarily stable, we found that all four strategies we model can coexist at evolutionary equilibrium. Even in the absence of an overwhelming database from which to test our model, the general predictions we make have significant implications for the evolution of fairness.

Cognitive ethology, vigilance, information gathering, and representation: Who might know what and why?
M Bekoff - Behavioural processes, 1995 - Elsevier
Cognitive ethology, a relatively new interdisciplinary and integrative science, is under attack with respect to its scientific status. However, there also are strong supporters of research in this area. In this paper I consider (1) some of the topics in which cognitive ethologists are interested, (2) possible connections between cognitive analyses of social behavior and philosophical concepts including intentionality and representation, (3) recent work on vigilance or scanning behavior in highly social birds, Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus), that benefits from taking a cognitive perspective, and (4) what may be gained by taking a cognitive approach to the study of social behavior and what may be lost by not doing so. My study of vigilance indicates that the way in which individuals are positioned with respect to one another influences their behavior, and that when a flock contains four or more birds there are large changes in scanning and other patterns of behavior that may be related to how grosbeaks attempt to gather information about other flock members. When birds are arranged in a circular array so that they can see one another easily compared to when they are arranged in a line that makes visual monitoring of flock members more difficult, birds who have difficulty seeing one another are (i) more vigilant, (ii) change their head and body positions more often, (iii) react to changes in group size more slowly, (iv) show less coordination in head movements, and (v) show more variability in all measures. These differences in behavior argue against the pooling of data collected on individuals feeding in different geometric arrays. The variations in behavior also may say something about if and how individuals attempt visually to represent their group to themselves–how they form, store, and use records of the behavior of others to inform their own future behavior. (see html)

Animal consciousness
Allen, Bekoff - The Blackwell Companion to 2007 - Wiley Online Library
There are many reasons for philosophical interest in nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) consciousness. First, if philosophy often begins with questions about the place of humans in nature, one way humans have attempted to locate themselves is by comparison and contrast with those things in nature most similar to themselves, i.e., other animals. Second, the problem of determining whether animals are conscious stretches the limits of knowledge and scientific methodology (beyond breaking point, according to some). Third, the question of whether animals are conscious beings or mere automata, as Cartesians would have it, is of considerable moral significance given the dependence of modern societies on mass farming and the use of animals for biomedical research. Fourth, while theories of consciousness are frequently developed without special regard to questions about animal consciousness, the plausibility of such theories has sometimes been assessed against the results of their application to animal consciousness.

Intentionality, social play, and definition
Allen, Bekoff - Biology and Philosophy Volume 9, Number 1, 63-74
Social play is naturally characterized in intentional terms. An evolutionary account of social play could help scientists to understand the evolution of cognition and intentionality. Alexander Rosenberg (1990) has argued that if play is characterized intentionally or functionally, it is not a behavioral phenotype suitable for evolutionary explanation. If he is right, his arguments would threaten many projects in cognitive ethology. We argue that Rosenberg’’s arguments are unsound and that intentionally and functionally characterized phenotypes are a proper domain for ethological investigation.

Postnatal neural ontogeny: Environmentdependent and/or environmentexpectant?
Bekoff, Fox - Developmental psychobiology, 1972 - Wiley Online Library
Recent advances in the study of postnatal neural development, an adaptive process dependent on an intimate interplay of both genetic and environmental factors, are reviewed in mouse, rat, cat, and man. Since developmental neuroanatomical studies provide a useful and relevant way of approaching the much belabored and controversial nature-nurture issue, behaviorally oriented workers should be made aware of the heuristic value of the field as both an impetus and a guide for future research, and as a means for providing explanations for observations unexplainable at the ethological or behavioral descriptive level. The conclusion reached in this review is that postnatal neural ontogeny is both environment-dependent and environment-expectant. To divide the process into mutually exclusive halves is indefensible.

The variability of some motor components of social play and agonistic behaviour in infant eastern coyotes, Canis latrans var.
Hill, Bekoff - Animal Behaviour, 1977 - Elsevier
The duration and stereotypy (in terms of duration) of three actions, stand-overs (SO), general-bites (GB), and scruff-bites (SB), were measured during social play and agonistic interactions in infant eastern coyotes (Canis latrans). The rate of biting was also calculated. We found: (1) SO’s and GB’s lasted a significantly shorter time during play; (2) when performed during playful interactions, all three acts showed more stereotypy; (3) there was no significant difference between the rates of occurrence of biting during the two situations. A discussion of the exaggerated nature of play behaviour is presented, particularly concerning the form of the motor actions that are used during this activity.

Nonrandom nest-site selection in Evening Grosbeaks
Bekoff, AC Scott - Condor, 1987 - JSTOR
Nest-site selection was studied in Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) living in two areas (Eldora and Wild Basin) of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. One hundred and twenty-nine original variables were reduced to compare nesting (NS; n = 49) and nonnesting control (NNS; n = 10) sites using multivariate and univariate statistics. Overall, four of the five variables best discriminating between NS and NNS were measures of habitat density (deciduous stem intersect, deciduous canopy cover) or shrub dispersion (large clumps, irregular matrix). Although there were distinct differences between the two NS with respect to shrub dispersion, canopy cover, and the relative proportion of major vegetation, NS were more open than NNS within the same area. In both Eldora and Wild Basin, grosbeaks showed a preference for ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa) in which to build high camouflaged nests, close to the main tree trunk, predominantly with southern or northern exposures. We suggest that these nest locations provide (1) high visibility for detection of potential predators, (2) the opportunity for grosbeaks to see their nests from a distance, (3) easy access for departure and arrival, (4) aid in thermoregulation, and (5) protection from wind and rain and increased nest stability. (get pdf)

Aggression, dominance, and social organization in Evening Grosbeaks
Bekoff, Scott - Ethology, 1989 - Wiley Online Library
Relationships between social behavior and ecology are of great interest to ethologists and behavioral ecologists. For example, limited comparative data have already resulted in the development of broad explanations for possible interrelationships between patterns of social interaction and food supply in diverse species. Here, we analyzed agonistic behavior, dominance relationships, and social organization in evening grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) living near Boulder, Colorado U.S.A. We found marked seasonal variations in mean rates of agonistic behavior, mean sex ratios, and mean flock sizes. Rates of agonistic encounters were positively correlated with group size and the number of adult males present. Generally, adult males dominated (>>) adult females, young males, and young females; young males >> adult and young females; and young females >> adult females. Adult males were most aggressive during the beginning of the breeding season.
The formation of large flocks of grosbeaks most likely facilitates locating the dispersed and locally irruptive food on which these birds depend, and may also confer protection against predators. We suggest that flocks of grosbeaks composed of mainly transient birds are maintained by (1) low rates of noncontact aggressive encounters and (2) the rare occurrence of potentially disruptive fights, both of which appear to result from birds’ being able to assess the likely outcome of an encounter with another animal using phenotypic cues such as wing length, weight, and especially plumage. The ability to predict the outcome of an aggressive encounter may also be important in the integration of young birds into flocks.

Time, energy and play
Bekoff, Byers - Animal behaviour, 1992 - psycnet.apa.org
Makes suggestions for evaluating the amount of time and energy young mammals devote to social and nonsocial play. Suggestions include considering how the percentage of energy expended in play is expressed and expressing the cost of play in terms of alternative uses for the time and energy invested in play. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Spatial and temporal resource use by feral and abandoned dogs
Daniels, Bekoff - Ethology, 1989 - Wiley Online Library
We compared spatial and temporal patterns of resource use by feral and abandoned domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) on the Navajo reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. Community dumps provide locally abundant food resources utilized both by feral dogs and dogs abandoned at the dump site. Although population parameters were much the same for feral and abandoned dogs, the use of space varied distinctly and reflected behavioral differences in the way each population responded to the absence of human control, the need to acquire food, and the developmental state of pups. Temporal use of resources by feral dogs varied seasonally with the age of pups in one pack, but not in a second pack. Priority of access to local resources may be influenced by aggressive interactions among dogs at a dump. Barking may serve to warn dogs already present at a dump that competitors have arrived.

Naturalizing anthropomorphism: behavioral prompts to our humanizing of animals
Horowitz, Bekoff - Journal of The Interactions of People ג€¦, 2007 - ingentaconnect.com
Anthropomorphism is the use of human characteristics to describe or explain nonhuman animals. In the present paper, we propose a model for a unified study of such anthropomorphizing. We bring together previously disparate accounts of why and how we anthropomorphize and suggest a means to analyze anthropomorphizing behavior itself. We introduce an analysis of bouts of dyadic play between humans and a heavily anthropomorphized animal, the domestic dog. Four distinct patterns of social interaction recur in successful dog-human play: directed responses by one player to the other, indications of intent, mutual behaviors, and contingent activity. These findings serve as a preliminary answer to the question, “What behaviors prompt anthropomorphisms?” An analysis of anthropomorphizing is potentially useful in establishing a scientific basis for this behavior, in explaining its endurance, in the design of “lifelike” robots, and in the analysis of human interaction. Finally, the relevance of this developing scientific area to contemporary debates about anthropomorphizing behavior is discussed. (get pdf)

Vole population cycles: kin-selection or familiarity?
Bekoff - Oecologia, 1981 - Springer
The recent paper by Charnov and Finerty (1980) on Vole population cycles offers a unique view of population fluctuations in these rodents. These authors invoke kin-selection as a factor that may contribute to vole cycles …

Behavioral taxonomy in canids by discriminant function analyses
Bekoff, Hill - Science, 1975 - psycnet.apa.org
Applied the technique of linear discriminant function analysis to behavioral data that were collected on infant canids. The method was first tested with a known cross between a wolf and a dog and proved to be valid, indicating that quantitative analyses of behavioral phenotypes can be used in assessing taxonomic relationships. In addition, the controversial New England canid was determined by behavioral analysis to be more closely related to coyotes than to wolves. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

The social deprivation paradigm: Who’s being deprived of what?
Bekoff - Developmental Psychobiology, 1976 - Wiley Online Library
Abstract unavailable.

Ecological analyses of nesting success in evening grosbeaks
Bekoff, AC Scott - Oecologia, 1989 - Springer
We studied the nesting success of Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) inhabiting two areas of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado from 1983ג€“1987. Sixty-four nests were followed during building, incubating, brooding, and fledging; 54.7% were successful (young fledged). The largest number of nests failed during incubation. Nests started later were more successful than nests begun earlier in the season. Failure was most likely due to severe weather, abandonment during building, or predation. Specific habitat characteristics of grosbeak nesting sites and where nests were placed in trees were consistently associated with nesting success. Successful nests, when compared with nests that failed, were: (1) built in more open areas characterized by dispersed vegetation and a higher minimum canopy, (2) oriented in more southerly directions, (3) built closer to the main trunk of the nest tree, and (4) built in larger trees. Current ideas about whether or not birds actually select nest-sites are briefly discussed. We conclude that some grosbeaks ldquooptimally selectrdquo nest sites where the likelihood of producing fledglings is higher than in other areas.

Animal passions and beastly virtues: Cognitive ethology as the unifying science for understanding the subjective, emotional, empathic, and moral lives of animals
Bekoff - Zygonֲ®, 2006 - Wiley Online Library
In this essay, my response to four papers that were presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in a session devoted to my research on animal behavior and cognitive ethology, I stress the importance of interdisciplinary research and collaboration for coming to terms with various aspects of animal behavior and animal cognition. I argue that we have much to learn from other animals concerning a set of big questions including who we are in the grand scheme of things, the role science (science sense) plays in our understanding of the world in which we live, what it means to know something, what some other ways of knowing are and how they compare to what we call science, and the use of anecdotes and anthropomorphism to inform studies of animal behavior. I ask, Are other minds really all that private and inaccessible? Can a nonhuman animal be called a person? What does the future hold if we continue to dismantle the only planet we live on and persecute the other animal beings with whom we are supposed to coexist? I argue that cognitive ethology is the unifying science for understanding the subjective, emotional, empathic, and moral lives of animals, because it is essential to know what animals do, think, and feel as they go about their daily routines in the company of their friends and when they are alone. It is also important to learn why both the similarities and differences between humans and other animals have evolved. The more we come to understand other animals, the more we will appreciate them as the amazing beings they are, and the more we will come to understand ourselves. (get pdf)

Nesting behaviour of Abert squirrels (Sciurus aberti)
Bekoff - Ethology, 1994 - Wiley Online Library
Nesting behaviour of Abert squirrels (Sciurus aberti), including site selection and use, was studied in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Boulder County, Colorado. Only females were observed building nests, although both males and females maintained nests once they were built. Communal nesting by Abert squirrels was rare, but the majority of observed nest sharings involved unrelated male and female pairs. A total of 14 variables were used to evaluate the nests (n = 49) inhabited by Abert squirrels from May 1988 to Jun. 1991. All nests were located in Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) trees. The majority of nests were constructed of twigs and located in the upper one-third of the canopy, near the trunk, on the south-east side of the tree. Trees with nests were predominantly located in closed stands. Nest trees, when compared with unused control trees that were equally accessible to squirrels, were significantly different from control trees in five of nine variables. Nest tree crowns intertwined with a larger number of adjacent tree crowns than did control tree crowns. Nest trees were also significantly taller than control trees, but subdominant to adjacent trees within a stand. Seasonal and diurnal patterns of nest use indicate that Abert squirrels do not choose nest locations on the south-east sides of trees to facilitate behavioural thermoregulation. Rather, Abert squirrels select nest site locations to (1) maximize accessibility and (2) maximize structural stability which may provide protection from wind and rain.

Playing with Play What Can We Learn About Cognition, Negotiation, and Evolution?
Bekoff - The evolution of mind, 1997 - cogprints.org
In these papers we mainly consider how analyses of social play in nonhuman animals (hereafter animals) can inform inquiries about the evolution of cognitive mechanisms. Social play is a good behavioral phenotype on which to concentrate for when animals play they typically perform behavior patterns that are used in other contexts (e.g. predation, aggression, or reproduction). Thus, individuals need to be able to tell one another that they do not want to eat, fight with, or mate with the other individual(s), but rather, they want to play with them. In most species (primarily mammals) in which play has been observed, specific actions have evolved that are used to initiate or to maintain play. Furthermore, sequences of play usually differ from nonplay sequences (within species) and self-handicapping has also been observed, in which, for example, dominant individuals allow themselves to be dominated only in the context of play. In our consideration of how play is initiated and maintained, we discuss issues including the evolution of play, the ecology of play, the sorts of information that are shared during play, what cognitive psychologists who study humans can learn from cognitive ethologists who study other animals, and what play can tell us about the emergence of mind in animals. These essays draw on literature from ethology, psychology, and philosophy. (see html)

Teleology, function, design and the evolution of animal behaviour
Bekoff, Allen - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1995 - Elsevier
Concerns about teleological language in evolutionary biology focus on the notions of function, design and adaptation. Accounts that naturalize these ideas are currently popular. In keeping with recent developments in evolutionary theory and philosophy of biology, three naturalistic analyses of function ג€” current utility, historical function, and functions as capacities ג€” should be differentiated. All have roles to play in biology, although the historical conception seems the most central to evolutionary theory. While rarely distinguished from function, design should be regarded as an extension of historical function. We consider the utility of this distinction for the study of behaviour.

Observations of scent-marking and discriminating self from others by a domestic dog (Canis familiaris): tales of displaced yellow snow
Bekoff - Behavioural processes, 2001 - Elsevier
Little is known about what stimuli trigger urinating or scent-marking in domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, or their wild relatives. While it is often suggested that the urine of other animals influences urinating and scent-marking patterns in canids, this has not been verified experimentally. To investigate the role of urine in eliciting urinating and marking, in this pilot study I moved urine-saturated snow (yellow snow) from place-to-place during five winters to compare the responses of an adult male domestic dog, Jethro, to his own and others’ urine. Jethro spent less time sniffing his own urine than that of other males or females, and that while his interest in his own urine waned with time it remained relatively constant for other individuals’ urine. Jethro infrequently urinated over or sniffed and then immediately urinated over (scent-marked) his own urine. He marked over the urine of other males more frequently than he marked over females’ urine. The method used here can be extended to other species for which experimental data are lacking. Though based on one dog, these novel data may further our knowledge of the role of scent-marking in territorial behavior and of sex differences in territory acquisition and maintenance.

Animals in science: some areas revisited
Bekoff, Gruen, Townsend, Rollin - Animal behaviour, 1992 - Elsevier
Science is a human activity, and as such, it is not value-free. Not only do subjective views permeate all types of science, they also prevail in many moral debates concerning how animals are used for primarily anthropocentric ends, even when formal philosophical argument is put forth. Four issues are addressed that demand closer attention by those who are seriously engaged in the collection, interpretation, and explanation of behavioural data. (1) It is important to recognize that an animal’s point of view is actually an animal’s point of view from a human’s point of view. (2) Attempts to quantify pain and suffering in animals are fraught with difficulties, and despite the best intentions, do not eliminate human responsibilities. (3) Appeals to science to resolve difficult questions concerning animal suffering must be combined with other factors including common sense and moral and ethical commitments. (4) When in doubt, err on the side of the animals. Those who study animal behaviour and behavioural ecology need to be particularly aware of problems of animal welfare for these types of research involve field observations, studies of captive animals, and experiments. In addition, findings from cognitive ethological investigations are used to inform and motivate discussion of human moral and ethical obligations to animals.

Predation and aversive conditioning in coyotes
Bekoff, Gustavson, Kelly, Garcia - Science (New York, NY, 1975 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Abstract unavailable.

Experimentally induced infanticide: the removal of birds and its ramifications
Bekoff - The Auk, 1993 - JSTOR
There currently is great interest in the ethical issues surrounding research on nonhuman animals (hereafter animals), including field studies of behavior and behavioral ecology (American Society of Mammalogists 1987, Oring et al. 1988, Michener 1989,Animal Behavior Society 1991, Bekoff and Jamieson1991, Cuthill 1991, Bekoff et al. 1992). Thus, a study (Emlen et al. 1989) of experimentally induced infanticide in Wattled Jacanas (Jacana jacana) deserves scrutiny, for there are some matters of concern centering on: (i) the review process for publication; (ii) the methods used to remove two adult female jacanas; (iii) the maiming and killing of seven their infants by replacement females a direct result of the deliberate removal of the mothers the young birds (for further discussion some ethical implications of infanticide studies, see Elwood 1991; for recent review of studies of cognition, pain,and stress in birds,see Elzanowsk and Abs 1991, Gentle 1992); and (iv) questions con- cerning trade-offs between the importance acquir ing different types of knowledge and the types of animal research that are permissible in the pursuit of this knowledge. (get pdf)

Cognitive ethology and applied philosophy: the significance of an evolutionary biology of mind
Bekoff, Jamieson - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1990 - Elsevier
The broad field of cognitive ethology, in which internal mental states are inferred from the behavior they explain, is receiving increased attention nowadays from diverse scientists and philosophers. The nature of the results and how they are presented greatly influence how humans assess their place in the natural world and how they view other animals. The attribution of consciousness and intelligence to other animals suggests that they have moral rights. The results of comparative cognitive ethological analyses and how they are presented may play a large role in defining the domain of morally permissible research, and in the development of research strategies including decisions on feeding and housing, treatment, handling, and what happens to animal subjects when the research is completed. Scientists and philosophers interested in the evolution of behavior and mental continuity can have a significant impact on how others view the world.

Cognitive ethology and the intentionality of animal behaviour
Allen, Bekoff - Mind & language, 1995 - Wiley Online Library
Cognitive ethologists are in need of a good theoretical framework for attributing intentional states. Heyes and Dickinson (1990) present criteria that they claim are necessary for an intentional explanation of behavior to be justified. They suggest that questions of intentionality can only be investigated under controlled laboratory conditions and they apply their criteria to laboratory experiments to argue that the common behavior of approaching food is not intentional in most animals. We dispute the details of their argument and interpretation of the laboratory experiments. While criteria such as those suggested have a role to play in comparative studies of cognition, both laboratory and field studies are important for assessing the applicability of intentional explanations across different taxa.

Prenatal motility and postnatal play: Functional continuity?
Bekoff, Byers, Bekoff
Behavioral continuity is a current topic of major interest in developmental psychobiology.

Possible functions of predator harassment in pronghorn antelopes
Lipetz, Bekoff
Predator harassment (Berger, 1979) usually is a rarely observed form of defense in ungulates that involves chasing of a predator by members of prey species.

Development, the conveniently forgotten variable in" true kin recognition."
Byers, Bekoff
Points out that in his sweeping dismissal of the existence of kin recognition (because kin recognition should be restricted narrowly to instances of apparently innate kin recognition), A. Grafen (see record 1990-16435-001 ) ignores a large body of information concerning behavioral development. He also ignores the strongest cases of kin recognition: offspring recognition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Integrating humans and nature: reconciling the boundaries of science and society
Bekoff - Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 2000 - elibrary.ru
abstract unavailable

Consciousness and self in animals: some reflections
Bekoff - Zygonֲ®, 2003 - Wiley Online Library
In this essay I argue that many nonhuman animal beings are conscious and have some sense of self. Rather than ask whether they are conscious, I adopt an evolutionary perspective and ask why consciousness and a sense of self evolvedג€”what are they good for? Comparative studies of animal cognition, ethological investigations that explore what it is like to be a certain animal, are useful for answering this question. Charles Darwin argued that the differences in cognitive abilities and emotions among animals are differences in degree rather than differences in kind, and his view cautions against the unyielding claim that humans, and perhaps other great apes and cetaceans, are the only species in which a sense of self-awareness has evolved. I conclude that there are degrees of consciousness and self among animals and that it is likely that no animal has the same highly developed sense of self as that displayed by most humans. Many animals have a sense of body-ness or mine-ness but not a sense of I-ness. Darwin’s ideas about evolutionary continuity, together with empirical data (science sense) and common sense, will help us learn more about consciousness and self in animals. Answers to challenging questions about animal self-awareness have wide-ranging significance, because they are often used as the litmus test for determining and defending the sorts of treatments to which animals can be morally subjected. (get pdf)

Carruthers on nonconscious experience
Bekoff - Analysis, 1992 - analysis.oxfordjournals.org
In a recent article Peter Carruthers claims that ‘in the case of brutes: since their pains are nonconscious (as are all their mental states), they ought not to be allowed to get in the way of any morally-serious objective’ (p. 269). We believe that Carruthers’s argument for this conclusion involves both fallacious reasoning and false premisses. (get pdf)

Virtuous nature
Bekoff - New Scientist, 2002 - csa.com
It is generally believed that humans are the only creatures on Earth with a moral sense. The author disagrees and argues from observations of animals living in the wild that animals living in groups have a sense of fair play built on moral codes of conduct that help cement their social relationships. Draws heavily on recent reviews of research by Stephanie Preston and Frans de Waal, from the Yerkes Primate Center, Atlanta and Stanley Kuczaj’s group at Southern Mississippi University in Hattiesburg which shows that empathy is more widespread among animals than is generally accepted and a wide range of species behave in ways that support the claim that empathy has its roots in evolution. The recognition that animals have a moral dimension to their existence strengthens the case that the human race should accept its moral responsibility towards other animals.

The evolution of social play: Interdisciplinary analyses of cognitive processes
Bekoff, Allen - The cognitive animal, 2002 - books.google.com
Progress in understanding animal cognition requires interdisciplinary collaboration, among biologists, psychologists, cognitive scientists, neuroscientists and philosophers. In our own case, as a biologist and philosopher, our work has combined empirical and conceptual studies of social play. In this chapter we describe how our personal interests have contributed to our cooperative efforts. Our work is rooted in a series of long-term empirical studies of social play. When he decided to study social play for his doctoral research, many people told Marc that it was a waste of time for it was impossible to define and many others before had tried to study it and failed. While this provided the perfect challenge for a graduate student who had the full support of his advisor, Michael W. Fox, Marc frankly thought that his research on play would end when he received his degree. He was very wrong indeed. (get pdf)

Deep ethology, animal rights, and the Great Ape/Animal Project: Resisting speciesism and expanding the community of equals
Bekoff - Journal of Agricultural and environmental Ethics, 1997 - Springer
In this essay I argue that the evolutionary and comparative study of nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) cognition in a wide range of taxa by cognitive ethologists can readily inform discussions about animal protection and animal rights. However, while it is clear that there is a link between animal cognitive abilities and animal pain and suffering, I agree with Jeremy Bentham who claimed long ago the real question does not deal with whether individuals can think or reason but rather with whether or not individuals can suffer. One of my major goals will be to make the case that the time has come to expand. The Great Ape Project (GAP) to The Great Ape/Animal Project (GA/AP) and to take seriously the moral status and rights of all animals by presupposing that all individuals should be admitted into the Community of Equals. I also argue that individuals count and that it is essential to avoid being speciesist cognitivists; it really doesn’t matter whether dogs ape or whether apes dog when taking into account the worlds of different individual animals. Narrow-minded primatocentrism and speciesism must be resisted in our studies of animal cognition and animal protection and rights. Line-drawing into lower and higher species is a misleading speciesist practice that should be vigorously resisted because not only is line-drawing bad biology but also because it can have disastrous consequences for how animals are viewed and treated. Speciesist line-drawing also ignores within species individual differences.

Empathy: Common sense, science sense, wolves, and well-being
Bekoff - Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2002 - Cambridge Univ Press
Empathy is likely more widely distributed among animals than many researchers realize or perhaps are willing to admit. Studies of social carnivores, other group-living animals, and communication via different modalities will help us learn more about the evolutionary roots and behavioral, sensory, and cognitive underpinnings of empathy, including what it means to have a sense of self. There are also important implications for debates about animal well-being.

Predation by “shooting” in archer fish, Toxotes jaculatrix: Accuracy and sequences
Bekoff, Dorr - Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 1976 - psycnet.apa.org
Studied 4 adult shooting archer fish in a captive situation. The accuracy with which they “shot” for prey and the sequences that they performed during shooting were analyzed. Ss were successful in shooting at suspended prey 25.5% of the time. Shooting was preceded by a series of 6 acts. The typical sequence, based on an analysis of transition probabilities, was Orient, Swim, Rotate Vertically, and Shoot. Leaping out of the water and a 2nd vertical rotation were also observed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

Awareness: Animal reflections
Bekoff - Nature, 2002 - nature.com
Researchers are interested in animal awareness because they are curious to discover what animals might know about themselves. There are, however, long-held and polarized views about the degree of self-awareness in animals.

The evolution of animal play, emotions, and social morality: on science, theology, spirituality, personhood, and love
Bekoff - Zygon, 2001 - Wiley Online Library
My essay first takes me into the arena in which science, spirituality, and theology meet. I comment on the enterprise of science and how scientists could well benefit from reciprocal interactions with theologians and religious leaders. Next, I discuss the evolution of social morality and the ways in which various aspects of social play behavior relate to the notion of behaving fairly. The contributions of spiritual and religious perspectives are important in our coming to a fuller understanding of the evolution of morality. I go on to discuss animal emotions, the concept of personhood, and how our special relationships with other animals, especially the companions with whom we share our homes, help us to define our place in nature, our humanness. It is when we take the life of another being in the ritual of compassionately euthanizing them (putting them to sleep) that who we are in the grand scheme of things comes to the fore. I end with a discussion of the importance of ethological studies, behavioral research in which a serious attempt is made to understand animals in their own worlds, inquiries in which it is asked, What is it like to be another species? Species other than nonhuman primates need to be studied. I plead for developing compassionate, heartfelt, and holistic science that allows for interdisciplinary talk about respect, grace, spirituality, religion, love, Earth, and God. (get pdf))

Interactions among dogs, people, and the environment in Boulder, Colorado: A case study
Bekoff, Meaney - Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 1997 - ingentaconnect.com
From September 1995 to April 1996 we studied interactions among dogs, people, and the environment in Boulder, Colorado. Data on behavioral disturbances by off-leash dogs who were accompanied by a person were collected with respect to dog-dog and dog-human interactions, dog-wildlife encounters, dogs trampling vegetation, and dogs entering and disturbing bodies of water. A questionnaire also was administered. Behavioral data showed that off-leash dogs generally did not travel far off trail, that when they did it was for short periods of time, and that they rarely were observed to chase other dogs, disturb people, chase wildlife, destroy vegetation, or enter bodies of water. Results from analyses of the questionnaire (skewed toward non-dog owners) showed that dog owners and non-dog owners agreed that people were more disruptive to the environment than dogs and that unruly people were more problematic than unruly dogs. We conclude that the well-being and interests of dogs should not summarily and dismissively be compromised when dogs and people attempt to share limited space that can be used by all parties for recreational purposes. Indeed, a higher percentage of people reported that the quality of dogs’ experience of the outdoors would be compromised more than their own enjoyment if dogs could not walk off-leash in areas where this is currently permitted. The methods used and the results from this case study can serve as a model for other locations in which dogs and people compete for limited spatial resources. (get pdf))

Animal Play and the Evolution of Morality: An Ethological Approach
Allen, Bekoff - Topoi, 2005 - Springer
In this paper we argue that there is much to learn about wild justice and the evolutionary origins of morality behaving fairly by studying social play behavior in group-living mammals. Because of its relatively wide distribution among the mammals, ethological investigation of play, informed by interdisciplinary cooperation, can provide a comparative perspective on the evolution of ethical behavior that is broader than is provided by the usual focus on primate sociality. Careful analysis of social play reveals rules of engagement that guide animals in their social encounters. Because of its significance in development, play may provide a foundation of fairness for other forms of cooperation that are advantageous to group living. Questions about the evolutionary roots of cooperation, fairness, trust, forgiveness, and morality are best answered by attention to the details of what animals do when they engage in social play how they negotiate agreements to cooperate, to forgive, to behave fairly, and to develop trust. We consider questions such as why play fairly? Why did play evolve as it has? Does being fair mean being more fit? Do individual variations in play influence an individuals reproductive fitness? Can we use information about the foundations of moral behavior in animals to help us understand ourselves? We conclude that there is likely to be strong selection for cooperative fair play because there are mutual benefits when individuals adopt this strategy and group stability may also be fostered. Numerous mechanisms have evolved to facilitate the initiation and maintenance of social play, to keep others engaged, so that agreeing to play fairly and the resulting benefits of doing so can be readily achieved.

Aquatic animals, cognitive ethology, and ethics: questions about sentience and other troubling issues that lurk in turbid water (pdf)
Bekoff - Diseases of aquatic organisms, 2007 - i-mar.cl
In this general, strongly pro-animal, and somewhat utopian and personal essay, I argue that we owe aquatic animals respect and moral consideration just as we owe respect and moral consideration to all other animal beings, regardless of the taxonomic group to which they belong. In many ways it is more difficult to convince some people of our ethical obligations to numerous aquatic animals because we do not identify or empathize with them as we do with animals with whom we are more familiar or to whom we are more closely related, including those species (usually terrestrial) to whom we refer as charismatic megafauna. Many of my examples come from animals that are more well studied but they can be used as models for aquatic animals. I follow Darwinian notions of evolutionary continuity to argue that if we feel pain, then so too do many other animals, including those that live in aquatic environs. Recent scientific data (‘science sense’) show clearly that many aquatic organisms, much to some people’s surprise, likely suffer at our hands and feel their own sorts of pain. Throughout I discuss how cognitive ethology (the study of animal minds) is the unifying science for understanding the subjective, emotional, empathic, and moral lives of animals because it is essential to know what animals do, think, and feel as they go about their daily routines. Lastly, I argue that when we are uncertain if we are inflicting pain due to our incessant, annoying, and frequently unnec- essary intrusions into the lives of other animals as we go about ‘redecorating nature’ (removing animals or moving them from place to place), we should err on the side of the animals and stop engaging in activities that cause pain and suffering. (get pdf))

Variations in avoidance responses to humans by black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Lengas, Bekoff - Journal of mammalogy, 1987 - JSTOR
Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludomcianus) are gregarious rodents that typically live in large colonies (Hoogland, 1979; King, 1955, 1959). The characteristic avoidance response displayed by these small mammals to the approach and presence of nonhuman predators (King, 1955) consists of an alarm bark that servers to warn other group members of impending danger, followed by running to the burrow and hiding (for details see Waring, 1970).

Cheek rubbing as grooming by Abert squirrels
Halloran, Bekoff - Animal behaviour, 1995 - Elsevier
Cheek rubbing is thought to be a form of active scent marking in many terrestrial and arboreal sciurids. However, some observations of arboreal sciurids suggest that cheek rubbing may also be a form of self-grooming. The purpose of this study was to examine possible functions of cheek rubbing by free-living Abert squirrels, Sciurus aberti. When the frequencies of behaviour patterns that occurred within a cheek-rubbing sequence were compared to the frequencies of acts that occurred at other times, grooming and alert behaviour patterns had a higher probability of occurring, whereas travelling, nesting, and various social behaviour patterns (such as chasing) had a significantly lower probability of occurring during cheek-rubbing sequences. Food-related behaviour patterns or grooming usually preceded cheek rubbing. Cheek rubbing also did not predominantly occur at home-range boundaries or at nest sites. Although passive scent marking cannot be ruled out, these results suggest that cheek rubbing by Abert squirrels has evolved more as a form of self-grooming to remove food residue, rather than as active scent marking.

Animal minds, cognitive ethology, and ethics
Allen, Bekoff - The Journal of ethics, 2007 - Springer
Our goal in this paper is to provide enough of an account of the origins of cognitive ethology and the controversy surrounding it to help ethicists to gauge for themselves how to balance skepticism and credulity about animal minds when communicating with scientists. We believe that ethicists arguments would benefit from better understanding of the historical roots of ongoing controversies. It is not appropriate to treat some widely reported results in animal cognition as if their interpretations are a matter of scientific consensus. It is especially important to understand why loose references to cognitive ethology by philosophers can signal ignorance of the field to scientists who are more deeply immersed in the relevant literature. Understanding the variety of approaches to cognitive phenomena in animals is essential if such capacities are to form the foundation of scientifically-informed ethical reasoning about animals. (get pdf))

Animal welfare and individual characteristics: A conversation against speciesism
Bekoff, Gruen
It seems impossible for a human being not to have some point of view concerning nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) welfare. Many people make decisions about how humans are permitted to treat animals using speciesist criteria, basing their decisions on an individual’s species membership rather than on that animal’s individual characteristics. Although speciesism provides a convenient way for making difficult decisions about who should be used in different types of research, we argue that such decisions should rely on an analysis of individual characteristics and should not be based merely on species membership. We do not argue that the concept of species is never useful or important. To make our points, we present a conversation among a skeptic, an agnostic, and a proponent of the view that our moral obligations to an animal must be based on an analysis of that individual’s characteristics. In the course of the discussion, concepts such as personhood, consciousness, cognitive ability, harm, and pain are presented, because one’s understanding of these concepts informs his or her ethical decisions about the use of animals by humans. ([get pdf](http://home.ku.edu.tr/canerdogan/public_html/comm/animal welfare.pdf)))

Fighting patterns in young coyotes: initiation, escalation, and assessment
Bekoff, M Tyrrell, VE Lipetz, Jamieson - Aggressive Behavior, 1981 - Wiley Online Library
The fighting patterns of young coyotes were studied and 2,350 fights were analyzed. Our results can be summarized as follows: 1) No major injuries were sustained by any of the infants, even in unritualized bouts. 2) In pairs, there was no relationship between social rank and the proportion of fights that were initiated by either animal. 3) Dominant animals were more likely than subordinate individuals to escalate first (perform the first unprovoked dangerous move) during short interactions and to escalate and then subsequently win short fights. 4) Highest-ranking (alpha) individuals in litters did not fight the most. 5) Alpha individuals initiated 73% of the fights in which they partook. Alpha coyotes initiated and then won 86% of the contests that they initiated. 6) For fourth-ranking coyotes in litters, there was a perfect positive correlation between the proportion of times that they initiated fights and the proportion of times that they initiated and then won encounters. They initiated interactions least with the first- to third-ranking animals. 7) Alpha and fourth-ranking animals escalated about the same proportion of the time, but alpha coyotes escalated and then won a greater proportion of fights. 8) Both alpha and fourth-ranking animals initiated and then escalated the greatest proportion of time with individuals nearest in rank, with whom they may have experienced the greatest difficulty in assessing relative social standing. 9) Our data suggested that individuals, especially in litters, were able to make pre-fight assessments but that they were not perfect with respect to this ability. During-fight assessments appeared to be easier to make, using escalation to test an opponent.

Cognitive ethology: The comparative study of animal minds
Bekoff - Blackwell Companion to Cognitive Science, 1995 - cogprints.org
Cognitive ethology is the comparative, evolutionary, and ecological study of nonhuman animal (hereafter animal) minds including thought processes, beliefs, rationality, information-processing, and consciousness. It is a rapidly growing interdisciplinary field of science that is attracting much attention from researchers in numerous and diverse disciplines including those interested in animal welfare (Cheney and Seyfarth, 1990; Ristau, 1991; Griffin, 1992; Allen and Bekoff, 1995, 1997; Bekoff and Allen, 1996; Bekoff and Jamieson, 1996). Cognitive ethology can trace its beginnings to the writings of Charles Darwin, an anecdotal cognitivist (Jamieson and Bekoff, 1993), and some of his contemporaries and disciples. Their approach incorporated appeals to evolutionary theory, interests in mental continuity, concerns with individual and intraspecific variation, interests in the worlds of the animals themselves, close associations with natural history, and attempts to learn more about the behavior of animals in conditions that are as close as possible to the natural environment where selection has occurred. They also relied on anecdote and anthropomorphism to inform and to motivate more rigorous study. In addition, cognitive ethologists are frequently concerned with the diversity of solutions that living organisms have found for common problems. They also emphasize broad taxonomic comparisons and do not focus on a few select representatives of limited taxa. Many people inform their views of cognitive ethology by appealing to the same studies over and over again (usually those done on nonhuman primates), and ignore the fact that there are many other animals who also show interesting patterns of behavior that lend themselves to cognitive studies. (see html))

Resisting speciesism and expanding the community of equals
Bekoff - BioScience, 1998 - JSTOR
Resisting speciesism and expanding the community of equals he issues with which those interested in nonhuman animal (hereafter “animal”) protection must deal are numerous, diverse, difficult, and extremely contentious; interdisciplinary work is needed to try to come

Redecorating nature: reflections on science, holism, community, humility, reconciliation, spirit, compassion, and love (pdf)
Bekoff - Human Ecology Review, 2000 - Citeseer
Numerous humans - in my opinion, far too many - con- tinue to live apart from nature, rather than as a part of nature. In this personal essay I discuss various aspects of traditional science and suggest that holistic and heart-driven compassionate science needs to replace reductionist and impersonal science. I argue that creative proactive solutions drenched in deep caring, respect, and love for the universe need to be developed to deal with the broad range of prob- lems with which we are confronted. Simply put, I have had enough. I want the world to be a better place for all of its inhabitants and time is not on our side. I feel a deep sense of urgency and passionate impatience. We are worrying about wildness as it is disappearing right in front of our eyes - as I write and we discuss. Thus, I am willing to open myself to criticism, to be vulnerable for expressing views that are not part of main-stream science. Rather than take a doomsday view that the world will not even exist in 100 years if we fail to accept our unique responsibilities, it is more disturbing to imagine a world in which humans and other life coexist in the absence of any intimacy and interconnectedness. Surely we do not want to be remembered as the generation that killed nature. To illustrate some of my points, I discuss various aspects of translocation studies in which animals are moved about from one place to another in humans attempts to redecorate nature. In these projects interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary and disciplinary boundaries must be trespassed. I also emphasize the importance of teaching chil- dren well for their and our futures rest on their developing a deeply-rooted caring ethic. My vision is to create a world- wide community in which humans perceive themselves as a part of nature and not apart from her, in which humans who are overwhelmed and whose spirits and souls have been robbed and squelched by living in and amongst steel, con- crete, asphalt, noise, and a multitude of invasions of their pri- vate space reconnect with raw nature - with the wind in their faces, the odors of wild flowers, and the sounds, sights, odors, and touch of other animals and inanimate environs. A world in which sensing is feeling. Nature is our uncondi- tional friend and reconnecting with nature can help overcome alienation and loneliness. The power of love must not be underestimated as we forge ahead to reconnect with nature. (get pdf))

Feralization: the making of wild domestic animals
Bekoff - Behavioural processes, 1989 - Elsevier
The widely accepted viewpoint that feralization is the reverse of domestication requires that the feralization process be restricted to populations of animals and, therefore, cannot occur in individuals. An alternative, ontogenetic approach is presented in which feralization is defined as the process by which individual domestic animals either become desocialized from humans, or never become socialized, and thus behave as untamed, non-domestic animals. Feralization will vary among species and, intraspecifically, will depend upon an individual’s age and history of socialization to humans. Because feralization is not equated with morphological change resulting from evolutionary processes, species formation is not an accurate indicator of feral condition.

Deep ethology
Bekoff - Intimate relationships, embracing the natural world, 1997 - cogprints.org
The first four quotations make me ill – the fifth make me feel good. I continually ask myself how in the world can anyone who has any – even minimal – grounding in the world, write so coldly and objectively about the pain and suffering that they produce in nonhuman, not subhuman, animals (hereafter animals), or be so arrogant as to make claims like those of Professor Howard, a biologist who often appeals to his lifelong work with animals to motivate his positions on animal welfare. How are they able to detach themselves from themselves and the animals about whom they are trying to learn. Research should be fun; are they really having fun? And, if so, then how can producing pain and suffering be fun? Respecting all individual’s lives and treating them with dignity should direct every single one of our interactions with the animals with whom we share the planet. (see html))

Minding animals, minding earth: Old brains, new bottlenecks
Bekoff - Zygon, 2003 - Wiley Online Library
I emphasize the importance of broadening behavioral, ecological, and conservation science into a more integrative, interdisciplinary, socially responsible, compassionate, spiritual, and holistic endeavor. I stress the significance of studies of animal behavior, especially ethological research concerned with animal emotions in which individuals are named and recognized for their own personalities, for helping us to learn not only about the nonhuman animal beings with whom we share Earth but also about who we are and our place in nature. We are best understood in relationship with others. To this end I develop the notions of minding animals and deep ethology. Animals are sources of wisdom, a way of knowing.
We are all citizens of Earth, members of a global community in which intimate reciprocal and beneficent peaceful relationships are mandatory. A world without cruelty and with boundless compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, and love would be a better world in which to live. We have compelling responsibilities for making Earth a better and more peaceful habitat for all beings. It is essential that we do better than our ancestors. We must reflect and step lightly as we redecorate nature. Time is not on our side.
I plead for the development of heartfelt and holistic science that allows for joy and play. Science need not be suspicious of things it cannot fully understand. We must not avert our eyes or other senses from the eyes and voices of other beings who urgently need our uncompromising and unconditional aid and love. We can do much more than we have done for animals and the Earth.

The ontogeny and organization of comfort behavior in Adelie penguins
Bekoff, Ainley - The Wilson Bulletin, 1979 - JSTOR
The development of comfort behaviors in Adֳ©lie Penguins and the organization of comfort activities in adults, were studied at Cape Crozier, Ross Island, Antarctica. Non-oiling and dry-oiling (feathers not wet) comfort sequences were compared to one another; these results were then compared to data collected by Ainley (1974) on wet-oiling by adults immediately after they emerged from the sea. For purposes of analyzing the ontogeny of non-oiling comfort activities, chicks were grouped into 3 groups: 7-13, 14-20 and 21-28 days of age. Dry-oiling was observed in chicks 35-43 days of age. Our results were as follows. (1) Only yawning occurred on the day after hatching. The earliest preening movements appeared on day 7 (breast and belly preening). Oil distribution behaviors appeared between days 30-33, the same period during which the oil gland became functional. The first dry-oiling sequence was observed on day 35. (2) There was no difference in the duration of non-oil comfort sequences between chicks over 13 days of age and adults. Chicks performed fewer acts per min than did adults and therefore the mean number of acts per sequence was lower in chicks. (3) In general, behaviors were randomly distributed throughout comfort sequences. Exceptions include oiling by adults and chicks, bill-to-wing-edge by adults, and back preening by chicks. (4) During transitions from 1 act to another, chicks aged 21-28 days remained on the same side of the body and in the same area with the same relative frequency as non-oiling adults. (5) Dry-oiling by chicks and adults shared many common characteristics: (i) oiling occurred non-randomly in the beginning of the sequences, (ii) the relative frequency of occurrence of breast and belly preening was the same, (iii) during transitions from 1 act to another, the groups did not differ with respect to remaining on the same side of the body and in the same body area, (iv) actions leading to and immediately following oiling occurred very frequently (> 78%) on the same side of the body to which the head was turned when gathering oil in the bill. (get pdf))

Animal Emotions and Animal Sentience and Why They Matter: Blending ‘Science Sense’ with Common Sense, Compassion and Heart (pdf)
Bekoff - Animals, Ethics and Trade. London: Earthscan, 2006 - landofpuregold.com
Discussions of animal emotions and animal sentience are wonderful for raising difficult and frustrating questions. This chapter is intended to be a non- traditional essay and I hope it generates kind discussion and that what I talk about is not dismissed on the grounds that Im simply losing my mind. I assure you Im not. Well, at least I think Im not. I simply want to put forth some ideas that some might find controversial. Throwing caution to the wind is a good thing to do from time to time. It makes us dig deeply into our minds and hearts to see who we are and what we think about matters at hand. And sometimes we dont like where we end up, which can be outside of our com- fort zones. (get pdf))

Translocation effects on the behavior of black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)
Farrar, Coleman, Bekoff, Stone - Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactios of People & Animals, 1998 - ingentaconnect.com
We examined the effects of translocation on Black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus) anti-predator behavior by recording response distances and response times to a human intruder in three colonies containing native, translocated, and combined native and translocated prairie dogs. The translocated prairie dogs barked alarms and concealed themselves at significantly greater intruder distances than mixed or native colonies. However, individuals in different colonies did not differ in the time taken to return to a burrow, to conceal themselves after a human approached the colony, or in the time elapsed after concealment until an animal reappeared. Translocated prairie dogs exhibited nearly twice the distance sensitivity to intrusion as native prairie dogs. Increased sensitivity to disturbance complicates management considerations of translocated populations that are subject to human traffic. This increase in sensitivity may necessitate translocation to isolated or undisturbed sites, protecting sites from disturbance, translocating larger groups of prairie dogs, or all three in order for translocated populations to persist.

Social cognition: Exchanging and sharing information on the run
Bekoff - Erkenntnis, 1999 - Springer
In this essay I consider various aspects of the rapidly growing field of cognitive ethology, concentrating mainly on evolutionary and comparative discussion of the notion of intentionality. I am not concerned with consciousness, per se, for a concentration on consciousness deflects attention from other, and in many cases more interesting, problems in the study of animal cognition. I consider how, when, where, and (attempt to discuss) why individuals from different taxa exchange social information concerning their beliefs, desires, and goals. My main examples come from studies of social play in mammals and antipredator behavior in birds. Basically, I argue that although not all individuals always display behavior patterns that are best explained by appeals to intentionality, it is misleading to argue that such explanations have no place in the study of animal cognition.

Animals, nature, and ethics
Bekoff, Hettinger - Journal of mammalogy, 1994 - JSTOR
Recently, Howard (1993, Journal of Mammalogy, 74:234-235) argued for the defensibility of research on nonhuman animals (hereafter animals). Unfortunately, his essay is unnecessarily combative, lacking in detail, unbalanced, and poorly argued. Howard (1993) unfairly and mistakenly stereotypes as biologically naive anyone who rejects his position that nature’s poor treatment of wild animals justifies animal research. Those interested in the morality of animal research deserve better guidance than what Howard (1993) provides. Here, we analyze Howard’s (1993) claims and their implications, present relevant literature on ethics and animals, and conclude that much work remains to be done to understand and properly appreciate the moral dimensions of animal research. The questions raised about uses of animals by humans in various activities, including research, are difficult and demand careful interdisciplinary analysis. Simple answers should not be expected. We explore some of the issues and make them accessible to a wide audience, including practicing scientists.

Measuring dominance and constructing hierarchies: an example using mule deer
Tomback, Wachtel, Driscoll, Bekoff - Ethology, 1989 - Wiley Online Library
Important issues that are still unresolved in the study of animal social groups are how dominance is measured and how individuals are ranked. Based on observations of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus hemionus), we constructed hierarchies for the same 26 bucks using five potential correlates of dominance and three measures based on the outcome of agonistic interactions. Data for each of six behavior measures were converted to ranks by six different numerical techniques.
Different measures of behavior resulted in different hierarchies. This was especially so when the hierarchy based on sparring rates was compared to hierarchies based on other criteria. Although our results showed that dominance is not a unitary concept, several measures of dominance were highly correlated with one another. Thus, one measure, in some instances, may be a good but imperfect predictor of dominance defined by other criteria.
For data sets based on index scores or rates of performing behavior, the mean difference and standard-error difference ranking methods had distinct advantages. Both produced equally weighted ranks that minimized the effects of sampling errors.

Why Good Welfare Isn’t Good Enough: Minding Animals and Increasing Our Compassionate Footprint
Bekoff - Annual Review of Biomedical Sciences, 2008 - arbs.biblioteca.unesp.br
In this brief essay I take a broad perspective on the notion of unraveling welfare and consider animals living in different conditions ranging from caged individuals in laboratories and zoos to free-living or almost free-living wildlife. Ill step outside of the laboratory because billions of animals are slaughtered for food in an industry that tortures them on the way to their reprehensible deaths and at the places at which they are slaughtered. Furthermore, government agencies around the world kill millions of free-living and wild animals because theyre supposedly pests. This is a different sort of essay but I hope it will stimulate people to rethink what we mean by the phrase animal welfare in a broad and constructive ways because the way people interact with animals in laboratories is influenced by how they see animals in other contexts including outside of caged environments. Unraveling animal welfare means unscrambling our interrelationships with other animals by asking difficult questions about who we think we are, who we think they are, what we think we know, what we actually know. Ill argue that good welfare isnt good enough because existing laws and regulations still allow animals to be subjected to enduring pain and suffering and death in the name of science, which really means in the name of humans. We must do better for all animals and we can do so by taking into account the perspective of the each and every individual who we use for research, education, amusement, and for food and clothing. We must also consider individuals who we house in zoos and move around as if theyre pieces of furniture, for example, when zoos redecorate themselves because they need an ambassador for a given species or because an individual no longer brings in money. And we must also consider the fate of individuals when we redecorate nature by moving animals here and there for our and not their benefit; is it permissible to trade off the life of an individual for the good of their species? The emotional lives of animals are not all that private, hidden, or secret and animal emotions and sentience force us to care for them and to protect them from pain, suffering, and death. I conclude that everyone can do more to increase their compassion footprint and list ten reasons why animals are asking us to treat them better or leave them alone, and these reasons also bear on the unraveling of animal welfare. (get pdf))

Effects of serial lesions in cat visual cortex on a brightness discrimination
Bekoff, Lockwood, - Brain Research, 1973 - psycnet.apa.org
Reports the effects on a dark-light discrimination of serial unilateral lesions of the visual cortex of cats and compares these results with the previously reported effects of simultaneous, bilateral lesions.

Collecting birds: The importance of moral debate
Bekoff, Elzanowski - Bird Conservation International, 1997 - Cambridge Univ Press
In a recent article in this journal, Remsen (1995) attacked moral (and other) objections to killing birds for museum collections, objections that are frequently raised by the general public and scientific community alike. The only grounds for moral objections against killing birds that Remsen considers and rejects are reverence for all life or personal (p. 157; all page references refer to Remsen 1995), that is sentimental (p. 165) reasons. What Remsen ignores is avian sentience and the moral imperative of respecting it.

[[http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050%5B0635:RNDSHF%5D2.0.CO;2][Redecorating nature: Deep science, holism, feeling, and heart]]
BEKOFF - BioScience, 2000 - BioOne
Back off, man, I’m a scientist. I’ve been haunted by this bumper sticker for many years. I’m a scientist. I love what I do.Doing science is fun. When I first saw this slogan, it bothered me because I thought it sent a false message concerning the arrogance of scientists …

Behavioral interactions and conflict among domestic dogs, black-tailed prairie dogs, and people in Boulder, Colorado
Bekoff, Ickes - Anthrozoos: A Multidisciplinary Journal of The Interactions of People & Animals, 1999 - ingentaconnect.com
Interactions among domestic dogs (Canis familiaris), black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), and people were studied at Dry Creek, Boulder, Colorado. Our objective was to develop a basic understanding of the nature of dog-prairie dog interactions in this recreational area, because this is an issue that has high visibility and over which there is conflict in Boulder: There are those who want dogs to run free regardless of their impact on the behavior and lives of prairie dogs and those who want to protect prairie dogs and have dogs restrained or go elsewhere. We found that dogs clearly influenced the behavior of prairie dogs, however, no prairie dogs were known to be caught or killed by any dog during the course of study. Prairie dogs disturbed by dogs were more alert (vigilant) and wary of dogs and played less than undisturbed individuals. However, disturbed prairie dogs were less wary of the presence of humans than undisturbed animals. People tried to stop dogs from harassing prairie dogs only 25% of the time. A survey showed that 58% of people polled at Dry Creek (all dog owners) did not believe that prairie dogs should be protected even if dogs are a problem. Increased human responsibility would likely go a long way towards reducing existing conflict among people wanting to protect prairie dogs and those who do not. Boulder city officials have not yet incorporated our data into their immediate management plans. However, by identifying the nature of dog-prairie dog encounters and specific areas of conflict among people who side either with dogs or prairie dogs, in the future, proactive strategies grounded by empirical data can be developed and implemented so that the interests of all parties can be accommodated.

Too stressed to work
Baldwin, Bekoff - The New Scientist Volume 194, Issue 2606, 2 June 2007
Scientists must provide lab animals with decent living conditions or accept that their results could be useless

Social play and physical training: When not enough may be plenty
Bekoff - Ethology, 1989 - Wiley Online Library
HOLE’S (1988) detailed analysis of temporal aspects of social play in laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus) is an excellent example of what is needed in play research. Nonetheless, I believe that his and others’ (McDonald 1977; also see Fagen 1981) rejection of the importance of social play for physical training based on the duration of play bouts is premature …

Home range use by Abert squirrels: a comparative analysis
Bekoff - The Southwestern Naturalist, 2000 - JSTOR
We compared data from an analysis of space use by Abert squirrels (Sciurus aberti) performed in 1991 with data from a previous study performed in 1971 at the same study site (Farentinos, 1979). In both studies, home range estimates based on the 100% minimum convex polygon (MCP) method were positively correlated with sample size. The number of home range sightings used for calculations in the current study was significantly larger for both males and females when compared to that used by Farentinos (1979), as were estimates of home range. Results from the current study also contradict Farentinos’ earlier findings that males have larger home ranges during the breeding season than the nonbreeding season, and that males have larger home ranges during the breeding season than females year around. The method used to estimate home range sizes may have influenced the results, and the 100% MCP method may be of limited use for drawing meaningful biological comparisons, unless sample size is held constant.

Beyond monkey minds: Toward a richer cognitive ethology
Bekoff, Townsend, Jamieson - Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1994 - Cambridge Univ Press
The stimulating discussions presented in the BBS target article by Cheney & Seyfarth (C&S) (1992) and in the commentaries concerning their book, How monkeys see the world (C&S 1990b), clarify many issues in the growing field of cognitive ethology.

The public lives of animals (pdf)
Bekoff - Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2006 - blueskybroadcast.com
A few years ago I visited a major American university where I was asked to give a talk on the nature of animal emotions. My colleague, Bill, came up before the lecture to say hello and I asked him how his dog Reno was doing. For more than five minutes Bill extolled Renos deep emotional life he loves to play with his friends, misses Bill when hes gone, has separation anxiety and tears up garbage and books when hes alone, and a few days ago Reno got jealous when Bill gave his daughter attention … Following my talk Bill accused me of being too anthropomorphic and too sure of myself. He did it in a sort of light-hearted academic way. When he was done I simply asked him to recall for the audience the conversation that we had before my lec- ture about Renos emotional life. Bill turned slightly red … (get pdf))

The other side of silence: Rachel Carson’s views of animals
Bekoff, Nystrom - Zygon, 2004 - Wiley Online Library
The publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring in 1962 is widely regarded as one of the major events that launched the modern environmental movement. Silent Spring is a compelling blend of stories, natural history, human val- ues, and biological facts. In this essay we consider Carsons attitude toward animals in Silent Spring and in other texts. Despite the facts that she was raised to love Nature and ani- mals, little direct attention has been given to Carsons views about our moral responsibilities to, and the moral standing of animals. Carson favored responsible stewardship, was more of an animal welfarist and environmentalist/conservation biologist who privileged ecosystems and species than an ani- mal activist who privileged individuals, and she did not advo- cate an animal rights agenda. There is clear tension in Carsons text. Often she seemed troubled by attempting to come across as a moderate and practical scientist and some of her words, when considered out of context, could lead one to label Carson as an animal rightist. While some of Carsons text favors human-centered interests, she did not believe that only humans counted. Her warnings about silent springs silent seasons must be taken seriously, perhaps even more seriously than when they were penned more than four decades ago. Surely, on the other side of silence, await magic, awe, and Natures cacophony of sounds along with a panoply of innumerable other sensory (visual and olfactory) experiences that help us to feel at one with all of Nature. We must be careful never to allow Nature to be silenced. Carson was a passionate and extremely influential activist, and there is no doubt that if there were a world of Rachel Carsons in charge of our global environmental policies, we and our fellow animals would surely be in much better shape than we currently are. (see pdf))

Feeding decisions by Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri): The utility of a logistic regression model for analyses of where, what, and with whom to eat
Bekoff, C Allen - Ethology, 1999 - Wiley Online Library
It is widely recognized that animal behavior is simultaneously affected by many variables. Both the study of interactions between these variables under naturalistic conditions and the proper statistical analysis of data derived from such studies remain particular problems for ethologists. In the present study we investigated choices by Stellers jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) selecting between two feeding locations under a variety of conditions. A multifactor logistic regression analysis of our data showed that the jays behavior was simultaneously affected by several variables, including proximity of the feeding site to cover, food preferences, and the presence of conspecifics and other animals. We found that (1) jays strongly preferred an unoccupied feeder over one occupied by another jay or a sympatric mammal with the effect of squirrels being much greater than that of other jays, (2) contrary to our expectations, in the absence of a reason to prefer the other feeder, the jays generally selected the feeder that was further from nearest cover, and (3) the presence of sunflower seeds on one feeder but not on the other provided a reason to prefer the feeder offering sunflower seeds. The logistic regression analysis provided a more complete and integrated model of the birds behavior than more commonly used univariate methods. Our approach and results are also applicable to studies of other animals. While univariate analyses are useful in some instances, multifactor procedures reveal more details about the interactions of single factors and future experimental studies can take advantage of this additional knowledge.

The animal’s point of view, animal welfare and some other related matters
Bekoff - Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1991 - Cambridge Univ Press
To study animal welfare empirically we need an objective basis for deciding when an animal is suffering. Suffering includes a wide range of unpleasant emotional states such as fear, boredom, pain, and hunger.

Do Dogs Ape–or Do Apes Dog–and Does it Matter–Broadening and Deepening Cognitive Ethology
Bekoff - Animal L., 1997 - HeinOnline
In Rain Without Thunder, Gary Francione raises numerous important issues and takes on many important people. The phrase “rain without thunder” made me think about the notion of animals without minds - animals without thoughts or feelings. This idea is troublesome …

Are you feeling what I’m feeling?
Bekoff - The New Scientist, 2007 - Elsevier
If you doubt that non-human animals have emotions, just look at them, listen to them and inhale the odours that pour out when they interact with friend or foe. I believe that what you see on the outside speaks volumes about what is happening inside an animal’s head and heart. Not long ago, the notion that animals have emotions was considered subversive, but opinion is changing. In recent years, reputable scientific journals have published research about moral dogs and chimps, joyful rats, grieving elephants, empathetic mice and fearful fish. Just watching a frolicking wolf, a whimpering dog, or a squealing piglet having his tail and testicles cut off without an anaesthetic is enough to convince me that these are emotional beings. The evidence of a single anecdote may not be very scientific, but as philosopher Dale Jamieson says, the plural of anecdote is data. What’s more, anecdotes such as those I recount in this article can also inspire new research.

Animal emotions, wild justice and why they matter: Grieving magpies, a pissy baboon, and empathic elephants
Bekoff - Emotion Space and Society, 2009 - mendeley.com
In this article regarding comparative and evolutionary research on animal emotions and morality, the author holds that non-human animals have emotional lives, and considers human emotions as gifts from other animals. Emotions serve as a social glue to bond animals with one another, catalyze and regulate a wide variety of social encounters among friends, lovers, and competitors, and permit animals to behave adaptively and flexibly using various behavior patterns in a wide variety of venues. In addition, emotions are also important in nonsocial situations and influence how humans and other animals relate to their wider environment. The author asserts that non-human animals have a kind of moral intelligence, and presents scientific theory, experimental evidence, and anecdotal evidence to support that view.

Intentionality, Social Play, and Definition
Bekoff - Bekoff/Jamieson, 1996 - books.google.com
Many behavioral biologists consider play an important behavioral phenotype. They have a hard time, however, coming up with a consensus definition of play. Most biologists who have observed mammals in the field can give examples of behaviors they consider to be playful …

SPACE-OUT: graphics programs to study and to simulate space use and movement patterns
Bekoff, Wieland, Lavender - Behavior Research Methods, 1982 - Springer
Recent reviews (Koeppl, Slade, & Hoffmann, 1975; Michener, 1979; Waser & Wiley, 1980, and references therein) have stressed the importance of spatial analyses for furthering our understanding of the ways in which space use and movements within an animal’s home …

The question of animal emotions: an ethological perspective
Bekoff - Mental Health and WellBeing in Animals, 2004 - Wiley Online Library
It is hard to watch elephants’ remarkable behavior during a family or bond group greeting ceremony, the birth of a new family member, a playful interaction, the mating of a relative, the rescue of a family member, or the arrival of a musth male, and not imagine that they feel …

Group living, natal philopatry, and Lindstroem’s lottery: It’s all in the family
Bekoff - Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 1987 - en.scientificcommons.org
Group living, natal philopatry, and Lindstrom’s lottery: It’s all in the family (1987).

Increasing Our Compassion Footprint: The Animals’ Manifesto
Bekoff - Zygon, 2008 - Wiley Online Library
Our relationships with animals are wide-ranging. When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them I tell them I’m glad they don’t love me. Many individuals, including scientists, ignore their responsibility when they interact with animals and fail to recognize that doing something in the name of science, which usually means in the name of humans, is not an adequate reason for intentionally causing suffering, pain, or death. Good welfare usually is not good enough. Existing regulations allow animals to be treated in regrettable ways that demean us as a species. Compassion is the key for bettering both animal and human lives. A good way to make the world a more compassionate place for animals is to increase our compassion footprint. We could begin by deciding that we will not intrude on animals’ lives unless our actions are in the best interests of the animals irrespective of our desires. It is simple to make more compassionate choices about what we eat and wear and how we educate students, conduct research, and entertain ourselves at the expense of animals. The time to make these changes is long overdue. ([get pdf](http://literati.net/Bekoff/Increasing our compassion footprint.pdf)))

Feeding behavior in Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri): effects of food type and social context
Bekoff, Allen, Wolfe - Bird Behavior, 12, 1997 - ingentaconnect.com
In this study we analyzed various factors affecting the activities in which Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleri) engaged while feeding. We found that the rate of pecking at seeds by jays was affected by available seed type and the presence and activity of nearby conspecifics. Jays at an artificial feeding platform seemed to pay attention to other individuals, in that they pecked at a lower rate when another jay was nearby, except when the otherjay was feeding at a different platform. The decreased feeding rate when twojays shared the same feeding platform is contrary to the widely reported pattern of increased feeding and decreased scanning correlated with increased group size in various species. Our analysis suggests that this pattern of behavior fits with observations that Steller’s jays show site-specific dominance, mutual interference at a concentrated food source, and do not live in structured flocks with consistent membership.

Afterward: Ethics and the study of animal cognition
Jamieson, Bekoff - Readings in Animal Cognition, 1996 - books.google.com
In the heyday of logical empiricism (circa 1930-1960), science was seen as the purest of human activities. There was a single thing that was" the scientific method"; observations were distinct from and unaffected by theoretical commitments; theories were “sets of sentences” that made no essential referenc to knowers; explanation and prediction were regarded as formal relations between sentences that in principle could be made mechanical, and all of this theorizing, explaining, and predicting was thought to be uncontaminated by values.

Should scientists bond with the animals who they use? Why not
Bekoff - Psycoloquy, 1993 - en.scientificcommons.org
This volume is a rare find, an edited volume that is worth reading in its entirety. A combination of information from studies on captive and wild animals is needed to come to a fuller understanding of the many different aspects of scientist-animal interactions.

Cunning coyotes: Tireless tricksters, protean predators
Bekoff - Model systems in behavioral ecology, 2001 - books.google.com
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are amazing carnivores. They are many things to many people. They wear many faces that affect different people in different ways. They are victims of their own success.

Breeding behavior of evening grosbeaks
Bekoff - Condor, 1991 - JSTOR
From 1983-1987 we studied the breeding behavior of Evening Grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus) living in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. These birds were typically monogamous; at only one of 64 nests (1.6%) was polygny documented. Reproductive behaviors performed by adult males and females were first analyzed across all mating seasons and then with respect to five consecutive nest stages (build/egg laying, incubate, brood, brood/fledge, fledge) and the outcome (success or failure) of individual nests. Adult males and females contributed unequally to the ten most frequently observed behaviors; half were performed almost exclusively by one or the other sex. Males typically fed and protected their mates and what we presumed to be their young; whereas females usually built the nest, incubated, brooded, and also fed their young. Feeding, soft calling from the perch, and fecal removal were performed relatively equally by adult males and females. The success or failure of nests was not associated with patterns of parental behavior. Our results indicate that Evening Grosbeaks formed a partnership in which they divided the effort involved in nest preparation and raising the young at the high altitude where this population was observed.

Functional aspects of play as revealed by structural components and social interaction patterns
Bekoff - Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1982 - Cambridge Univ Press
Functional aspects of play as revealed by structural components and social interaction patterns.

Where’s the brain? Geometric and cognitive underpinnings of group-size effects on vigilance
Bekoff - Behavioural processes, 2003 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Where’s the brain? Geometric and cognitive underpinnings of group-size effects on vigilance.

Life-history patterns and sociality in canids: body size, reproduction, and behavior
Bekoff, Diamond - Oecologia, 1981 - Springer
Empirical associations among co-adapted traits such as body size and patterns of reproduction, development, and behavior are unknown for most animal species, despite numerous theories suggesting otherwise. One way to study these complex relationships is first to consider closely related species and then to generalize findings to other groups. In the present study, relationships among body size, reproductive patterns, development, and sociality were examined in 17 members of the family Canidae (canids). Large canids are more social than smaller species, and offspring of large species achieve independence and tend to breed first at a later age. Large females give birth to absolutely larger young, but relative to their own body weight they allocate fewer resources to bringing a large pup to term. Overall, sexual dimorphism in size is small to moderate, and this is associated with monogamous mating habits and paternal care of young.

[[http://www.jstor.org/stable/info/10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051\0171:SRCASM\2.0.CO;2][Science, religion, cooperation, and social morality]] BEKOFF - BioScience, 2001 - JSTOR
Few scientists and religious scholars have seriously pondered how science and religion can be reconciled. But times are changing. Not long ago I attended two meetings that brought together scientists, theologians, and religious scholars to discuss just that issue. The first gathering was part of the Science and the Spiritual Quest II program () sponsored by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, California. The other was organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Participants at both of these meetings spoke freely about science (evolutionary biology, ethology, neuroscience, anthropology, psychology), theology, religion, and God, and made a lot of progress in their interdisciplinary efforts to address the confluence of religion and science. Social morality is a subject at the intersection of religion and science, one that can unite people from different disciplines. Many peoplelaymen, theologians, scientistswonder whether some nonhuman animal beings (hereafter animals) have codes of social conduct that regulate their behavior during social encounters. Charles Darwin’s ideas about evolutionary continuitythat behavioral, cognitive (intellectual), and emotional variations among different species are differences in degree rather than in kindare often invoked in such exercises.

But is it research? What price interdisciplinary interests?
Bekoff - Biology and Philosophy, 1994 - Springer
That interdisciplinary work has become the rule, rather than the exception, in many branches of science and in many areas of the humanities, is a gross understatement. One needs only to consider the rifles of various journals, the names of various professional societies, or peruse the shelves of book stores to see that interdisciplinary interests abound.

A method for the analysis of activity and spatial relations in animal groups
Bekoff, Corcoran - Behavior Research Methods, 1975 - Springer
Scientists interested in animal social organization frequently need to ask questions concerning the interindiual spatial relations among members of a group (the use of space), but often omit consideration of the ways in which interindividual spatial relations and individual activity patterns are related to one another.

Considering Animals Not Higher Primates
Bekoff - Zygon, 2003
In this essay I argue that many nonhuman animal beings are conscious and have some sense of self. Rather than ask whether they are conscious, I adopt an evolutionary perspective and ask why consciousness and a sense of self evolved - what are they good for? Comparative studies of animal cognition, ethological investigations that explore what it is like to be a certain animal, are useful for answering this question. Charles Darwin argued that the differences in cognitive abilities and emotions among animals are differences in degree rather than differences in kind, and his view cautions against the unyielding claim that humans, and perhaps other great apes and cetaceans, are the only species in which a sense of self-awareness has evolved. I conclude that there are degrees of consciousness and self among animals and that it is likely that no animal has the same highly developed sense of self as that displayed by most humans. Many animals have a sense of body-ness or mine-ness but not a sense of I-ness. Darwin’s ideas about evolutionary continuity, together with empirical data (science sense) and common sense, will help us learn more about consciousness and self in animals. Answers to challenging questions about animal self-awareness have wide-ranging significance, because they are often used as the litmus test for determining and defending the sorts of treatments to which animals can be morally subjected. (get pdf))

Animal play and behavioral diversity
Bekoff - The American Naturalist, 1975 - JSTOR
Fagen’s (1974) recent paper concerning selective and evolutionary aspects of animal play provides very interesting reading for those scientists interested in this category of behavior.

Ignoring nature: Why we do it, the dire consequences, and the need for a paradigm shift to Save animals, habitats, and ourselves
Bekoff, Bexell - Human Ecology Review, 2010 - humanecologyreview.org
We live in a wounded world that is in dire need of healing. We all should be troubled and terrified by what we have done and continue to do. Humans have made huge and horrific global messes that need to be repaired now. The overrid- ing sense of turmoil is apparent to anyone who takes the time to pay attention. Researchers and non-researchers alike are extremely concerned about unprecedented global losses of biodiversity and how humans suffer because of our destruc- tive ways. We are animals and we should be proud and aware of our membership in the animal kingdom. However, our unique contribution to the decimation of the planet and its many life forms demeans us. (get pdf))

Minding animals, minding earth: Science, nature, kinship, and heart
Bekoff - Human Ecology Review, 2003 - humanecologyreview.org
This paper emphasizes the importance of broadening behavioral, ecological, and conservation science into a more integrative, interdisciplinary, socially responsible, compassionate, spiritual, and holistic endeavor.2,3 I will stress the significance of studies of animal behavior, especially ethological research concerned with animal emotions, in which individuals are named and recognized for their own personalities and temperaments, for helping us not only to learn about the nonhuman animal beings (hereafter animals) with whom we share Earth, but also for learning about who we are, our place in Nature, our humanness. We can be best understood in relationship to others. I will also develop the notions of minding animals and deep ethology. Animals are a way of knowing; sources of wisdom. I am an optimist, a hopeful human being. I never say never. I ache with the pains of other beings and also feel pangs when I feel inanimate landscapes being destroyed. Surely we do not want to be remembered as the generation that killed Nature. Now is the time for everyone to work for universal planetary peace. There is no alternative to world peace and we must sow seeds without hesitation to accom- plish this urgent goal. It is essential that we do better than our ancestors. No one could argue that a world with significantly less, rather, no cruelty and boundless compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, peace, and love would not be a better world in which to live and raise our children and theirs. We are all citizens of Earth, members of a global community in which intimate reciprocal and beneficent peaceful relationships are mandatory. We have compelling responsibilities for making Earth a better and more peaceful habitat for all beings. Time is not on our side. We must reflect and step lightly as we redecorate Nature. I yearn for a seamless tapestry of oneness, a warm blan- ket, a soul-scape, of deep and reciprocal friendships in which all individuals count, a single community in which individuals are at one with all others, in which the seer and the seen are one, a community in which it feels good and makes indi- viduals happy to be kind to others. My own dreams and spirituality are based on a deep and passionate drive for reconciliation, a seamless unity a wholeness and oneness motivated by trust, compassion, respect, grace, humility, and love. I plead for developing heartfelt and holistic science that allows for fun, joy, and play, along with interdisciplinary talk about kindness, generosity, compassion, respect, grace, humility, spirituality, peace, and love. Science need not be suspicious of things it cannot fully understand. We must never avert our eyes or our other senses from the eyes and voices of all other beings, our kin, our friends, who urgently beg for and truly need our immediate, uncompromising, and uncon- ditional aid and love. We are obliged not to do so. We certainly can do much more than we have done for animals and Earth. (get pdf))

Predatory Strategies and Behavioral Diversity
Bekoff - American Biology Teacher, 1983 - eric.ed.gov
Briefly discusses the view that behavior may be thought of as a phenotypic adaptation that can be quantitatively studied, and then considered in more detail ways in which predatory animals, especially mammals, satisfy their need for food. Topics covered include predatory behavior, hunting modes, prey selection, hunting success, and others. (JN)

The view from Japan
Bekoff, Goodall - Nature, 2001 - nature.com
The past decade has seen enormous growth in the study of animal cognition. Anecdotal reports and detailed observational experiments abound for many species and for diverse cognitive skills.

Action in Cognitive Ethology
Bekoff - A Companion to the Philosophy of Action, 2010 - Wiley Online Library
Understanding the actions that animals perform during different contexts is central to learning about what animals know, desire, intend, believe, and feel. While philosophical discussions of action theory focus almost exclusively on humans, there is quite a lot of information …

The great divide
Bekoff - A review of Wynne, 2004 - americanscientist.org
Do animals think? Well, surely some do, you may think. And an increasing number of researchers across disciplines would agree with you: They are trying to determine hownot whetheranimals consciously process information about their social and nonsocial environments. What is going on in the minds of animals? Do they have desires and beliefs? Zealots abound at both ends of a spectrum that ranges from those who believe that animals are merely thoughtless robotic automatons to those who argue that all are thinking creatures with rich cognitive lives. I imagine that the truth lies somewhere in the middle: A number of animals have the capacity for thinking about certain situations and showing flexible, adaptable behavior, whereas others may behave reflexively, with little or no thought at all.

Integrating Values and Ethics into Wildlife Policy and Management Lessons from North America
Fox, Bekoff - Animals, 2011 - mdpi.com
Few animals provoke as wide a range of emotions as wolves. Some see wolves as icons of a lost wilderness; others see them as intruders. As the battle continues between wolf proponents and opponents, finding solutions that resolve conflicts while supporting the integrity of nature is challenging. In this essay we argue that we need to make room for wolves and other native carnivores who are re-colonizing areas from which they were extirpated. Strategies that foster coexistence are necessary and wildlife agencies must consider all stakeholders and invest adequate resources to inform the public about how to mitigate conflicts between people/domestic animals, and predators. Values and ethics must be woven into wildlife policy and management and we must be willing to ask difficult ethical questions and learn from past mistakes. (get pdf))

The Wallet

Mon, 07 Feb 2022 01:29:28 -0800

My mother related this story to me about my grandfather. She lived in his household as was often customary with East Indian families in the 1900s. These extended families were usually quite closely knit and often mutually supportive. My mother adored her father-in-law and it was through her that I found out about his character.

One day he came home with a large collection of Indian sweets. Everyone in the large household was surprised. It wasn’t anyone’s birthday. There was no religious festival. It wasn’t even dinner time! What was this all about!

He was nowhere to be seen, so his wife directed the servants to set the sweets out. Lured by the spread, the rest of the household migrated to the very large table, but didn’t partake in the goodies because they didn’t know if they should.

After a short time, my grandfather showed up and encouraged everyone including the servants to help themselves! He was always known to be a most honest and kind gentleman, but his generosity usually had some rationale behind it. So between munching, the others kept asking him why he had bought all this for them!

Finally, he said with a mischievous smile, “My wallet was stolen today.”

The congregation went into the typical hysterics that good family members are supposed to display at such a time of crisis. The servants, who also loved my grandfather, were quick to offer their sincere sympathies as well.

After recovering from the shock, my grandmother put a few pieces together and sharply asked him “Why are we eating sweets when your wallet was taken?!” This was followed by a similar chorus of inquisitiveness from the throng!

My grandfather ushered them to calm down and said, “I thought we should celebrate. The person who took my wallet probably much needed the money and will be able to celebrate with his family tonight. I wanted to celebrate his good fortune with my family!”

Booklicious

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 15:28:59 -0800

Are you a lover of books? Are you a parent looking for book recommendations for your young child or teenager? If so, you’ve come to the right place!

LouAnne Taylor has put together a wonderful website for children and parents alike, to find age appropriate books and learning about the importance of literacy …
Booklicious

A01 Happy Easter Dear Emma

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 21:01:59 -0800

Today, Easter Sunday, we are celebrating life with our real Easter Bunny named Emma. It was just about one year ago on a cold and rainy day I decided to venture off into a rough part of town to check on a dog who seemed to be neglected. While driving in a downpour I asked myself why on earth I was going into a rough neighborhood to pretend to be interested in getting a dog that I had no intention of adopting.

Several times I attempted to turn back, but the car seemed to have a mind of its own and kept pushing onward toward our destination. Upon arriving I was greeted by a large and disgruntled woman who led me into her tiny backyard. She brought the dog to me who was frantic from lack of exercise and kept running in circles around me. I noticed a group of small boxes and inquired as to what they were. Mary, the woman, told me that they contained rabbits. I asked her to lift up the wooden doors so that I could see them and I was shocked to see rabbits of all different breeds in tiny wire cages with no amenities whatsoever. One in particular was cowering and shaking staring at me with a plea for help. When I told Mary that I saw no food, water or bedding and was concerned of the rabbits trembling, she said they would get a few pellets and some water at the end of the day. I asked why they had no bedding or hay and her response was they were breeders not pets. When she shut the door to the cages I felt sick that once again they were in the dark and cold in complete isolation. I drove home and did not sleep for 2 nights as I could not get the vision of these terrified rabbits out of my head. Finally I called Mary and asked if I could adopt the little gray bunny who was trembling so. She yelled that she was a breeder and paid good money for her. I offered her more than she paid and picked her up the next day. I felt guilty as though I was supporting a mill, but I had to save this precious little rabbit. Having never had a rabbit before, I didn’t know exactly what she needed, but after looking on line had everything ready for her when she arrived at her new home. We had her spayed, litter trained her and she now sleeps on a soft bed compared to wire, has full run of the house and is a companion to our dogs and cats. She has not been in a cage since after the first week we brought her home. She lives life to the fullest and entertains us daily with her ballet leaps and spins and her hilarious antics. She was 2 years old when she came to live with us and her past life has finally vanished. She is no longer timid or anxious and greets us every morning with love and joy. So today we say Happy Easter to our dear little Emma who will live out her life free of oppression and dominance and will continue to be the bunny she was meant to be.

005 Wedaches

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 20:29:11 -0800

All anyone has to do is look without prejudice, and the similarities between weddings and funerals become obviously apparent. In fact, the two functions are nearly identical. Both are exorbitantly expensive. Both require all participants to dress in weird and uncomfortable outfits. Both have an abundance of tears, provided sometimes by hired help. Both have parties. And both are a celebration of the end of something. In fact, about the only difference is that in a funeral the center of attention at least enjoys the benefit of not being present.

I refuse to go to weddings or funerals, but it doesn’t mean that I didn’t, once upon a time. So what I write here comes from painful experience and not the blissful nonsense that seems to mesmerize most people about these things. Since I have already demonstrated that there really isn’t any significant difference between the two, I will only talk about weddings and what I say can be easily extrapolated to funerals.

I don’t really remember the first wedding I attended, but I do know that it wasn’t my own and that I was forced to go to it by Ranjana because some colleague of hers was the bride. However, I have some recollections of the other weddings I went to.

My badminton doubles partner was getting married. I did not want to go to his wedding, because I had other things to do. However, I was told that they’d like me to take photos there (even though they had hired a photographer, so now I think it may have been a trick), therefore, I felt it was not going to be a complete loss. Besides, Ranjana was pressuring me to go.

The wedding was held at a massive church which was fully packed with what appeared to be most of the city. There was the monotonous procession to bad music down the aisle, the strangely dressed minister’s even stranger utterances, the prefabricated responses of the bride and bridegroom. The exhibition took a very long time. Then they disappeared into a room to sign the register. This took even longer and seeing how the entire congregation was really quite bored, I considerately volunteered to shout out something like “Hey, the honeymoon isn’t supposed to start till later, you know!”, but Ranjana dissuaded me from doing so for some reason.

The reception was even more preponderous (the bride’s family was very wealthy and wanted to demonstrate this fact) and there was a silly process in which we all had to line up to shake the married couples' hands and wish them well. I have no idea why we were supposed to do this. Was it that they were afraid that something bad was going to happen after this fantastic display, that they needed all these good wishes? At any rate, I quickly shot a roll of film and disappeared before getting enmeshed any further.

The wedding of my tennis doubles partner was even more convoluted. He was marrying another tennis player at the club and since we were all good friends, they wanted me to be an usher at their wedding. The only problem was that I didn’t want to go to the wedding. I had no objection to their getting married, but I didn’t see why they had to involve innocent bystanders. However, I was given the speech about how this was such an important day for them and how they really, really wanted me to usher and encountering such pressure, I finally agreed.

Then I found out I had to attend the reception too. This was too much and even the lure of a free vegetarian meal (they were going to prepare special dishes for Ranjana and myself) wasn’t enough because apparently there was dancing at the reception. Dancing is one of those horrible practices that make people sweat, something I refuse to do unless I am properly attired in a sweatsuit. I produced a creative assortment of excuses as to why I couldn’t attend the reception, but the bride-to-be figured out that it was probably the dancing that was bothering me and gave me leave to go before that debacle started. Now I really had run out of options.

The bride’s family had specific details that had to be looked after. For instance, I had to wear a suit and the tie they chose for me. Then, I was told that I was supposed to drive the married couple to the reception after they dressed my car up even sillier than they had dressed me.

In any case, I went dutifully to the church and took my assigned place just inside the front doors and watched the people migrating in. Suddenly, another tennis friend came up to me and emphatically asked with some urgency, “What are you doing?”. I told him that I was ushering. He said I wasn’t supposed to be just standing around looking, but that my job was to take people to their seats. This made no sense to me because it wasn’t like the church was dark as in a cinema hall and these people couldn’t find their own seats!

Another strange matter was that the people the bride invited sat on one side of the church, while those the groom invited sat on the other. Possibly the logic behind this arrangement was to show who had the greater number of gullible friends.

Then I was told that I was supposed ‘offer my arm’ to any females in the party I was escorting. The rationale behind this bit of bizzarity completely eluded me. Why should the female or anyone else for that matter be allowed to possess my arm? What if there were two females or worse what if there were more than two? Obviously, these people hadn’t thought out the logistics properly at all.

The reception was very irritating. It was hard enough sitting in a suit and tie, but it is impossible to concentrate on eating (even a free meal) when people are making ridiculous speeches throughout it extolling each others virtues. In any case, my duty had been done and using the experience gained earlier, I ushered Ranjana and myself right out of there before things got really gruesome.

You’d think I’d learn after these experiences and as you’ll see I did! What could have been the worst was yet to come - my own wedding!

Please understand that there was absolutely no reason why Ranjana and I should have gotten married. She’s been bothering me since she was four so I had already done more time than most people do with a spouse! Furthermore, there was always the ever present threat of The East Indian Wedding. If you thought the other two I related were bad, know that East Indian weddings can go on for 20 days!

So when the parents brought up the “When are you two going to get married?” line, I had to plan my escape. The “I’ve done more time than most people do with a spouse” idea didn’t seem to hold any weight with the parents or Ranjana, so I settled down to research the situation from various perspectives and was confident I would succeed in finding a solution out of my predicament.

Then I made my first and only mistake, ever, in my entire existence!

I had learned that there actually was a benefit to getting married which was that one could claim a tax deduction. Overwhelmed by greed and desperation, in a fit of shortsighted blindness, I agreed to the idea!

When I came to my senses, I could see that there was a thick buzz in the air as the planning had already commenced on how we were going to be married - the announcements, the people, the food, the receptions, it looked hopelessly endless. I can’t even stand a party and this monstrosity was getting bigger and bigger like the Hindenburg being pumped full of hydrogen gas.

They say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, but I had nowhere to go! I had to think fast!

Then, as if sent from heaven, there was a great spark of intuition!

I suggested that instead of spending all this ‘pomp and fanfare’ on us, who already had everything and even each other (that was really such a nice touch, don’t you think?), why not give all that money to Mother Teresa’s efforts.

Ranjana was delighted by this idea (and of course, I am never going to reveal my real motivations).

How did the parents take it? Oh my god! It was like we had just killed them (and who knows how many ancestors to boot)! After all, you’re not supposed to get married for yourselves right? You’re supposed to get married for your parents! In fact, they were making a phenomenal amount of noise for people who had freshly been killed!

Despite the opposition, I was convinced there was a window of opportunity here and so I pursued it, reinforcing the basic concepts and logically elaborating on their merits. Sometimes, you just have to wear people down.

Ranjana’s parents were the first to concede and not too reluctantly either. They had connections with the Ramakrishna Mission in India and actually felt good about making their contribution to that organization.

My parents though were another story. My mother, in particular, took all this as a personal affront and figured her reputation with the Indian community was going to be permanently destroyed by this rebellious son. My father was afraid of my mother, so it is perhaps a bit unclear what his thoughts really were, but I see no reason to give him any benefit of the doubt. When I used to ask them where I came from I recall being told two possibilities - a supermarket, when they were in a good mood, and a garbage can when they weren’t. It was pretty clear for the next few days what my origins were.

As so often happens when one is engaged in a truly valiant venture such as getting out of going to a party, providence came to my rescue in the form of my uncle of all people (since we rarely associated with him). He appeared out of nowhere and said this was a remarkable thing - the first time anyone in the history of the family, as far as he had researched it, had gotten married wanting to give everything to charity.

Well, that was all it took! My mother suddenly saw the whole thing in a completely different light and even greatly illuminated the viewpoints of the other 3 parents as well as the masses of relatives that would have shown up. I had gone from murderous villain to hero overnight! I think I had even found my way back into that supermarket and may be even a bit further!

A lot of money was raised and I got out of having to go to a party!

Now you might be thinking all was joy and we lived happily ever after. However, you forget that there was still that little nagging matter of a wedding. Yes the reception threat had been eliminated, but there was still the wedding. I couldn’t very well conjure up a charity to intervene on my behalf to solve this dilemma - there are legal issues at stake!

So the first necessary step was to investigate alternatives to a wedding. Partially utilizing the already successful charity argument as leverage, I demonstrated that the best way to not spend money on a wedding was not to have one: therefore, have the deed done by a justice of the peace or a ship’s captain. The latter was impractical since we were on land and the former would cost only $15, a sacrifice I was willing to make, especially since I knew I could get my parents to pay for it - so that they could feel they had met their responsibilities as parents of course! Besides, I knew that since justices of the peace have important things to do, such as getting people to stand up when they come into a courtroom and perching upon a high bench, they simply cannot hang around administering blessings for extended periods of time the way church VIPs do.

Ok so that part was taken care of efficiently! Could I do more? Was there a possibility that I might manage not to attend even this ceremony and still collect my tax deduction? The answer was yes! It would take coercion and courage, but it could be done!

I learned that I could get married by proxy!

Now I had several students who were fearful of me - after all, I was a high school teacher at the time! What indeed could be the point of that occupation if one couldn’t make use of one’s students when the need arose? After a bit of purposeful negotiation, it seemed I managed to convince one of them that it would be greatly to his benefit to serve as my proxy! In fact, as I recall, I didn’t have to employ much coercion. He seemed quite happy to serve this useful role, no doubt because he felt sorry that his noble teacher would have to undergo such an unpleasant experience. I suppose I had indeed brought him up well.

Then came the courage part - telling Ranjana.

Well I certainly had the courage, but I had overlooked another ‘c’ that needed to exist with coercion and courage. That ‘c’ was cooperation. Inexplicably, Ranjana was opposed to having my student be the proxy. I found her attitude most puzzling to say the least! After all, it wasn’t like this fellow was a complete stranger. We’d known him for a year or so and he spent large periods of time at our home as did many of my students. I tried to reason with her with the aforementioned argument and even wrung out the gut-wrenching “but you don’t really want to hurt his feelings, do you?”. It was to no avail though. I can only conclude that she heartlessly wanted me to suffer with her through the ceremony. As the saying goes, misery does indeed enjoy company.

I dutifully showed up beside Ranjana (who even made me wear a suit - though I wasn’t forced to wear a tie) at city hall. The four parents were in tow as well, no doubt to ensure I had no possibility of escape.

Then a glimmer of hope!

It seemed that the municipal government had made a error. Ranjana had been registered as the bridegroom while I was flagged as the bride. However, I watched in astonishment as the clerk corrected the situation within seconds! What ever happened to obligatory bureaucratic inefficiency? Shouldn’t the matter have gone to several committees and taken months to resolve?

Next thing I knew we were standing before the justice of the peace who was typically dressed in one of those black outfits which made one think of penguins. He didn’t wear a white hairpiece, but I was too forlorn to make an issue of it. All I can recall of those blurry moments were his mumbling something and then Ranjana mumbling something in agreement and then I think I mumbled something as well.

Suddenly I was awakened from my stupor with the frightful words I had heard in the movies, “You may now kiss the bride.” What? It was over? That was all there was to this? Elation had found me again!

Instead of following his directive (after all it wasn’t a command you know, because he did say “You may …” and not something like “Do it!”), I proceeded to shake his hand vigorously offering my deepest gratitude. While thus engaged, I turned to Ranjana and said, “He did that so well! We should have him again the next time we do this!”

It was very evident from the incredulous look on his face, that this poor fellow had never before in his entire career, received such a fine compliment!

002 Is There a Camera on the Bus?

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 19:51:34 -0800

Today I was driving and it was very slippery and busy. I guess with this time of year being around the Christmas time it seems to bring out some unique things in people.

A lady came up beside me while I was driving and asked me if there was a camera on the bus? because I am focused on the road her comment didn’t register right away in my mind

So I guess she understood this by my lack of response so she then started to explain why she was asking.

Apparently while the bus was full and I was unable to see the back of the bus. An over weight gentleman pushed this lady in the chest and asked her to get off the bus so he could punch her in the face.

This lady explained to me that she had some kind of breast surgery. She was even wanting to show me proof (and no not showing me her breasts but a doctors note) I explained to her no need to.

Of course she was a bit concerned so she wanted to know if there was some video proof she could take to the police.

I explained to her that on this particular bus there wasn’t but I called control and they basically said that the police won’t take 3rd party reports.

I explained this to her and just encouraged her to call the police anyways so they have this on file.

She thought it was a good idea and she got off the bus.

001 Assault With a Banana?

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 19:39:15 -0800

A lady gets on the bus. She is well dressed and sits in the back of the bus. While she sits down the driver notices the lady unpeeling a banana. After eating the banana the driver notices the lady walking to the front of the bus she turn to the lady in the front seat and hits this lady right in the face with this banana peel.

She then casually walks back to her seat and sits down. The driver and this lady are simply stunned the lady’s face is spattered with banana juice and the driver is wondering what to do next?

He calls control and tells them of the situation. He explains that the lady has been assaulted with a banana and they reply do you have the weapon. He says"yes on the dash board". Control asks “does she require any medical assistance”. The driver then asks the lady who was assaulted and she replies “no but would like the police”.

With the reality of the response time of the police the bus driver waited for a bit but as you probably can understand people in the bus and outside drivers where becoming a bit impatient.

The driver asked the lady if she would like to continue to wait and she said “no” but they figured the police would catch up with them eventually and deal with this assault.

Well the lady who caused the assault eventually left the bus and the police had not arrived on the scene by then so she walked away scott free.

Boy what a interesting world we live in.

What Is Compassion

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:05 -0800

We examine the meaning of Compassion and find that:

The need for a complete understanding of compassion arises out of the following facts. People are mostly very indifferent to the plight of animals. But some are not. What is the difference between these two classes of people. It is that the indifferent people lack compassion for animals and the others have compassion for animals. Animal exploitation will persist until the balance shifts and compassion comes to predominate.

It is surprising that animal activists believe that those who are indifferent can be coerced to be compassionate. Coercive tactics, including legislative lobbying, advertising, demonstrating and even illegal rescues, are common. Yet the most effective method of all is little mentioned and given little consideration. That most effective of tactics is the change in the person herself. Activists do not seem to realize that the contrast that they demonstrate by their lives compared with the lives of the indifferent ones, that this living contrast is the greatest of all stimulants to change in others. The greatest activism is the act of living the truth and being compassion personified. Coercive and violent actions do not enhance the powerful statement already made by the living evidence of compassion manifested.

In order solve the problem of animal vivisection, abuse and exploitation we cannot rely on legislative action. All legislation can do is specify restrictions on specific behavior. But if there is a will to be indifferent the indifference will be manifest anyway, whether illegally or by way of expressions not dealt with by legislation. We cannot rely on advertising and manipulative persuasion. Advertising and persuasion again address specific conditions and situations without changing the fundamental conditions that make indifference possible. We must truly understand the nature and meaning of compassion itself in order to understand the most effective means of enlarging the class of people who have compassion for animals, and compassion in general. It is disingenuous to believe we pursue a more compassionate society while we are at the same time unconcerned with what compassion is, how it has come to be so little appreciated and what conditions are necessary for its wider distribution. If we are compassionate but we do not know how we got to be compassionate, what hope have we of facilitating the change in others?

Here we begin a systematic investigation of the meaning of Compassion. There is only one prerequisite for this journey. It is contained in the answer to the question, “Does anything matter, or is it all just so much senseless, meaningless chaos?” If your answer is anything other than a resounding, “Yes, something does matter,” then this conversation is not for you and don’t know how I can help you. In that case I can only wish you a speedy recovery from your illness. Otherwise, if something does matter to you then come with me.

Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, let’s get started. We proceed slowly and start close to home. A dictionary definition of Compassion is as good a place to start as any. Compassion is defined as, “The deep awareness of and sympathy for the suffering of others..” This is the common, prevalent understanding of Compassion. It gives us 3 important concepts to work with: awareness, sympathy and suffering. Let’s see how well this definition holds up in real-life situations.

Consider the life and work of Mother Theresa. We will choose this life because there is general agreement that she lived a compassionate life so it is a good example against which to judge the usefulness of our definition. According to our definition to know whether Mother Theresa was, in fact, compassionate one must be able to determine if she was 1) aware of anothers suffering and 2) sympathetic toward that suffering. This reveals a problem, doesn’t it. After all, no one can actually know what another person is thinking or feeling. So we cannot independently determine whether she was actually aware and sympathetic, no matter how reasonable it would seem to be to believe that she was. One cannot know this, it can only be a an article of faith that one believes it to be true. Now look at the other side of the issue. What if there were some advanced technology that allowed one person to see into another’s thoughts and this technology were applied to Mother Theresa. What if this machine told us without question that she was never aware or sympathetic to the suffering. Suppose (quite ridiculously, but just for the sake of argument) that the machine told us that her whole life and work were based upon a slavish desire to obey her Catholic Pope and he told her she must do these things. Further, the machine told us that she actually despised what she was doing and who she was helping. If you knew this is what she was thinking would you respect her Compassion less. Would she turn in your mind from being a compassionate person to being an uncompassionate one?

Finally, put yourself in the place of someone who was the recipient of her Compassion. Would it matter to you whether or not she was actually aware of and sympathetic toward your suffering, so long as her actions had the effect of being compassionate toward you and relieving your suffering. I suspect that even if some machine could prove that she did not have this awareness and sympathy you would want to believe that she did because her actions were compassionate.

We need as many Mother Theresas as we can get. It is immaterial what their mental state or motivations are, it is their actions and the consequences of those actions that are important. For the purposes of evolving a compassionate society it makes no difference whether people volunteer to be compassionate or whether they must be paid to be compassionate. To measure the worth of someone’s Compassion based upon our opinion of their mental state is a harmful distraction from the work of increasing the overall prevalence of compassionate action.

So, clearly, our dictionary definition is not as useful as we had hoped. Next time we will look at the torturer’s view to approach the question from the other direction.

Being at the most uncompassionate extreme, the torturer gives us important clues as to the nature of compassion and the validity of our definition. We are working from the definition, “Compassion is the deep awareness of and sympathy for the suffering of others.. Certainly a torturer is aware of the suffering of others. Such awareness is necessary to doing his job. Could a torturer have sympathy for the one he tortures. Possibly. There is a great deal of historical evidence to show that people can be forced to torture others, people who would otherwise not participate in torture. Suppose there is a situation in which an otherwise normal, nonviolent person is being terrorized and beaten. Then his tormentor says they will stop beating him if he will beat someone else, say a stranger. Under these conditions people have been induced to become reluctant torturers. In this case the need for self preservation could be powerful enough to overcome any sympathy he may have. The sympathy may persist but the choice is made to protect oneself in spite of it.

Then, of course, there may be people who are aware and sympathetic but do nothing. Do you think. This kind of sympathetically aware inaction is obviously of little value and cannot be a useful example of Compassion.

Our dictionary definition of Compassion appears to leave a great deal wanting. Consideration of an ideal compassionate life has led us to the conclusion that awareness and sympathy are not necessary for Compassion. Consideration of the extreme uncompassionate life has lead us to conclude that awareness and sympathy are not sufficient for Compassion. This implies that awareness and sympathy are not essential ingredients in Compassion at all and can be disregarded.

It is worth noting at this point, that awareness and sympathy are hidden, internal states of the psyche with no direct means of independent verification. Whatever they are they are unique to the individual in which they reside. Of the three concepts our definition gave us these are the two that have these characteristics and it is these two that do not hold up under scrutiny and prove to be irrelevant to understanding Compassion. The third concept, however, the suffering, is an external condition verifiable by all. We will elaborate on this point in detail shortly, but for now it should be observed that it is the only concept from the definition that we have not had reason to question and which remains potentially valuable. This relationship between the hidden, individualistic versus shown, observable quality on the one hand and the usefulness of the quality on the other hand will be one we will see repeatedly and it is an important relationship in the understanding of Compassion.

So, at this point, we are led to abandon our dictionary definition of Compassion. But it has given us a foundation from which we can build a better understanding based upon what we have learned here. Suffering remains central to understanding Compassion. Before we can again attack the question of, “What is Compassion?” directly we need to discuss several other helpful concepts. This will occupy the next several sections.

After all this dry analysis it is worth reminding ourselves why we are doing this. The question is, “Is a compassionate society possible and, if so, what does it look like?. Our analysis so far has helped us to see that awareness and sympathy are not useful in answering these questions and that the concept of suffering may be. Awareness and sympathy are not useful concepts precisely because they are part of a hidden, secret mental state. But there are many other such concepts all of which have the same weakness of being part of our hidden, secret lives, veiled to all but the individual himself. We cannot redefine Compassion in terms of any of them without running into the same problems. So Compassion cannot be, “a desire to relieve suffering,” or, “an intention to relieve suffering,” or, “the will to relieve suffering,” or, “commiseration.. All of these types of definitions postulate some internal, mental state the existence of which cannot be know be any other. A society is necessarily about a sphere of influence shared by a group of people. In so far as our secret, thoughts and mental lives are hidden from others they cannot directly contribute to the society.

Intuitively, a compassionate society can be seen to be a society in which the individuals have a prevailing tendency to choose acts of Compassion over acts of any other kind. This seems clear and reasonable enough. Operationally speaking, I would be entirely content to accept a society that fit this criterion even if I had to also accept any possible cause for this level of Compassion. To my mind, to achieve this level of Compassion throughout society it makes no difference whether the cause for it is that people’s, “consciousnesses are raised,” or that they are paid to act this way, or that they are brain-washed or that our very biology is altered by gene manipulation - by any means necessary. Having a clear idea about where we are going, to get there, to know whether a compassionate society is possible, we must understand what Compassion is.

We are left with the concept of suffering to understand Compassion. Is that enough. What if we try the following definition. “Compassion is the act of relieving suffering.. This definition uses only the concepts of act or action and suffering. I like this because I can know when someone else is acting and I can know when suffering is relieved as a consequence. Further it is possible to judge a society as compassionate by observation of the actions and the results of all the individuals there of. Let’s explore this idea further. There are several profound conclusions to be drawn from this idea.

First, viewing Compassion in this way implies that a person can be neither compassionate nor uncompassionate, only an act can be compassionate if it is an act of Compassion. Any attempt to identify a person as compassionate or not must refer back to the acts of that person some of which may be compassionate and others not, and any attempt to place relative value on the history of those acts must necessarily be arbitrary and biased. Further, pursuing such arbitrary value systems does not contribute to the identification of a compassionate society since it is a society in which there is a “prevailing trend to choose acts of Compassion”, not one in which “people are compassionate”. This realization also has certain spiritual overtones in that we become the moment-to-moment implement for something beyond our individual selves that is Compassion, acting through us. We do not own Compassion; Compassion uses us to act.

Before discussing the other implications of Compassion as the act of relieving suffering, we must now make a detailed examination of the concept of suffering, next time.

In its most elemental sense, suffering is what a living organism experiences when deprived of the conditions most optimal for its health and survival. So, for instance, when we are deprived of water we suffer thirst. When we are deprived of food we suffer hunger. When we are deprived of rest we suffer exhaustion. This is absolutely all that suffering is.

Living things rely upon homeostatic mechanisms to maintain an equilibrium in which conditions are sufficiently stable for their metabolic needs. Temperatures must not exceed a certain range or the organism will freeze or die of the heat. Oxygen must be available in sufficient quantities. Nutrients and food must be available when needed. Suffering is an alerting mechanism, a biological signal, that notifies the organism that the current conditions are not providing for it’s needs, and those current conditions are threatening its survival.

As a result of that signal that suffering provides the organism can take action to correct the situation. When it suffers from thirst it drinks and the signal is extinguished. When it suffers from hunger then it eats and the suffering stops.

If there were no suffering then the organism would receive no signal when it was becoming dehydrated. So it would not know to drink and the dehydration would increase until it died from lack of water. If you did not suffer from hunger when your body needed to eat you would starve. Without suffering death would be unavoidable. There must be both suffering and the relief from suffering for things to live. It is our very suffering and its relief that gives us continuing life. If we had only suffering without any relief from suffering, life could not be for even a day. So long as there is change life must adjust to that change, and suffering provides life the opportunity to adjust as it must.

Obviously, it can be seen from this that suffering is both inevitable and very necessary. In fact, the very existence of life itself depends upon the experience of suffering, at least from time to time and to one degree or another, in every living thing. One of the most profound and interesting observations to be drawn from this understanding of suffering is that Compassion, as the act of relieving suffering, is also the act of giving or preserving life. Compassion is the act of making the types of adjustments to the changes we experience that enables life to go on. Compassion is, most fundamentally, the tendency towards life and away from death. Without Compassion death would always be the result. Only Compassion stands between us and death.

Do you see the vistas this perspective opens up. Armed with our understanding of Compassion and its component suffering as we have them, the implications are very far reaching and have tremendous ramifications. If a compassionate society is possible we are beginning to see what it must look like.

In the next chapter we will explore more deeply into the many discoveries this view of Compassion affords us.

We have said that Compassion is the act of relieving suffering. Is Compassion real or is it just some fantasy, part of our beliefs. Is there any existence and substance to Compassion or is it just another figment of our imaginations. Let me frame the question in this way to make it perfectly clear. If man were not here would there be Compassion. During the time of the dinosaurs, before man’s arrival on this Earth, was there Compassion in the world - anywhere, in any form?

The common usage of the word compassion refers to our internal, personal feelings about someone or a situation to which we are sympathetic. However, this is a very narrow view that misses the rest of the world. If Compassion is no more than an idea in our head without substance, like fairies and leprechauns, what hope could we possibly have of ever seeing a compassionate society. That would be equivalent to dreaming about a society integrated with fairies and leprechauns. There is a strong, intuitive sense that there is real Compassion, beyond the imaginings of our minds, that is part of our real, substantial world. Let’s see if we can identify this real Compassion, that Compassion that exists outside of ourselves.

Man functions within two distinct spheres of experience, one hidden within himself and the other outside and independent of any one person. To get a sense of these two speheres, consider the following questions:

The first sphere of experience is one of shared experiences. I know your experience of eating by my eating - we both eat and thus have the experience of eating. I know your experience of breathing by my breathing. We are born, we eat, sleep, breath and die. We all share the essential qualities of these experiences. These shared experiences are entwined with our bodies and there connections with the outside world.

Then there is the second sphere of experience, which is constituted by our hopes, dreams, desires, worries, ambitions, expectations, and all thoughts and the other individualistic and hidden experiences of our secret mental lives. These experiences have no direct manifestations in the outside world. We may only see their effects indirectly in our actions.

Clearly the shared sphere of experience is where everything of importance happens. If we trivialize the experiences of living - eating, sleeping, breathing - it is because we take them for granted, not because they are trivial. Would you trade the experience of writing a novel like Ernest Hemingway for the experience of breathing. First we must breath. Then, once we have that going consistently, we can consider doing other things like writing a novel.

Our shared experiences are connected with our identity as a living being and as a species. A species represents a particular solution to a set of environmental problems. Fish developed gills to solve the problem of extracting oxygen from water for increasing metabolic needs. All fish with gills share the experience of breathing with gills. Our species developed nose, throat and lungs to solve the problem of extracting oxygen from air. We all share the experience of breathing. The qualities and experiences we share could be likened to a signal or communication with the outside world. On the other hand, all of those individualistic experiences hidden within our heads can be likened to background noise. It is similar to listening to the radio on a station that has poor reception. Even though there is background noise in the form of static we still hear the primary signal which is the music being broadcast.

Thinking, too, is a shared experience. But not the specific thoughts. I know that you have thoughts because I have thoughts, just not the same ones. Thinking itself is part of the signal or communication with the outside world. But which thoughts we have in particular at any time is individualistic, unshared background noise. In particular which thoughts, feelings, desires, ambitions, etc. we experience is just so much background noise. This point can be very difficult for us to grasp fully. We are so entangled with the need to believe our particular thoughts have importance that it is very difficult for us to see that it is really just the experience of thinking itself that has importance and that our special, individual thoughts are just distracting noise. But coming to grips with this reality is essential to understand Compassion.

You see, the question is, “In which sphere of experience does Compassion reside?. Is Compassion part of our hidden, individualistic experiences, different in each person and unsharable. Or is Compassion an essential part of the signal that we are as a species, part of the connections that tie us to the rest of the real world. Does Compassion have a real manifestation. Find your own intuitive answer to this question, and next time we will explore it in greater depth.

What is the truth about Compassion. We have argued that Compassion is an action that relieves suffering. So the truth about Compassion is the truth about suffering and its relief. So then what is suffering?

The truth about Compassion and the truth about suffering have to do with the realities of suffering and its relief. But suffering and its relief only have meaning with respect to a particular being that is the sufferer and who is relieved of that suffering. It is meaningless to talk about suffering in the absence of any sufferer. To suffer there must be one to suffer. The truth about suffering cannot be separated from the truth about the sufferer. To know one we must know the other.

Suppose a space ship lands on a very distant planet and encounters a life form completely unfamiliar to any form of life any of the astronauts have ever seen. Suppose it is so unfamiliar that no one has any idea how it acts, or lives. In this situation Compassion is not possible. The astronauts might pick it up, pour water on it or cover it with dirt. But they cannot know whether in doing these things they have caused suffering, relieved suffering or neither. To know this one must have an understanding grown out of personal experience with suffering and the ability to recognize a similar experience in another. And to be correct in one’s judgement about the suffering of another one must see the truth of that other and the nature of its existence.

Truth, the real, existence, reality - these are all terms for what is. This is simple enough. But to know the truth about a particular thing it is necessary to know all of its relationships. The existence of something is described by how it relates to everything else. This is especially important when it comes to living beings.

Inanimate objects may be used arbitrarily. At one moment a chair may be something to sit upon and the next a work of art or a piece of kindling.

But living things have an intrinsic and unalterable nature specific to themselves. If we are asked what a wolf is, or what is the truth of a wolf, we must answer by describing the relationships the animal holds to its environment. A wolf is a predator that lives and hunts in packs, feeding on caribou, and so on. The system of Nature both defines and is defined by the relationships of its constituent beings.

This brings us to consider a useful and common image called, “The Web of Life.. It can be useful to picture our living world as an infinitely large web. The web consists of strands or connections, which we cannot actually see but we may imagine them to picture the relationships connecting us to others, and them to us.

So imagine an enormous web of silken threads in which at each point where one strand or thread crosses another a living being resides. For each being there are many strands connecting her to many other beings. Each strand that extends from her ends or connects her with someone or something with which she has a special relationship.

Who do you depend upon. As children most of us depended upon our parents for nurturing. We may marry and come to depend upon our spouses. We may have children who depend upon us, in turn. And we have many more distant relationships as well. We depend upon the farmer to provide us with food, and the truck driver to deliver the food to our communities, and so on. Even more distant relationship exist. The farmers who grow our food depend upon the soil to grow the plants we eat and they depend upon the weather to provide sufficient rain and sun for a good crop.

Now the truth about you or me or anything is understood by seeing the thing in its place in this Web of Life. The truth of any one being is described by the connections she makes to others, and the connections they make to still others, and on and on, ad infinitum. This Web of Life is a metaphor for all of our relationships, both near and distant.

The truth of a being is understood by seeing the strands to which she connects in this web, her immediate relationships to others, and to which those connect, going as deeply as necessary for the understanding. A perfect understanding of the truth of a being in this web would ideally require complete visualization of all her connections, an impossible task. From where we sit on this web we each can see only to a limited, finite depth along any chain of connections because our intellectual understanding is limited. An infinite intellect would be required to have a total understanding of all relationships. We can understand how someone depends upon her family and friends. But beyond that, going as far as the farmer and his weather and soil, for instance, those relationships are usually too distant to be completely appreciated by our limited abilites. Is this enough to understand how others suffer, how we may act to relieve that suffering and thereby bring Compassion into the world. Yes, of course it is.

It is an extremely beautiful principle of this web that its health and maintenance does not require us to do any more then understand those relationships that we can understand. All that we need to know to function as a member of this web is provided within our grasp. We are guaranteed to have available to us a sufficient depth of understanding to know the truth of all the beings with which we share our region of this web, that is, all the other beings upon whom we depend and who depend upon us. This is because the connections are transitive. Although our personal understanding is local, there is a path along this web from any one place to any other. At each point, as the path crosses by each person, that person contributes their Compassion to those to whom she relates, and thereby Compassion spreads infinitely in all directions, beginning from each person.

And we do have a function in this web. Each being of the web has her own needs for survival - air, water, shelter, defense from predators, companionship, etc. The connections provide for these needs. In turn she provides for some of the needs to those to whom she connects. The web exists precisely because each member provides for the needs of others and others provide for her. A being is most content when the connections she requires are present and both providing her and receiving from her. Suffering can be seen to be a loss or disruption in these connections. Compassion, being the act of relieving suffering, can be seen to be the restoration of the lost or disrupted connections. An act of Compassion is one that sees that another has broken connections and restores those connections. An act of Compassion is one that sees that another has unmet needs, needs that arise from the true nature of that person, being or thing, and provides for those needs.

To put it another way, we are most content, we suffer least, when our relationships are whole, productive and nuturing. We have intrinsic, inborn needs, characteristic of our nature and species. Our needs are fulfilled through our relationships. Suffering occurs when those relationships are broken or disrupted. Therefore, Compassion is the restoration of broken relationships. An act of Compassion is an act that understands the relationships of another, sees that they are broken and acts to mend the broken relationships. That is the truht about suffering and Compassion.

So an awareness IS required - an awareness of the connections or relationships. But we said initially that awareness was not required. So what is going on here. We will explore this awareness in the next section.

We began by asking the question, “What is Compassion?. We discovered that personal awareness was not necessary; then we said that suffering is closely tied to our biological needs; next that suffering can be viewed as disruptions in an intricate web of Nature and that Compassion is the restoration of those connections; and, finally, we discovered an awareness that is required by Compassion.

Compassion requires an awareness of the place of an individual in the web, and the connections for that individual. This is unlike the personal awareness we considered originally. Unlike that personal awareness, which was part of someone’s hidden, secret life. This awareness belongs in the sphere of shared experiences. It is an awareness of the structure of a web that we all share. I know you have the connections that you have because I have the very same threads. I know that you have needs and relationships that help you to meet those needs, because I, too, have needs and I, too, have relationships that help me to meet my needs. We are individuals embedded in the same context in the larger system struggling to do our parts in service to the Narural web.

This brings us to the answer to our original question, “What is Compassion?. It is exactly this awareness, awareness of our context, relative to the contexts of all our neighbors, within the Natural web. It is care for the health, stability and integrity of the web, restoring broken connections, healing the suffering, giving attention to the shared experiences that ripple and pulsate like surges of energy throughout this web.

On the vast plains of the Serengeti in Africa the Summer season brings hot, dry weather that depletes the watering holes and rivers leaving a drought. The animals suffer from thirst and spend much time searching for water. Then the seasons change and the Monsoons come and fill up the streams and holes with drenching rain, providing water in great abundance.

Now if instead of the Monsoon rains there were a group of people who formed a bucket brigade and hauled water to the watering holes and filled them to relieve the thirst of the animals, it would be easy for us to recognize that action as compassionate. But the effect of the Monsoon rains is the same, in fact, far more effective. Because we have an awareness of the suffering we can infer that there is, in some sense, an awareness that brings the Monsoons, also. The source of that awareness may not be apparent to us because it lies too far back in the web, nested too deeply in distant connections, for us to see the source directly. Still it is there and the Monsoons are an act of Compassion.

From this it becomes clear that Compassion is an infinite force of Nature whose manifestion is life itself. She who serves this force acts with Compassion and there is no other means but this to act with Compassion.

Next we will look at some practical applications of this understanding.

We have come quite a ways in understanding Compassion. But we have also been dealing largely in the abstract. Let’s consider several real-world conditions that pertain to Compassion and see how it applies.

Consider slavery. What is the problem with slavery. Some would say that the problem is a denial of human righton. But the truth is that the problem with slavery is that it is a denial of a person’s connections to the web, it is a denial of her natural relationships.

Suppose you were to pay a slave trader a sum of money for a slave that he provided and he were to give you a contract in return transfering ownership of the slave to you. But further suppose that the contract also stipulated that you could in no way command, control or interfere with the normal and legal activities of your slave, nor any of her possessions nor family. Well, in this case there would be no problem with slavery, would there. It is not the possession of another that creates the problem of slavery but the control of that person and the constraints being a slave puts upon her pursuit of her inherent destiny.

When a person is not a slave and she is not otherwise controlled by someone else, then she is able to provide for her connections, those who depend upon her, and be provided for by her connections, those who she depends upon, with the web, as defined by her community and the Natural world in which that community resides. With freedom she has a rich set of options provided to her by a very large nexus of relationships with the individuals in her community and the Natural world.

Slavery causes her to be forced to substitute and be constrained by the small set of connections all of which now end at her master. Slavery is the act breaking the relationships the slave had with the people she depended upon and who depended upon her and substituting a total dependence upon the master. For the slave the master becomes the web and all meaningful contact with the real web is denied. We have an intuitive sense that this is uncompassionate because we know the suffering and misery of slavery even if we have never been slaves. We know this because we share a need for our connectedness, our relationships. Because I know suffering when denied access to my relationships by another, I know that you must suffer the same.

Those who practiced slavery could only do so by denying the truth of those they enslaved. The slave traders were overtly indifferent to the truth of their slaves. But the owners often devised elegant lies to mask the truth they denied. Here is a quote from Thomas Jefferson to illustrate this point:

Misery is often the parent of the most affecting touches in poetry. Among the blacks is misery enough, God knows, but no poetry. Love is the peculiar oestrum of the poet. Their love is ardent, but it kindles the senses only, not the imagination.
From Revolution to Reconstruction

Compassion, being an absolutely honest and literal understanding and recognition of the truth of a person, as defined by her connections to the web, her natural relationships, and being a devotion to serve the health and maintenance of those connections, acting to correct them when they are broken, necessarily must absolutely exclude slavery. This is universal.

Imprisonment is suffering for similar reasons. It is punishment and causes suffering, again, because it is a denial of natural relationships - a denial of the need to move, to work and to commune with others of our communities. Imprisonment is designed to punish specifically by breaking connections.

Thirst is a broken connection to our normal sources of water. Hunger is a loss of our relationship to our normal food sources. Lonliness is an obvious loss of relationships, relationships to our community. Every form of suffering of any real kind can be seen to be a disturbance, loss or denial of some normal relationships that are natural to our true selves - broken connections in the web.

Next time we will conclude our look at Compassion.

I have set before you life and death, blessings or curses. Oh that you would choose life, that you and your children might live. (Deuteronomy 30:19/20)

Man is different. We are completely unique among all of life. Unlike any other form of life we are not constrained by the web.

For every other life form the connections that it makes to the web are virtually a fixed set of relationships. A fish cannot devise a means to walk and fly. A bird cannot create a mechanism to stay submerged for long periods or to print a novel. Other forms of life have fixed connections upon which they depend and upon which the web relies for stability.

However, man has been freed from these restrictions. He is capable of rearranging his own connections in any way his imagination can conceive. We have devised ways to live in the most unhospitable of environments, from the deepest oceans to outer space. We are capable of conquering any environment and removing all other life that resides there.

Other life forms are completely dependent upon Compassion for their survival. The connections are their lives and they have no other choice but to rely upon Compassion to provide what they need.

Man can get what he wants. We, unlike other life forms, can materialize our ideas and thoughts. The power of this freedom leads us to believe that Compassion is not important. We are led to believe that what we think is important because what we think appears to have such grandiose effects. No wonder it has been common to believe that we are the only creatures with thought since only our thoughts have such significant effects.

From this it can be clearly seen that the reason that we were created, our purpose in the web, is to test the hypothesis that an organism that is freed from its fixed constraints to the web can persist. We, alone, can choose our relationships. We, alone, can actively deny Compassion, by denying the truth about ourselves and others, and by subverting the natural relationships. It would seem that Nature wants to know whether an organism that can choose to deny Compassion can learn to survive anyway. We are the experiment.

In spite of our special powers we are ultimately still dependent upon the web for survival. There is no existence without connectedness. We cannot be in isolation. These connections are far too complex to ever be fully within our control. The web is vast and intricate. Compassion is the ruler and law-giver that makes it stable. We have no hope of conquering Compassion. We cannot become the replacement for Compassion. Though we are offered the freedom to deny Compassion, it is a false freedom. In this way we do not differ from all the rest of life. We cannot deny Compassion and survive. We are the experiment of Nature to see if an organism that is given the ability to deny Compassion can learn to choose to serve Compassion anyway.

Man must solve the Compassion Imperative or perish. The Compassion Imperative is our fundamental, organismic, biological imperative. We must learn to actively affirm Compassion and find and take our given, natural place in the web. We have a place. That place is provided to us by the web. We cannot choose another place by force of will. The power of the web is much larger than our will. If we choose not to take our place we will be excluded entirely. There is no other place. Our place was designed especially for us by the web. It is suitable for us alone. Just as it is true that nothing else will fit in our place, we cannot take another’s place. If we do not choose to surrender to Compassion, then oblivion is our fate. There is only Compassion. To pursue anything else is futile.

There is much reason to hope that we can learn to choose to serve Compassion. Compassion is a universal convergence point. Every religion emphasizes Compassion as a fundamental tenent in one form or another. Human righton, animal righton, minority righton, every type of rights movement implicitly uses Compassion as its foundation. Wherever societies flourish and people thrive, Compassion is the source of their success. Every person has an understanding of suffering and its relief. It is not a giant leap, but only one more small step, to openly embrace Compassion above everything else. For clearly, nothing is more important.

Here ends this journey for me. We have barely scratched the topic of Compassion. The vastness of the topic makes a comprehensive survey impossible so an ending must be chosen arbitrarily.

Now it is for you to go forward. Serve Compassion with all those whom you touch. If we choose wisely and assist others in choosing wisely, and with luck, a compassionate society will be born. God speed.

How should we think about life and the living of it. Here I offer a metaphor that may be useful for that purpose.

Imagine that in one hand you are holding onto Compassion. Take your time to examine it. Explore it carefully and passionately. Recognize that this hand holds the most important thing. Examine it until you see this. Now close your fist firmly around it and with the other, second, hand do what you must do to live.

As you carry on with living with all the things you do with your second hand, pause frequently to open your first hand and contemplate what you hold there. Renew your intimacy with the object that lies resting in your palm. Then carefully close your grasp around that precious thing before returning your attention to the activities of your second hand. No matter how busy you may become never loose your grasp on that Compassion in your first hand.

The Compassion you hold onto will guide the actions of your other hand. You will naturally act in ways that allow you to give enough attention to your grasp of Compassion that it will never be forgotten, never given a minor status, never dropped from inattention.

Frequently you will find that what has come to lie in your second hand may not be compatible with what is in your first hand. At such moments open both hands and look down at both closely. If you become convinced that the thing in your second hand is not compatible with what is in your first, drop the thing in your second hand. Get rid of it.

If you ever begin to wonder if the thing in your second hand is more important than the Compassion that lies in your first, it is not. Stop and look again until you see this. If you do not do this you will inevitably drop the Compassion in your first hand. This would leave your second hand unconstrained towards all kinds of destructive actions.

Of course, none of us has perfect concentration nor the perfect ability to forsee the outcome of all of our actions. We learn day by day new ways our actions have effects. So it is inevitable that we will all drop that Compassion from time to time.Just get down on your hands and knees and feel around in the dark, inch by inch, until you find it again. It never rolls far away. Pick it up again, dust it off, and put it back into your fist. Forget about the incident; it is past. Each day is a new opportunity to hold Compassion again.

Holding onto Compassion is the source of Right Action.

A friend tells me he thinks you cannot get Compassion from a stone. I disagree. Most would agree feeding the starving is an act of Compassion. So when a government sends a shipment of food to a nation struggling with starvation I accept that as an act of Compassion. It may be true that the guy who actually unloads the food from the plane may not be thinking about the suffering of the people. It may be the only job he could find and he just wants to get it done and get home to Momma. That may be true for the entire crew on board the plane. In fact, I might go to each person involved in the decision to send humanitarian aid and each and every one of them may give me a reason for their contribution to the food delivery other than an empathy with the suffering of the starving people. Maybe the Minister of Foreign Affairs is acting on orders from the Prime Minister, and all the other bureaucrats have their own, personal self-interest in mind. To my mind the point is that the food is delivered and the hungry are fed and that means it is Compassion. I do not need any further certification of the act with respect to the feelings of anyone involved to know it as Compassion.

Similarly when a farmer plants his crop and harvests it and feeds his family with it, that is an act of Compassion. The hungry are fed. Suffering is relieved. Compassion. I’m not interested in what the farmer is feeling about what he is doing. I leave him to feel as he pleases so long as he feeds his family. No matter what feelings he may have about the act I see the act as Compassion.

But that farmer would not have his crop if he had not had the fertile soil. So the soil must be there for the farmer to have his crop and for him to feed his family. Therefore I must see the soil as an essential element in that act of Compassion - no soil, no Compassion. And that soil contains stones that contribute to the fertile quality of that soil. Hence I am inevitably lead to conclude that stones may act with Compassion.

If we did not have stones where would we stand. Where would we bury our dead. On what would we build our homes. All of life grows out of the lifeless. When a chain of events, a sequence of actions, leads to a final action that relieves suffering then each event in the chain has created that Compassion. I give each event its due. If any were missing the chain would be broken and the final act of Compassion would not be. Life itself originated from the lifeless. In the beginning it was the inanimate that gave rise to the animate. I will recognize every element for its contribution.

When we enlarge the meaning of the word Compassion in this way we gain a much deeper, fuller and more complete understanding of our place in the Natural Order.

Many Eastern religions and philosophy say that the self is an illusion, that there is no real self. I have always found this nonintuitive, after all I do seem to be here. But I have found some thought experiments that helped me to internalize an understanding of the illusion of self.

Suppose we are sitting together talking and I produce a living rabbit. I say, “Here is a rabbit.” Then I cut the rabbit exactly in half, right down the middle. Don’t worry. This is a thought experiment so no rabbit is ever actually harmed. Now we look at both halves of the rabbit and I ask you, “Now where is the rabbit?. Further suppose you decide to answer me, “There is no rabbit, only 2 half rabbits.”

Next I produce another rabbit and this time I cut off exactly one-fourth of the rabbit leaving a three-fourths part with it. We look at both pieces and I ask, “Now where’s the rabbit?. Again you answer me, “There is no rabbit, just one fourth and three fourths of a rabbit.. I produce a third rabbit this time cutting off exactly one-eighth and ask the same question and I get the same answer.

Suppose we continue in this way, cutting off less and less of each successive rabbit and you, rather stubbornly I must say, consistently answer that there is no rabbit, only parts of rabbits. Finally, with one rabbit I just trim the end of one toe nail and I point at the rabbit and the piece of toenail that I have removed and again ask, “Where is the rabbit?. If you are really stubborn and continue to insist there is no rabbit, then with my next rabbit I just sit for 10 minutes and wait for the few 100 or so skin cells of the rabbit to fall off in the process of normal skin exfoliation and ask again, “Where is the rabbit?”

This experiment makes it clear to me that what I am commonly calling a rabbit is a completely arbitrary definition of something that, in fact, never exists. The actual thing I am referring to when I say “rabbit” is just a mental image that does not actually correspond to anything of a real nature.

Now suppose we are walking together in the wilderness and we see a coyote hunting a rabbit. We stop to watch and the coyote catches the rabbit. The rabbit is struggling in the coyotes mouth and I ask you, “Where’s the rabbit?. Suppose you say, “It is in the coyote’s mouth.. We continue to watch as the coyote devours the rabbit. First he bites off a foot - crunch, crunch, swallow. The rabbit continues to struggle. I ask the same question and receive the same answer. But now I find the answer unsettling because the foot has already been swallowed. That foot was part of rabbit. Now is it still part of rabbit or is it now part of the coyote?

As we continue to watch the rabbit eventually stops struggling and the coyote devours the rabbit, piece by piece until everything has been consumed. When did the rabbit go. At what point in this process did the rabbit cease to be. When the rabbit pieces are in the bowels of the coyote they are digested into smaller and smaller pieces until finally they are decomposed into their chemical constituents, absorbed and incorporated into the tissues of the coyote. It must be clear that any choice we make about when the rabbit is and when it ceases to be is completely arbitrary. Furthermore, what was once rabbit has become coyote. When it is one thing and when it becomes the other is again completely arbitrary. Any choice that we make has no relationship to the actual identity of the thing from the point of view of the Natural Order.

If the rabbit became the coyote when it was fully digested then it must also have been the coyote when it was undigested pieces in the coyote’s stomach. If it was coyote when it was pieces in coyote’s stomach then it must have been coyote already when it was struggling in coyote’s mouth. If then, it must have been coyote when it was yet to be captured and still running for it’s life. If then, it must have been coyote before the coyote ever saw the rabbit. In fact it must have been coyote even before either coyote or rabbit were yet born.

From the point of view of the Natural Order what we are calling a coyote and a rabbit are just porous bags of molecules, sacks of energy wrapped by the sheerest gossamer netting. And these bags or sacks may come close to each other and then move farther apart, at times commingling so intimately that they seem to be one. But it is always a matter of distance, sometimes very short, sometimes farther apart. It is always a continuum with no intrinsic borders, limits or boundaries. This demonstrates clearly that there are no individual entities, only relative concentrations of energy coming and going with extreme dynamism. This observation has profound implications.

First, it becomes clear that from the point of view of the Natural Order there are no entities only actions, without entities that do the acting. Thus the web of connections that constitutes the Natural Order is all of the Natural Order and the nodes we may talk about between the connections are illusions. There are only connections.

Second, any actions of ours that arise from a idea of self, where self is different from some other, are actions based upon an illusion. When you hate me you hate yourself. When you kill me you kill yourself. When you help me you help yourself, you help every person, you help everything connected to the Natural Order.

Winter of the Soul

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:05 -0800

Pieces die off that are no longer needed
Tears of revelation cleanse my soul
Release aspects with which I once pleaded
As they wither away I let them go

Things become barer and more plain
But the chill that winter is thought to have
Remains outside the window of my perception
As I’m warmed by the fire with reason to be glad

Branches are snapping but beneath the earth
Roots are deepening and spreading
The snow outside is a stunning landscape
A mirror of where I am heading

This is the winter of the soul
Unfolding a timeless drawing
A pristine preserved blueprint
Is eternally thawing

[Angelkate](288.html)

Time

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:04 -0800

Have you ever noticed that you have the power to control time? In fact, you are doing it right now. “That can’t be true”, I hear you say, “Time is shared by everyone, so if one person controlled it then everyone else would notice time speeding up or down! There would be conflicting influences on time happening from many different people, so it wouldn’t be possible!” This logic makes sense based on the idea that time is a shared reality between all human beings and something that is unchangeable.

However, is it? It would seem to be so when we look at the clocks that we live by and how these time systems link together in perfect harmony to create a network of interlinking lives, all being lived in synchronicity with one worldwide clock that has slightly different numbers attributed to certain points on it based on your geographical location - we are all in different places, but on the same merry-go-round. In our perception, we are all moving around the perimeter of one big world clock, just like the earth moves around the sun.

I invite you to consider for a moment, the notion that time is an illusion. It is not a physical thing, but a perception that we have formed based on our observation of moving objects within the universe, our tracking of their cycles using manmade meters and devices and our marking of mental images that represent our experiences onto various places on our manmade charts. We remember the past and contemplate the future, frequently using phrases such as ’look towards the future’, ’look back on the past’ and ‘further down the line’, but let’s take a closer at how we do this… we imagine.

Our internal images of the past and future are symbols that represent what we have experienced or what we imagine that we will experience, but they are not the experiences themselves. This is rather like how an artist’s painting is an impression of a landscape but is not the landscape itself; it is a different object altogether and was made with the artist’s own materials, yet to the artist it represents the landscape. Each time that we remember an experience what we are actually doing is creating a new mental construct that represents it, this brings sense to the word ’re-member’ which means to ‘put back together’. It may look like the experience that it represents or like the same memory that we thought we had experienced many times before, however, it is completely new just as it is every time. Past and future are only ever found in the mind and do not exist in our outer reality, they are a figment of our imagination.

There is no such thing as a time line, this is another concept that we create in our head just as we could have created any number of infinite mental constructs in which to categorise our experiences and thus experience a particular reality, believing it to be the ultimate one. For instance, we could have grown up perceiving time as a circle that repeats over and over again, believing our existence to be a continuous repetition of the same time loop that we get to re-create in new ways, but always passing through the same ‘patch’ of time. This could be likened to if you took a walk around your garden, mowing, pruning or planting as you go, then when you come around again it would be the same garden, yet changed. Instead of thinking that the past is lost forever we might see it as a newer version of what it once was. Or we could have grown up Envisioning time as a multidimensional shape, within our minds eye seeing each new experience as a piece added to the puzzle as it gradually gets bigger and changes shape throughout our lives to form our time map. We would see our life journey as a series of movements through the compartments of this shape and see ourselves as being located in a certain place within it, searching through these different areas in order to reminisce on our life and imagining new pieces in order to visualise our future. Time in this case, would be considered an individual thing rather than a shared reality and we might therefore share a common agreement that time is changeable and bendable. Also, we would likely see time as being separate from our records of the nature cycles but still use charts and dials to organise our lives when necessary, with the attitude of, ‘Of course the charts are just for practical purposes and should not be considered as the reality of time, everyone knows that time is changeable and not fixed, for it would be ridiculous to suggest that it was since it is different for everyone!’ Alternatively, we could perceive time as an unfolding process that coincides with our personal development, with the various stages of the flowering of our true selves as the landmarks to which we attach all other memories within our perceptual calendar. Just because we use clocks for practicality - this does not mean that we are required to see it as our reality.

If on the other hand we lived in the wilderness we might never give a thought to time except to look into the sky to see if the sun is setting or rising, living in cycles that feel natural to us rather than feeling that we have to control them and override our natural inclinations. It seems that the more man made our life styles become, the more emphasis that we place on time and the more trapped we feel by it. We try to accomplish impossible tasks such as running away from the past, beating the clock or racing towards the future. This is stressful because when we do this we are not living in harmony with the only moment that there is; this one. Truer to reality and a more peaceful way to see our existence is as one moment that we are eternally sculpting and creating. However, this is still a mental concept and while we can read words that are symbols of that which they describe, they are not the thing itself. Truth is experienced within oneself, although it is nice to be reminded of it because this can gently beckon us back to our natural state that patiently waits beneath the layers of thought, ready to be rediscovered.

If we are consciousness and consciousness is presence and presence is now, this means that in order to time travel we would have to leave ourselves behind! Of course, this is impossible because one cannot separate oneself from that which one is. This also means that there is no ‘out there’, there is only here. For there to be an ‘out there’ that is separate from us, because now is presence and presence is consciousness, the ‘out there’ would have to be something other than consciousness - which is impossible. Something that is not consciousness cannot exist because consciousness is the meaning of existence; such a thing can only be imagined by consciousness itself and is therefore illusion.

Since the idea of travelling to another destination in time is a fascinating concept for many of us, let us consider for a moment what it would be like if this were possible. I imagine that some of us would travel back in time in order to make changes to the past in an attempt to effect positive change in the present, perhaps we would correct an action of ours that we consider to be a mistake or act on information that we had only received further into the future. Perhaps we would become obsessed with trying to change situations in our life by going back, instead of drawing on faith and courage to face them in the present. It would be a way of running away from the very experiences through which we grow and evolve by uncovering the jewels of our authentic selves in the face of challenges that test our spirit.

Another thing to consider is that we would not know what the full consequences of altering the past would be, just as we don’t for our actions in the present. On returning to the present we would find that we would have created a set of alternate problems and with them a never-ending temptation to go back in an attempt to do more fixing. If on the other hand, we travelled to the future, we would probably become anxious about how to achieve the success that we have witnessed in our future life or scared of an undesired outcome and fear driven as we try to prevent it from happening.

Now let’s take a closer look at how we attempt to escape the present moment, becoming prisoners of our own minds as we throw it away in the search for something better. Many of us often feel that we are ‘running away from the past’, ‘running out of time’ or ‘chasing the future’, this causes us to feel things such as stress, fear, anxiety, uneasy anticipation that we mistake for excitement and generally to have a sense of being misplaced and off balance. Some of us spend our entire lives trying to escape the present moment which is the root cause of most of our suffering in the various ways that it presents itself, which are all branches of the same tree. We crave the return to our natural state of being which is a sense of connection, belonging and wholeness; however, when we do not recognise our suffering as the messenger of truth that it is we misinterpret our desire as a need for the stuff that we see outside of ourselves. We seek fulfilment in meaningless things that cannot satisfy us, unknowingly leading ourselves into a trap whereby we experience temporary relief from our dissatisfaction, which fuels a cycle of addiction because our real need is unmet, which is the need to experience the truth of who we are. All attempts to make ourselves whole will eventually fail as long as we seek completion outside of ourselves, because our incompleteness is an illusion itself and can therefore only be remedied by the relinquishment of this illusion. We cannot free our self by adding the illusion that we are happy to the illusion that we are unwhole, we must strip away all illusion to reveal our wholeness, this is how we find the deep sense of peace and completeness that we have desired all our life.

We are homesick - we roam the dark moors of our illusion like ghosts of the earth, lost and haunted by the shadows of our own imaginations. We are addicts of thought just as we are addicts of shopping, food, alcohol, drugs, sex, relationships and anything else that we can use as a distraction from being here now, with ourselves in the intimacy of the present moment. We look everywhere but the place where we would find what we yearn for and where we would find true satisfaction; we miss our true selves. We miss the warmth of our own hearts, the peace of our own souls and the stillness of this eternal moment, we crave the authenticity of knowing ourselves and the awareness of our connection to them whole that this brings.

The present moment is the truth of our being, it is our home. When we are fully in it, we resonate at the true frequency of our being. An illusion will never bring us the contentment that we desire because there is nowhere to ‘bring’ it from since it being ‘out there’ is an illusion. We project a false reality outside of ourselves, but we are all there is - we are the universe, we are life itself. We are the truth that we seek, we are the belonging, we are the freedom and we are the beauty.

How do we stop fighting this moment and allow ourselves to be present? Since we are already here, we must stop trying to be somewhere else, which can only ever be an illusion. We need to stop doing as we are doing and simply allow things to be as they are and always were. Here we find the rest, the relief and the freedom for which we have sought, it is so simple that it seems too easy. We think that because our problems seem big and complicated, that it will take something equally confusing, difficult and complex to fix it, yet we are mistaken. This is the secret of life. We struggle in our search for freedom, creating increasingly intricate illusions, desperately hoping that they will fill the void that we sense within our souls. Until one day we realise that we are roaming the very maze that we are creating and that there is no way out, except to let go of the maze itself. When we realise this, we give up the fight against our true selves and in doing so we learn what strength is. We find it in the silent knowing of all that we are, we realise that there is nothing to run away from except the illusions that we had created. We accept what is and far from being helpless victims of circumstance, we are clear enough to take inspired action, free from the weight of all that we no longer carry.

Now, we arrive where we began - you have the power to control time. If time is an illusion then you are free to choose how you experience it, because you are the one who is creating it. Have you noticed how when you slow down, time slows down as well? Or how when you speed up, so does time? When you run away from time, it chases after you just as fast and likewise when you relax, so does it seem to. Time mirrors your inner state of being, it is a reflection of how you choose to be in this moment. It stares back at you from the projected ‘out there’ with the truth of what you are being in this moment. Perhaps this would seem insignificant to some, however, when you consider that your state of being affects everything else in your life, you realise that you are powerful beyond all measure. When we choose to embrace the power of our truth by aligning with our natural state of being, a phenomenal shift in our reality occurs.

We may feel reluctant to let go of the past due to the beliefs that we hold about what would happen if we did and so we hold on, believing that we are securing something that we need in order to be whole in this moment. We seem to equate time with distance and subsequently perceive 8 years ago to be further away than 1 year ago, this perception causes us to think that we can lose things in the past or that things await us in the future. In reality we are in the same moment that we always were and ever will be, which means that nothing can be lost - everything that is true is here now. Perhaps we fear that we will forget people who we love and experiences that we cherish so we try desperately to keep them solid in our mind, as we endure an uneasy sense that they are slipping away into the ever expanding abyss of the past. Perhaps we are afraid that if we let go of our childhood we will be cut off from the vibrant child who we once were, forever losing hope of reconciliation with our true selves. Perhaps we fear that we will never experience the joy of fond memories again and so in a state of mental poverty we stash them away, suffocating our soul with the sense of death that belief in the past brings and doubting the loving nature of life to deliver us more happiness. If we were to set these experiences free like butterflies, we would create room in our perception to allow new ones in, this is the only way to return to the spirit of our joy. In order to set ourselves free we must realise that our perception is back to front - holding on does not connect us to that for which we yearn, it separates us from it by projecting it into an imaginary ‘out there’ which declares our belief that it is not here. It was only ever here and can only ever be here, being present in this moment is what connected us to it before and this is the only way to renew the aliveness within us once more. Every joy that we ever have is an experience of our true self, let us not be fooled into believing that it is dictated by form - form is merely the adornments on the dancer, but it is our soul that does the dancing. Our happiness comes from within, we can never lose this because it is who we are, we can only forget for a while by imagining that it dwells outside of us.

Perhaps we hold onto a painful experience by reliving it in our mind, causing our self to suffer over and over again, or by believing that our identity comes from it in some way. Maybe we feel regret about choices that we have made and wish that we could turn back the clock in order to choose differently. To set our SELF free we must realise that the ‘past’ is not happening now and it therefore does not exist except for within our imagination, what matters is what we chose now because this is all that there is, now is everything. We are being created now and so we have a choice between believing in the past or believing in the now - this determines who we experience our SELF as. May we find the courage to follow the voice that calls us to seek the truth, to face our illusion and to follow our heart.

We may also find our self distracted from A natural state of balance by our concept of future. Life is a mystery and it is this sense of newness that makes it an adventure, but if we project horror stories into the space of creation and possibility then the present is tainted by our fear, we act on perceived dangers that are not actually happening but that we assume will. The future does not exist except in our mind and we use it to scare our self, viewing what we imagine as if it were reality. Even if something is predictable, our mental image of what the experience will be like is not the experience itself, it is what we assume that it will be and since it is impossible for us to experience something before it happens it is not an accurate representation of what the experience will be like. Or maybe we seek happiness in the future, which is to seek within illusion for the future never comes, there will only ever be this moment. Only by honouring the now can our life fall into alignment with our true life purpose and our happiness be deep and lasting, because it is the clarity of presence which allows us to follow our inner guidance which in turn connects us with our deepest joy.

Let us give our self the one true gift, it belongs to us and awaits our remembrance of its eternity. All other gifts are illusion that will lead to disappointment repeatedly until we finally come home to our self. Paradoxically, when we stop seeking completion in outside form by seeing that it is meaningless, we allow life to employ it for a meaningful purpose and instead of enslaving our self to it, we experience it as a reflection of the wholeness that we feel within. The world truly is our mirror. Let us give up the search that we conduct outside of our self for completion and happiness, because we seek within an imaginary place that does not exist and where every road is a dead end. May we turn within and find the rest, peace, joy and aliveness that we have so dearly missed in our dream of forgetfulness, which has caused us to seek reunion with our true self within the dream, when what we need is to wake up from the dream of our unwholeness, to the loving reality of the present moment. Here is where we find divinity, for we are it.

The Loincloth

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:03 -0800

There is a delightful story told by Sri Ramakrishna about a man who chose to become a sadhu (a holy man who relinquishes worldly possessions and takes a vow of chastity).

Under the instruction of his guru, this sadhu lived in a small hut in the middle of the forest. Each morning after his devotional exercises, he would wash and hang his loincloth up to dry. One day, he found that his cloth had been torn to shreds by rats. So he went into the village to beg for another.

Unfortunately, the new cloth met the same fate a few days later. The sadhu was quite perturbed, but one of the villagers suggested that he get a cat to frighten away the rats. This arrangement proved to be quite satisfactory as far as the safety of the loincloth was concerned. However, though the sadhu had no need now to beg for loincloths, he needed to beg for milk since the cat had to be fed.

Another villager suggested that the sadhu keep a cow. All things considered, this seemed like a good idea so that is what was done and the cat had plenty of milk. However, though the sadhu had no need now to beg for milk, he needed to beg for straw in order to feed the cow.

To deal with this dilemma, it was advised the sadhu take to tilling the land in order to grow his own crops. However, since this was not an easy feat for one person, the sadhu had to engage some labourers and found it necessary to build barns to store the crop in. Eventually, he became a landlord and then had to take a wife to look after his large and growing household.

When his guru came to see him, the man fell at his feet in great shame and cried, “My Lord, all for a single piece of loincloth! "

The story ends here, so we don’t get to hear the guru’s response, but I somehow doubt he accepted that the cloth purloined the sadhu! The path to a noble goal may have potholes, but we can choose whether to walk the path or work for the Department of Roads and Transportation.

The Mahut God

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:03 -0800

Once there was a holy man who had many disciples. He taught them well and revealed how God is in all things.

One day his disciples went out to gather firewood for their ashram and they heard a great commotion!

“Mad elephant! Mad elephant!” was the cry and it seemed to be coming their way. Suddenly, they saw a huge elephant tearing down towards them with others following in desperate pursuit.

The mahut of the elephant was shouting “Run! Run!” to everyone who could hear and that is just what they were doing. The disciples took flight right away … all except one bhakti soul who remembered his master’s teachings only too well.

He steadfastly stood in the middle of the elephant’s rampaging path.

“Get out of the way!” shouted the mahut, “Get out of the way!”

The disciple held his ground and bowed in unwavering reverence as the elephant was almost upon him.

Then, the elephant ran over him and disappeared into the forest.

The disciple was scraped out of the ground and carried back to the ashram, where, after a while, he regained consciousness.

“Why did you not get out of the way?” the others asked.

He replied, “Master taught us that God was in all things! I therefore, recognized the God in elephant and wished to acknowledge his great being.”

The holy man shook his head while chuckling.

Then he said to his disciple, “My poor devoted one! You are so right that God is within the elephant! But did you not hear God in the mahut telling you to get out of the way?”

The Battle

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:02 -0800

We revisit the famous conversation between a warrior and his charioteer before the battle of Kurukshetra.

The above image was modified using GIMP from an illustration by Anna Bhushan for Folio Society’s Bhagavad Gita. See other illustrations by Anna at her website.

On the field of Kurukshetra all was tranquil the evening before the battle between the forces of the Kauravas and the Pandavas. Arjuna who was the greatest archer of the latter group, pondered heavily on what was to come. For you see, the Kauravas were his brothers too and when the slaughter began, he knew he would be killing members of his own family.

He turned to the Lord Krishna in anguish:

“Alas what heinous sin are we about to commit from greed of sovereign and power, that we are prepared to slay our kith and kin! Happier would I be if my Kaurava brothers were to strike me down on the battlefield, unresisting and unarmed.”

Krishna proceeded to instruct him on how delusion leads one to differentiate between atman, the permanent universal spirit and the transitory body, which is mistaken for the true self. He taunted Arjuna:

“How is it that at this perilous moment, thoughts unworthy of the noble have overtaken thee?”

Arjuna lamented:

“How can I engage with arrows my teachers Bhishma and Drona who are worthy of my reverence? Nor do we know whether it is better that we conquer them or they conquer us. I will not fight. I will not kill my teachers or my kinsmen.”

Krishna then spoke:

“You are a kshatriya [warrior caste] and it is your duty to fight injustice and oppose wrongfulness. The struggle you seek to avoid is the struggle within your own self. It cannot be escaped …

Renunciation [sannyasa] and action [karmayoga] can both lead to salvation, Arjuna, but of the two the latter is essential, while the former is necessary.

One who is always in action can be a good renouncer, but the one who avoids action, excused through poetic lies told to oneself repeated to oneself like a monotonous mantra, is a hypocrite.

We all must act, but it is the attachment to the result of our action, that we must renounce.

You grieve for naught, O shining prince.

You kill no one, for I have already slain everyone!”

The Bridge Between Concept and Experience

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:02 -0800

It seems that choosing one’s state of being leads to creations that further reinforce it; such is the nature of physical reality.

Looking at the picture you will see a selection of treasures on a table in the corner; a bed of crystals upon which rests a desert rose (rock) on the left, a lantern on the right and a Goddess statue in the middle who is draped with an angel quartz necklace, plus a candle that lies before her and a glass pyramid prism aligned directly behind her. There are crystals of many kinds, with many pieces of rose quartz and purple amethyst among them, interspersed with various green crystals. So what of these objects, is it just that they look pretty?

The arrangement of items occurred after I had made the decision to act as if there was no such thing as time. I went about each day without planning, being still and allowing an inner sense of direction about how to proceed, to arise from the stillness. This led me to give my bedroom a thorough clear out and clean, transforming it into what seemed to be a different room altogether. These items arranged themselves, seemingly without my input, I merely placed them where they belonged. I felt drawn to the magnetism of this display of primarily natural objects and felt compelled to kneel down, lean on the edge of the table and stare at them intently.

What happened was subtle and ordinary, yet all-encompassing as it permeated my entire being, everything changed, yet nothing was different; it softly washed over my perception of reality. By candlelight I looked at the miniature landscape consisting of a glistening sea of crystals and beautiful objects silently resting upon it and felt calm, as if I was in the depths a cave or as one might feel when gazing at the stars or standing in an ancient forest. As I fell into the timeless stillness, my awareness that some of these objects had been on earth for an extremely long time emerged and it became a physical metaphor for eternity.

I felt that I was in a cave, surrounded by ancient rock, sand and water, enchanted by the colourful jewels that had been washed into a sparkling lagoon before me. As I sank into the steady, grounding energy of the rock I was simultaneously lifted by the light, purifying energy of the crystals. It was the perfect balance; the masculine rock essence and the feminine crystal essence, as if they were the same yet different ends of a spectrum. As if this energy, manifest in physical form, were mother and father and I was eternally safe in the stillness of forever, which was the ultimate truth. I sensed the eternal stillness behind all that is and the irrelevant details of life faded away. All that remained was forever, the peace of now within which all things arise.

I sensed that if these objects had existed on earth for so long, then time itself was stood still. I saw that the unchanging forever remains, as a backdrop to the changing. It was like waking up from a dream or having a lucid dream in which I knew that I was dreaming. Have you ever become conscious that you were dreaming and realised that you could make choices which you didn’t know you could make before?

In order to experience timelessness we must cross the illusory bridge between concept and experience, this bridge is stillness. Simply choose it this instant. If time is an illusion then it must exist for the purpose of giving us the opportunity to experience the fun and discovery of a journey, of an adventure, of forgetting and realising once more that we are timeless, because who doesn’t like a good story?

Now we end where we started, “It seems that choosing one’s state of being leads to creations that further reinforce it; such is the nature of physical reality”. Having come full circle, we find ourselves in this timeless instant, the only place there is, the place where all of creation rests, the place where we can choose to experience the timeless stillness of existence.

Prayer of No Religion

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:01 -0800

Dear Father, I remember, I am your holy Son
There is no separation, everything is one
Suddenly the land shone with golden light
As I took your hand and my wings took flight
Everything now sparkles, everything is love
Now that my eyes are open to the holy dove

Father I surrender, for my will is yours
The path that you lay takes me through many doors
From darkness I emerged into eternal truth
First I prayed for faith and now I see the proof
We are merely stars in your holy sky
A sacred constellation, an eternal lullaby

Into this world, your music echoes through
We are made of spirit and there is only you
I wish only to serve, to be a holy quill
I surrender illusion, you gift me what is real
Guided by your hand, illuminated by your light
You give me courage to do what is right

Father I adore you, in joy I sing your song
You gave me a place and now I belong
Destiny calls us to the plan of divine
To infinite expansion for all of time
Life is taken care of, for there is only light
I rest in the heart of God, every single night

Each day that I awake, I am guided to
See with clarity, through the eyes of you
Infinitely valuable, for we are God’s Son
There is no need for fear, when everything is one
In all of existence now I see your face
Awoken from the dream, to your eternal grace

Season for Non Violence

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:01 -0800

This is an article written by the San Diego organizer of the 1998 Season for Non-Violence event.

I would like to inform you if you do not know already about an exciting and uplifting time of the year- it is called the Season for Non-Violence. January 30 and April 4, 1998 mark the 50th and 30th anniversaries of the assassinations of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The days between these memorial anniversaries are being hailed as A Season for Non- Violence - a time to raise awareness about the principles and practices of nonviolence, to highlight the local ‘heroes’ and initiatives that are putting them into practice, and to honor the legacies of two great men who taught the world an alternative means for defusing conflict and transforming communities.

In keeping with the spirit of this time communities are offering workshops on how to live compassionately. We would like to teach and inspire the world to live an existence that is in harmony with a peaceful planet.

As individuals and as a society, we have evolved to the point where violence is no longer recognized as a viable solution to chaos we have created and the consequences of which we now face. Violent actions and reactions are the scars of social, educational and economic wounds… the voices of a spiritually inarticulate culture. The practice of nonviolence is initiated by choice and cultivated through agreement. The time has come to agree on this as a global community - as if our lives and those of our children’s children, depended on it.

Our vision is of a better world for all human beings. Further, we are determined to base our actions on values firmly rooted in our diverse inner beliefs and traditions. To this end, we undertake “Gandhi/King: A Season for Nonviolence” by applying our efforts and resources to identifying, then bringing into full public focus the rich spectrum of grassroots projects and programs by individuals and organizations who are pro-actualizing a culture of peace.

Our purpose is to create an awareness of nonviolent principles and practice as a powerful way to heal, transform and empower our lives and communities.

We are demonstrating that every person can move the world in the direction of peace through their daily nonviolent choice and action.

If you would like more information about the Season or would like to initiate some awareness raising events, I would be honoured to assist you in any way that I can.

Also, please check out www.GandhiKing.com for more information about the season.

If you are in the San Diego area, please come to our event in March. There will be a special concert featuring Karl Anthony on March 12 followed on March 13 with a conference on non-violence. The event will take place at the Naval Training Center (off Rosecrans St) in San Diego.

Not a Spoonful of Sugar

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:00 -0800

Gandhi’s “become the change you wish to see in the world” is unfortunately one of those horribly misapplied items that is circulated with wild abandonment by some people who feel they’ve suddenly been struck with enlightenment. The idea nevertheless is a good one provided one understands what it really means and where the phrase really has relevance. Below is one such instance.

You may know the delightful story about the mother who went to Gandhi to get him to ask her boy to stop eating sweets (the kid wasn’t listening to her apparently and she figured she’d bring in the big guns!). Gandhi said he would but asked her to come back in 2 weeks. When she did, he told the kid to stop eating sweets with some rationale for doing so. Awestruck by the great Mahatma, the boy readily agreed!

The mother was puzzled though and asked Gandhi why he didn’t just talk to her boy two weeks ago.

Gandhi acknowledged with some embarrassment that he would have, but before he could legitimately ask another to do so, he first had to shake his own ‘sugar habit’.

If eating sugar sweets isn’t healthy, one shouldn’t do it. Gandhi’s conscience evidently came to his rescue since he had to face that little boy!

One

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:37:00 -0800

Everything is made of one
All else is illusion
If you perceive separation
You will feel confusion

There is no point in resisting
And trying to block things out
Just open up to more
That is what life’s about

New experiences of the soul
Another piece revealed
Is this never ending
Love that God is sending?

Reveal that problems don’t exist
Except in our perception
Surrender thoughts to God
For effortless correction

These roles are all pretend
This world is one big show
What does it matter what we do
Or where we choose to go?

Yet each one of us is infinity
In a droplet of water
In a single molecule
Heaven’s son and daughter

It is our duty to bring
Forth the gift of light
All the bells in heaven ring
When we do what is right

Angels sing and rejoice
When love is our choice
All of creation dances as one
In kindness, beauty, joy and fun

It all begins so simply
The divide is just mirrors
All aspects of the whole are
A kaleidoscope that glimmers

When I look at you
I see me looking back
Yet everything is new
And yet there is never lack

Each of us whole and complete
Yet individually unique
A world created when we meet
Union we do seek

Aspects of God
Yet all the same
Let’s play the game of life
Now we know our name

You hold the paintbrush in your hand
Your choices sweep the brush
Let them come from truth
And your painting will be lush

All the stars shine brightly
Back from afar
The colours you reflect to them
The truth of who you are

Let heaven’s light shine through
The divine channel that is you
Do what it is you love to do
Live every day pure, real and true

Magnificent 7

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:59 -0800

Here are 7 words to contemplate as you travel through your life.

Motivation
Most people are waiting to be motivated. They hide, hoping that motivation will seek. Being motivated before you act is an amusing game we play with ourselves. Can you imagine life functioning on that principle? Does the young eagle wait to be motivated in order to fly? Was the newborn motivated just before birth? Do a thing because it needs to be done: motivation will follow the action!

Commitment
Life owes us nothing: we owe it everything. Therefore, squander yourself in any action you take. Apathy, indifference and self-doubt are killers of commitment and will ruin your resolve: ‘one who hesitates is lost’. Become whatever you do. Commitment is life itself!

Persistence
The determined spirit cannot be chained, cannot be broken and cannot be conquered. Persistence defies failure at every turn. Persistence wears down demons and causes courage to smile. Persistence is dedication, determination and lots of hard work. Indeed, it was persistence that formed the universe!

Creation
Is there really nothing new under the sun? Why everything that we do is new under the sun. Each moment is unique and each action is an addition in the history book of existence. Therefore, don’t say I’m doing the best I can. Rather, do the best that can be done!

Enthusiasm
We hear it in the voices of the birds as they sing in each new day. We see it in the play of children. There is nothing more uplifting or contagious. Enthusiasm flows like water to cleanse away debris, leaving all in its wake bright and sparkling. It is life dancing in its own joy!

Time
We all have 24 hours in each day: here at last is true equality. What should we do with this time, which is our life? Do we invest our time in actions that fulfill our purpose here? Live your time well, for it is all you can call your own!

Faith
There is hardship, injustice and unspeakable horror for so many. Sometimes we may wonder if the sun even wants to shine upon us. We may shake our heads and keep asking why? But ‘why’ only forms a quagmire for the intellect to be trapped in. ‘Why’ only delays us from doing. Trust only what comes from deep within: this is the root of faith and is the essence of our very being. For you see, the sun will shine, again and again. In fact, no amount of fearful darkness can put out the light of even one small candle. Through faith, heroism flourishes everywhere.

Be Magnificent!

Meditating Simply

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:59 -0800

Meditation is a real chance for you to connect with yourself. Most of us go through life knowing the person we spend the most time with, the least.

What meditation is happens to be a question that volumes have been written about. Anytime there is such a lot of discussion on an issue, you can be sure that no one really knows the answer. That’s what is so nice about the Zen approach to it. Zen essentially says that it doesn’t matter what we know, because we never really do (my son Kyron says, “No one knows anything”). It’s not even important to get something out of meditation. What is important, is just to practise it. In other words, make ’the journey, the destination'.

So how does one meditate. Well it really isn’t necessary to wrap oneself up in the shape of a pretzel. All you need to do is sit quietly with calmness and empty your mind. Some may think that is impossible, because all kinds of thoughts keep running through one’s head. That’s okay provided you don’t try to get rid of these thoughts - just let them fly and they will eventually find their way out. When we try to force them not to come, they appear. Don’t believe me? Alright, so right now don’t think of a monkey! See what I mean?

As you sit there with inner silence, you begin to appreciate just how beautiful emptiness really is. We don’t meditate to get anything. In fact, if you were to do it for any ulterior motive, you may get what you want, but you would spoil the meditation. Hence, the quote ’no gain, no pain’! Meditation itself is the gift - that priceless chance to be at peace with yourself.

Mental Diet

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:59 -0800

Many people talk about the benefits of different food diets. However we have forgotten probably one of the most important diets to our health and that being a Mental Diet.

It is not only important in what we put in our mouths but also equally important is what we put in our minds. As the saying goes ‘Garbage in and Garbage out’. In today’s society we have become accustomed to let a box with a screen dominate our thoughts. Have you ever watched a commercial several times then one day you will be walking along and for no reason at all you will start singing the commercials jingle and you will wonder why? Well this is a form of programming. Programming can be a powerful thing if used in the right way.

A mental diet like any thing in life needs to become habit. A habit is something that we do each and everyday to the point where it becomes part of our lives (programming). Of course there are good habits as well as bad habits. For example the habit of smoking, swearing, eating poor foods would be considered bad habits where as the habits of being courteous, going to exercise each day, eating more live foods are good habits that we choose each day. I know each day we try to choose the right habit, but sometimes we don’t make those right choices. Of course the best way to remove a bad habit is to replace it with a good one.

One important Mental Vitamin I recommend in is taking one hour a day of your time to reading a book/report/web site that would provide your mind with nourishment. This could be done at any time of the day or evening. Choose a subject or topic that really interests and inspires you. By making this a habit, I assure you that it will enhance not only your mind but your life.

Another Mental Vitamin I recommend is listening to audio cassettes rather than listening to the top 40 where the only ones that really benefit are the artists who are selling their music. Instead make your tape deck a University on Wheels. Think about it for a moment for the amount of time spent commuting from work to home you could now learn a new language, listen to inspirational speakers or better yet you can record your own voice and listen to positive sayings that you have said about yourself. By doing this you literally can bring music to your ears for most people love to hear the sound of their own voices. These are just a few examples of Mental Vitamins I take.

A Mental Diet along with excellent fuel (food) and a spiritual life will take you a long way in your journey Towards Freedom …

Importance of Improvement

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:58 -0800

People sometimes get into a tizzy about whether to help others or help themselves. There is no need to see the issue as an either-or.

Helping oneself

Sometimes people think they themselves are the primary concern. The ancient Greek story goes that Narcissus saw his own reflection in a pool of water and fell madly in love with himself, eventually meeting his demise from this affliction.

While such examples of morbid self-love do exist, most people don’t tend to follow in the flowersteps of Shelley’s narcissi from The Sensitive Plant:

Then the pied wind-flowers and the tulip tall,
And narcisssi, the fairest among them all,
Who gaze on their eyes in the stream’s recess,
Till they die of their own dear loveliness;

Self-improvement should be a sensible and beneficial endeavour, but sometimes it deteriorates into selfishness.

Helping others

Most people like to help those in need. There is likely some inherent biological urge to do so, though sometimes people like to help others because they feel they will personally benefit from the effort: they may receive gratitude or recognition. However, those are generally not the primary reasons why people like to help others.

Usually, we help others because we see that some being needs assistance and afterwards, like the swallow in Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince, we may feel all warm inside:

Then the Swallow flew back to the Happy Prince, and told him what he had done.

“It is curious,” he remarked, “but I feel quite warm now, although it is so cold.”

“That is because you have done a good action,” said the Prince.

Helping others should also be a sensible and beneficial action, but sometimes it escalates into meaningless self-sacrifice.

Becoming the change

Sometimes an effort is made to combine the two ideas in sequence, with ample doses of an often misunderstood Gandhi quotation:

“Become the change you wish to see in the world” is unfortunately one of those horribly misapplied items that is circulated with wild abandonment by some people who feel they’ve been literally struck with enlightenment.

There is an illustrative story about the mother who went to Gandhi to get him to ask her boy to stop eating sweets. The kid wasn’t listening to her apparently and she figured she’d bring in the big guns! Gandhi said he would speak to her son, but asked her to come back in 2 weeks with him. When she did, he told the kid to stop eating sweets providing some rationale for doing so. Awestruck by the great Mahatma, the boy readily agreed!

The mother was puzzled and asked Gandhi why he didn’t just talk to her boy two weeks ago.

Gandhi acknowledged with some embarrassment that he would have, but before he could legitimately ask another to do so, he first had to shake his own ‘sugar habit’.

What happens too often though is that people spend so much time on changing themselves that they never get out to change anything else. They feel they can’t do or say anything until they reach perfection themselves! This process, however, could continue over several lifetimes and it is uncertain whether such procrastination has any pragmatic or even personal merit.

Activists should better themselves, so that they can do better. They should acquire various skills communicative, technical, legal and academic, for instance, depending upon the areas they plan to work in.

They need to be healthy.

They need to develop self-discipline and inner strength so any bitterness towards the status quo they are fighting, doesn’t get devastatingly re-applied to themselves.

They need to last and not burn out!

View the situation as a sport where you are on a team and the bad guys are on another. If you want to win the game, you need to train hard and take care of yourself. You don’t need to go around giving everyone your food, your water or peptalks till 3am in the morning when you should be getting your own sleep.

Your efforts will do more as an example for them to follow, than your ’noble sacrifices’, because by being better, you can compete better and bring along others to do the same. A stronger team means better performance.

This idea is neither selfish nor self-sacrificing, but it requires we not fall into the sequential trap.

Simultanity over sequencing

By bettering yourself, you can better others too!

The improvement doesn’t need to be done first followed by going out and doing the job at hand. There need be no sequential aspect to the undertaking as some people try to force.

You can become the change by making the change in the world.

Gandhi didn’t become the Mahatma and then go out to liberate India.

He became the Mahatma because he went out to liberate India!

You don’t need to wait to be perfect before performing your task.

Your perfection comes through your performance!

For instance, if you are a tennis player, you don’t spend years perfecting your serve, your ground strokes, your volley, then saunter out to demolish your opponent. You work on your strokes and you play your matches.

Your perfection comes through your performance!

If you are a musician, you don’t spend your life doing scales, arpeggios, and musical exercises, finally going on stage to draw that standing ovation. You develop your technique because of your concerts.

Your perfection comes through your performance!

Those who stand up for the helpless and the voiceless didn’t sit in front of some How To Construct An Argument book till they were ‘ready’ to hit cyberspace or the lecture circuit. They earned their skills through study as well as through involvement in education and confrontations.

Your perfection comes through your performance.

If you wait around to ‘save yourself’ first, you may find there is nothing out there left for you to save.

You don’t have to have it all in order to give it your best!

Give what you can with what you’ve got.

Do it meticulously and learn from the experience.

Not only will you get better, so will your planet and the lot of those who share it with you.

By simultaneously working to be your best and giving that best to others, you follow the rhythm of the strongest force in the universe: the force of evolution.

Its flow is undeniable; its morality unquestionable; its persistence unshakable.

Evolution provides the only path; there is no other.

It is up to us to choose how to walk upon it.

Inspirations I Like

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:58 -0800

Time

Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400, carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do?

Draw out every cent, of course!

Well, everyone has such a bank. Its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.It carries over no balance. It

Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the records of the day. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back. There is no drawing against the “tomorrow”.

You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

To realize the value of ONE YEAR ask a student who has failed his exam.

To realize the value of ONE MONTH ask a mother who has given birth to a pre- mature baby.

To realize the value of ONE WEEK ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of ONE DAY Ask a daily wage laborer who has ten kids to feed.

To realize the value of ONE HOUR Ask the lovers who are waiting to meet or . . .

To realize the value of ONE MINUTE Ask a person who has missed the train.

To realize the value of ONE SECOND Ask a person who has survived an accident.

To realize the value of ONE MILLI-SECOND Ask the person who has won a silver medal in Olympics.

Treasure every moment that you have!

And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special…special enough to have your time… and remember time waits for no one.

ANYWAY

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives; Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you’ll win false friends and true enemies; Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable; Be honest and frank anyway.
People love underdogs, but follow only top dogs; Follow some underdog anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; Build anyway.
People really need help, but may attack you if you help them; Help people anyway.
Give the world the best that you have and you may get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you have anyway.

LIFE

Life isn’t about keeping score.
It’s not about how many friends you have
Or how accepted you are.
Not about if you have plans this weekend or if you’re alone.
It isn’t about who you’re dating, who you used to date, how many people
you’ve dated, or if you haven’t been with anyone at all.
It isn’t about who you have kissed,
It’s not about sex.
It isn’t about who your family is or how much money they have
Or what kind of car you drive.
Or where you are sent to school.
It’s not about how beautiful or ugly you are.
Or what clothes you wear, what shoes you have on, or what kind of music you
listen to.
It’s not about if your hair is blonde, red, black, or brown
Or if your skin is too light or too dark.
Not about what grades you get, how smart you are, how smart everybody else
thinks you are, or how smart standardized tests say you are.
It’s not about what clubs you’re in or how good you are at “your” sport.
It’s not about representing your whole being on a piece of paper and seeing
who will “accept the written you.”

LIFE JUST ISN’T

But, life is about who you love and who you hurt.
It’s about who you make happy or unhappy purposefully.
It’s about keeping or betraying trust.
It’s about friendship, used as a sanctity or a weapon.
It’s about what you say and mean, maybe hurtful, maybe heartening.
About starting rumors and contributing to petty gossip.
It’s about what judgments you pass and why. And who your judgments are spread
to.
It’s about who you’ve ignored with full control and intention.
It’s about jealousy, fear, ignorance, and revenge.
It’s about carrying inner hate and love, letting it grow, and spreading it.
But most of all, it’s about using your life to touch or poison other people’s
hearts in such a way that could have never occurred alone.
Only you choose the way those hearts are affected, and those choices are what
life’s all about.

The Rules For Being Human

You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time, informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works.”
A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it you can go on to the next lesson.
Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
“There” is no better than “here.” When your “there” has become a “here,” you will simply obtain another “there” that will, again, look better than “here.”
Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need; what you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
The answers lie inside you. The answers to life’s questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS.

Jewel in the Dust

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:58 -0800

A man and his wife having lived into their old age chose to leave behind their worldly possessions and follow the path of spirituality. They lived in the cleanliness of poverty filling their days with praying instead of preying.

As they had no longer had a home of their own, they walked the dirt roads with the same reverence as though these led to heaven itself.

One day during such a walk, the man who had moved several yards ahead of his wife saw a sparkling on the side of the road. As he moved closer to it, he realized that it was a beautiful jewel which had fallen from someone’s necklace possibly. Afraid that his wife would be tempted to covet such a treasure, he casually walked to it and started trying to kick dirt over it, all the while looking back to make sure his wife didn’t see what he was doing.

Well she did see the rather strange sight of her husband churning up a bit of a dust bowl at the side of the road ahead of her.

So she called out: “Husband, what is it you are doing?”

He replied: “Nothing at all, my wife, I am doing nothing.”

She said: “But you are all covered with dirt from the road, why is that?”

He said between coughs: “Well I walked into a soft part of the road and …”

By now, she had caught up with him and he had run out of creative explanations.

“What are you doing?” she demanded.

So he had to tell her: “Wife, I saw this jewel on the road and feared that you might be tempted into forsaking the spiritual path we have chosen to walk together. So that you would not see it, I was trying to hide the jewel with the dirt.”

She looked him in the eye for a few moments with kindness. Then she smiled.

Then she asked gently: “My husband, how is it that you see a difference between the jewel and the dirt?”

Jonathan the Seagull

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:58 -0800

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a novel by Richard Bach, is a much-loved classic that has touched the hearts of many. A tale of courage, truth and love, this eloquently written story is a rich and vibrant literary work. This book centers on the character development of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, who changes from a quiet and timid young seagull to an enlightened, brave and courageous being.

The story begins with Jonathan as a lonesome seagull wants to transcend the boring world of eating, mating and sleeping that most gulls live in order to survive. But he did not want to just survive, he wants to transcend all barriers and go beyond the limits of being a seagull.

For most gulls all that really mattered was how to get to the shore and back with some food. But for Jonathan, all that mattered was flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly.

This kind of thinking certainly did not make him the most popular bird. Others seagulls mocked his efforts and told him that he was just wasting his time. Even his parents questioned him as to why he could not be like all the other birds. When questioned, he would bow his head and reluctantly obey his parents. He tried to behave like the others, fighting and screeching with the rest of the flock, but it seemed all too pointless to him. But, this seagull, though a little timid at the beginning, possessed an inner curiosity and wonderment that finally gives him strength.

Jonathan became very adept at low-level flying, stalling in the air and doing many other aero-dynamic maneuvers. As soon as the elders in his flock learned of these uncommon feats, they decided to ostracize him for violating the dignity and tradition of the Gull Family . They told him that, Life is the unknown and the unknowable, except that we are put into this world to eat, to stay alive as long as we possibly can .

To this statement he responded, “Who is more responsible than a gull who finds and follows a meaning, a higher purpose for life? For a thousand years we have scrabbled after fish head, but now we have a reason to live- to learn, to discover, to be free! Give me one chance, let me show you what I?ve found.”

With this statement, Jonathan began to speak up for himself. He became bolder about sharing his discoveries. However, no gull had ever spoken back to the elders, as did Jonathan, so he was immediately banished.

He spent countless days on his own. He was distressed not because of the abandonment by his flock, but because they refused to believe the glory of flight that awaited them; they refused to open their eyes and see . He was getting pretty used to being alone and adventuring to unknown places and reaching new heights and new speeds with flying.

One day as he was flying, he was greeted by two gulls whose wings were as pure as starlight and who glowed with gentle friendliness . These gulls told him that they too were outcasts once and now they have come to take him higher, take him home . They told him that one school was finished, and that the time had come to go to another.

As they ascended into the other world, his wings seemed to glow and his flying became effortless. Jonathan thought that he was certainly in heaven. He found great comfort that the birds thought as he thought. For them, the most important thing in living was to reach out and touch perfection in that which they most loved to do, and that was to fly. They were magnificent birds all of them, and they spent hour after hour every day practicing flight, testing advanced aeronautics

One evening Jonathan heard that an Elder Gull would soon be moving on to the next world. He mustered up his courage and walked up to that gull to ask him something that was stirring deep inside of him. The following exchange was a turning point in Jonathan’s life.

“Chiang?” he said, a little nervously.

The old seagull looked at him kindly. “Yes, my son?”

Instead of being enfeebled by age, the Elder had been empowered by it; he could outfly any gull in the Flock, and had learned skills that the others were only gradually coming to know.

“Chiang, this world isnt heaven at all, is it?”

The Elder smiled in the moonlight. “You are learning again, Jonathan Seagull,” he said.

“No, Jonathan, there is no such place. Heaven is not a place, and it is not a time. Heaven is being perfect. He was silent for a moment. You are a very fast flier, aren’t you?”

“I enjoy speed,” Jonathan said, taken aback but proud that the Elder had noticed.

“You will begin to touch heaven, Jonathan, in the moment that you touch perfect speed. And that isn’t flying a thousand miles, or a million, or flying at the speed of light. Because any number is a limit, and perfection doesn’t have limits. Perfect speed, my son, is being there.”

From this moment on Chiang took Jonathan under his wing, so to speak. He became his mentor and his best friend. The Elder Gull taught him much about flight, but most importantly about going beyond his limits. He learned how to disappear and reappear in a different location and many other awe inspiring things. He told him that the gulls who scorn perfection for the sake of travel go nowhere, slowly. Those who put aside travel for the sake of perfection go anywhere instantly.

Pretty soon all the gulls were in awe of Jonathan. But as he grew wiser, he also grew humbler, for such is the nature of wisdom. Everyone asked for him to teach them what he knew. Jonathan, in his humility told them that he had just arrived in this new world, and it was them that needed to teach him .

After months of studying and learning with Chiang, it was time for the Elder to move on. Before leaving he reminded Jonathan to keep working on love. As the days went on Jonathan couldn’t help but think about the past. He thought of all the gulls who were living and dying over breadcrumbs. Then he wondered whether there was a gull who was made an outcast for living his truth in the face of the other gulls. The more he practiced his kindness lessons, the more he wanted to back to Earth .

For in spite of his lonely past, Jonathan Seagull was born to be an instructor, and his own way of demonstrating love was to give something of the truth that he had seen to a gull who asked only a chance to see truth for himself.

Since his meeting with Chiang, Jonathan began to believe in himself and the power of love more than he had ever known. As his spirit became stronger, his soul became kinder, and out of kindness he wanted to take back to others what he had learned.

The others told Jonathan to stay and help the birds that were coming to their world instead. It would be too difficult to go back to the world where he was once deserted. He agreed for sometime, but he couldn’t help but remember his old life. He thought to himself how far ahead he would have been if Chiang had shown up the day he was outcast. He decided that he indeed needed to go back.

Jonathan appeared just in time to witness the rejection of Fletcher Lynd Seagull by his flock. Fletcher flew away with anger in his eyes. Jonathan Seagull flew next to him and told him that by casting him out, they had only hurt themselves. He asked Fletcher to forgive them, for they knew not what they were doing.

Soon, Jonathan had become to Fletcher, what Chiang was to him. He taught Fletcher how to go beyond limitations and to touch heaven. As time went on other outcasts joined Jonathan. At night Jonathan would tell them that they were only as limited as they believed. He told them at their whole body was nothing but thought, and if they could break the chains of thought, they could break the chains of their bodies too. All this sounded like science fiction to these gulls who could not believe it at first.

One day Jonathan told them that it was time to go back to the others. They were ready now to help the other seagulls to see. They all refused to go, so Jonathan flew all alone into the sky. The gulls were concerned about their teacher going alone, so they soon joined him. Jonathan taught his students flying lessons right above the other flocks. But down below, the others were warned not to watch, for looking at an outcast would make one into an outcast too.

Shortly the few students became more and more, and were coming from all places. Soon a sickly looking bird came and told Jonathan that he wanted nothing else but to fly . Unfortunately his wings were injured, so he could not. To this he was told by Jonathan, You have the freedom to be yourself, your true self, here and now, and nothing can stand in your way. Believing this he spread his wings and flew. He shouted with great glee as the others watched him in wonderment. Before long, thousands of birds flocked around and began to listen to what was being told by Jonathan.

As he taught others, he inspired multitudes to come and join. He became like another messiah, only he told the gulls that he was no more divine than they were, except that he took the risk to learn . Soon, it was time for Jonathan to move on to the other world, but he left his work with Fletcher Seagull to continue.

In this wonderful story of triumph and love, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was able to find his own inner strength through teaching others about the gifts that they had inside. He became enlightened in the process of enlightening others. In this delightful novel, the reader has flown into the world of the birds and shall come out transformed through a myriad of inspiration, wisdom and literary excellence.

TODO …
library references

Buddha and the Limping Lamb

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:56 -0800

There are many stories told about Buddha the Compassionate One. They carry the eternal message with a simplicity that any child can understand. Here is one of those gems.

The Buddha is taking a walk. He gazes at the beauty of the flowers of the field and says: “O trees and flowers of the field! How trustfully you turn your faces to the sun! And how trustfully nightingales and doves take shelter in you! Alas! man hurts the birds and slays the animals! The wisdom of man is drenched in blood!”

A herd of goats and sheep passes by. The Buddha finds that the herdsman is driving them with difficulty: there is an injured lamb who is limping and slowing the herd down. Affectionately, the Buddha takes the limping lamb on his shoulder. The herdsman tells him that the animals, 100 goats and sheep in total, are being taken to the king for sacrifice this evening. The Buddha, carrying the lamb, chooses to accompany the herdman.

At the place where sacrifice is to happen, the man in charge is about to strike the sword against the first goat, when suddenly the Buddha exclaims “Great king! let not the man strike! Take my life as a sacrifice, O king! and spare the goat!”

The words of the holyman move the heart of the king, who then asks the Buddha to speak to the people. And the Buddha says:

“O men! you can take life easily but, remember, none of you can give life! So, have mercy, have compassion! And, never forget, that compassion makes the world noble and beautiful. Remember, too, that all living beings are linked together in maitri [friendliness, compassion]. Therefore, resolve that you will live on bloodless diet. Verily, in gentleness is the crown of life!”

The next day, a decree is proclaimed by the king. The order goes forth that none shall henceforth kill for sacrifice or for private pleasure. For life is one through mercy and compassion.

Cup of Tea

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:56 -0800

A prominent western philosopher had come to Japan to study with a zen master through an exchange program. The two of them sat down for a traditional tea.

While waiting the philosopher thought he’d ‘break the ice’ by telling the zen master a bit about himself. Well, he started and a bit became more and more and more. He talked about his ideas of the history and development of philosophy and about the lack of consistency in different areas of thought and the problems associated with applying logic to situations considered unbroachable through logic.

By now, the tea had arrived.

As the zen master started pouring tea into his cup, the philosopher continued with the subjectivities of existentialisms and the attainabilities of the absurd and … then he noticed that the zen master hadn’t stopped pouring the tea into his cup.

In fact, his cup had started to overflow!

Still the zen master kept pouring and tea was spilling all over the chabudai onto the floor and even onto our philosopher who suddenly had nothing more to say about philosophy and exclaimed:

“Stop! Stop! What are you doing?”

The zen master stopped pouring the tea and with a bit of a twinkle in his eye said:

“In a cup so full, it is not possible to pour anything more.”

Dogs in Heaven

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:56 -0800

There is a very beautiful story from the Hindu mythology’s Mahabharata that provides an insight to the meaning of our existence.

Five brothers who were kings and their wife, the queen (this happened through a misunderstanding of the concept of ‘sharing’ as expressed by their mother) after a long reign were embarking on their final journey - to heaven. To do so they had to trek up a mountain and along the way they were joined by a dog. The climb was so arduous they began to die off. Even the second oldest brother, the ‘hercules’ of his era, fell.

However, the eldest, Yudhishthira and the dog made it to the top where they were greeted by Indra the king of the gods. He congratulated Yudhishthira and told him to get into his chariot to go to heaven, but the dog walked in first.

Indra was infuriated (he had this tendency): “I will not tolerate a dog in my chariot! Get him out and let’s go.”

Yudhishthira said, “Through my journey up the mountain, my queen and my brothers left me. Only this dog stayed with me - I cannot leave him now.”

Indra exclaimed, “What! Are you mad? Dogs do not belong in heaven! Do you want to give up your place for a dog?”

Yudhishthira replied, “The dog stayed faithfully by me, I will not desert him - even for heaven.”

Just then the dog transformed himself into Yama the god of the underworld and spoke: “You have chosen rightly, my son. In life all shall leave us, our passions, our acquaintances and even those we love dearest. Only our Dharma, like the dog, stays with us regardless. To this Dharma, we must be true.”

Dulse

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:56 -0800

There is a tasty seaweed
On which I like to feed
Mineral rich, purple and salty dulse is
Good on salads, grains and pulses

I feel like a mermaid
Eating an Atlantis dish
To add a sea-like flavour
I needn’t hurt a fish!

I sprinkle flakes on salad
Mix it into hearty stew
Blend it into veggie soup
Or snack on a piece or two!

I have two bits of pet dulse
Floating contentedly in a jar
Above a bed of stony gravel
In veganism… let’s raise the bar!

Aquariums of sea plants
Are beautiful and kind
To our sea-life friends
And to our peace of mind!

Eat healthy vegan meals
Made of fruit and veg
And protect the animals
Today make this pledge!

Not only better for your health
And delicious choices wide
This way we join the animals
And are all on the same side!

Anger Is One Letter Short of Danger

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:55 -0800

The weight of anger is far heavier than the weight of joy. In it’s most vicious form, anger can lead to murder; joy easily distributes love, even in it’s simplest form. While both are natural emotions to our genetic make-up, we can choose to possess more of the one which we desire to encompass most often, but often times it seems we are displaying the less desired one. There are many ways to prevent and manage anger, which if obtained, consequently leads to more joy. A most basic technique in preventing anger is by providing your body with the proper chemicals. Dealing with anger once it arises is a matter of acknowledgement and understanding.

You are what you eat. We’ve heard it a million times, us Americans at least; yet most of us think it nothing more than a funny little saying with little to no meaning. Moods, feelings, emotions, and thoughts come from the brain which heavily relies on us to provide it with nutritious and well-balanced meals that the body can convert to energy. Without the proper ingredients, our bodies cannot formulate the proper fuel. It’s as simple, yet seemingly to our culture, as complicated as that. When people choose to fuel their bodies with ‘junk,’ unnatural chemicals, and an overwhelming amount of certain chemicals which in actuality our bodies need very little of, the results are nothing short of devastating. Our moods and thoughts dictate our behavior, so if we art to eat essentially poisonous ‘foods,’ we have little choice but to act in poisonous ways. Fueling our bodies with chemicals that clog our system lead to unwanted feelings as our brain simply is not capable of producing the ‘happy’ chemicals that bestow positive moods. The most appalling part in all of this is that we have been led to believe that anger, stress, anxiety, and depression are a normal part of daily life. We’ve been lead to believe that we are stressed out due to other circumstances; lead to believe that by taking more chemicals (pharmaceuticals), that they will ease our tension and ‘cure’ our ailments. Truth be told, you are what you eat. If you eat foods abundant in essential vitamins, your body will be abundant in essential vitamins. Likewise, if you eat foods high in fat, processed to have a long-lasting shelf life, and coming from antibiotic and growth hormone-pumped animals, then your body will be full of those disturbing substances and your mood and behavior will adapt accordingly. While eating the wrong foods does not directly cause anger, it certainly plays a major role in one’s ability to avoid feelings of aggression. Eating foods that have been proven to promote the health of our bodies, will also promote a healthy mind-set much more readily suited to cope with any outside stressors.

When we are in a state of anger or are desiring to act aggressively, it is usually because we are feeling pain that we have not yet dealt with. We become angry either because we don’t understand why someone or something would cause us such pain, or because we are impatient and don’t understand why something is not getting done fast enough. Whatever the initial cause of the anger is, lies the answer in subduing and ridding ourselves of feeling as though we must resort to other negative emotions such as jealousy, spite, hate, and vengeance. It is easier and in society, more accepted, to display aggression than to display pain. Oddly enough, to the trained eye, anyone who knows this bit of information can easily see pain through aggressive behavior and can also see that the pain is quite deeply rooted and is not being dealt with. It is akin to pushing a dog into a corner until finally, at one impulsive moment, the dog fights back. We must learn to acknowledge, accept, and handle our pain if we are to manage our anger in positive ways.

Some handle their anger by taking short walks, screaming into pillows, breathing exercises, and a vast number of other remedies which usually allow our adrenaline to become more diluted and channel out of our bodies. Personally, I eat healthily, exercise regularly, and manage my pain in order to prevent mood swings and promote happiness in my fundamental temperament. When stressful situations do arise, I am then less likely to resort to anger and instead am usually the mediator in having the ability to see the underlying issues of the circumstance. Of course anger is a natural emotion which all emotional beings experience at times throughout life. When these times arise for me, the best I can offer is an apology and honest explanation which ensures that both myself and other witnessing individuals are given the opportunity to understand, forgive, and move on from the moment rather than allowing it to linger and cause more pain. I was not always so understanding of anger management as you can tell by this poem I wrote in January of 2000:

My Hatred Grows

Everyday my hatred grows,
My veins are tunnels for burning blood,
And every second the fire flows,
My soul’s been drowned into this flood.
The world around me spinning fast,
Beautiful people who love their lives,
An evil spell upon me has been cast,
Happiness and love are sullied lies.
Every minute this hatred builds,
And every hour it grows stronger,
My heart racing, it wants to die,
If I could just hold off a little longer

As you can tell by the poem, the key line is ‘happiness and love are sullied lies,’ which references to why I’m angry in the first place. I can attest today that I’ve evolved and come to know where pain arises and now have the understanding to deal with it without feeling the way I must have felt in writing this poem. It is my understanding through experience that I’ve come to realize that anger is merely a side-effect of pain and I believe that if everyone knew and recognized this within themselves, our world would be a far less aggressive place.

A Snake Called Phatlington

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:36:53 -0800

In a village where streets were named for trees, former residents that the villagers chose to honour, and some romantic names, there lived a family, father, mother and son who were a little eccentric even for people who chose to live on an island.

They really believed that each living thing had a right to its life and merited respect. Their house reflected this belief; a couple of birds, a rabbit, a guinea pig, two dogs and a cat all shared the same rooms. It was truly a multicultural household. Only the parents’ bed was off limits to some of the critters - a barricade had to be built to keep the rabbit out because he seemed to like the smell of the wood shaving mattress for his bathroom.

The yard reflected the right-to-live attitude of the family. Thistles grew tall, wild flowers flourished, many kinds of grasses and Forbes thrived, as did the insects and other small life forms. The thick damp grass and many insects was very popular with the local population of garter snakes. And this is where our story begins.

Although I do not like to begin a story with a tragic event, this is what I have to do, as it seems that a small garter snake had had an accident or some unknown misfortune that severely bruised its body and damaged it right eye. Its plight was discovered by the boy when he noticed his dog, Jumpr, being very very interested in rather feeble movements in the long grass. Knowing Jumpr’s habit of handling things, sometime with undue caution, the boy rushed over to check out Jumpr’s current interest. And there, rolled into a bundle, the way helpless snakes try to protect themselves, was this injured reptile. No questions asked, it had to be rescued.

The snake, later to be named Phatlington, was placed in an aquarium with grass and a light bulb to keep it warm. This was placed in a small room in the basement where the boy did his scientific investigations. Then he went to the Internet to read up on garter snakes, and this was the beginning of a long and very interesting investigation. First he learned that snakes like a bath and swim. So one of his mother’s rectangular Pyrex baking dishes became Phatlington’s swimming pool. Although there was no way of knowing, it must have been days since Phatlington had had a drink, for when he was first introduced to the swimming pool, he just laid the first four inches of his body along the surface of the water and drank. And how he did drink! You could see his throat working as he swallowed the water. (subsequently, this became his routine when it was time for his swim) After drinking he would slide into the water and just laze about until he was ready to come out, usually five or seven minutes later.

As weeks passed the snake seemed to be getting fatter. And this was strange for it did not seem to eat anything each day it was taken outside and let out of the aquarium. In fact it never ventured far from the place it now accepted as its home. Also, each day it liked the boy to handle it. It would weave in and out through his fingers, nestle in the palm of his hand, lay over his wrist to be stroked. And it seemed fatter each day. Then suddenly, he became a she! And this is how it happened.

One morning when the boy went down to the basement to tend to the snake he just stood there and looked. Could he believe his eyes? Yes he could and gave a great shout and called his parents to come quickly. They came on the run and all watched Phatlington give birth to four little baby snakes, each four inches long, as big around as a piece of string, and each the perfect image of their mother!

The boy and his parents were awestruck and very humble at having the privilege of watching new life being given to the world. Phatlington and her family were happy in the aquarium. And here it must be explained that it is next to impossible for a person who has never studied snakes before to tell a he from a she, and let it be known the snakes do not care. I never did get the names of the little snakes straight, as each day I received reports of their activities and the whole snake family now followed the same routine of time outdoors, swim, etc. as had been set-up for the mother. However tales of the adventures of one of the little guys intrigue me. He was named Explorer because his curiosity was always taking him farther a field than any of the others dared to venture. I guess it reminded me of when I was a boy and always wanted to see what was beyond the brook, or behind the next tree. I also felt a bit sad because I learned in time that if you do not venture now, you may never venture at all. But I digress.

As Phatlington’s visit stretched into four interest filled months, her family dispersed. She became a little lethargic and her colour dulled and her eyes looked funny. Again the Internet provided the answer. She was ready to shed her skin, a thing all snakes do. Two or three stones were put in the aquarium for her to rub her face on. A snake rubs its face on something hard to loosen the skin around its head, then it just crawls out of its skin. During the shedding period, snakes are very vulnerable and should be left strictly alone. The boy did this and next morning he found Phatlington with brilliant new colours and perfect semi-opaque, snake skin. One could see where the eyes were, the fine scales along the back, the large transverse scales on the belly that are used for locomotion.

On another day as fall approached Phatlington seemed to become very sluggish and unwilling to move. Then she became very still indeed. Was she preparing to hibernate? According to the experts on the Internet, it is next to impossible, even with best instruments to tell when a snake is hibernating or dead. There was nothing to do but wait. In a day or so it became apparent that Phatlington’s spirit had gone to wherever the spirits of snakes go when they are done with this place. So the boy returned her body to the earth from where she came so her molecules could again enter into the great cycle of life as the building blocks for a seed, or blade of grass, or one of those tall regal thistles. But I like to think she will turn into a flower, a blue flax flower that brings a bit of sky into the backyards of those who have the imagination to care.