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From looking back on my life and my contribution to animal protection, I developed my personal creed of what I believe are the core values of animal advocacy: Truth, Compassion, Nonviolence (Ahimsa) and Interbeing – the interrelatedness of all.
These core values are the foundation of how I think, feel, speak and act for a peaceful and compassionate world. They are the foundation to my understanding of animal protection.
Truth
Inasmuch that I know from my own experience humans have the capacity to think, experience emotions and feel pain and suffer, I logically conclude that animals must be also equally capable because fundamentally there is no difference physiologically and behaviorally between us. I believe human rights and animal protection are absolute truths and reject the argument that there is a competition between them with the former trumping the latter. I believe human rights and animal protection are moral truths that are inextricably interwoven. One cannot be achieved without the other.
Compassion
I believe our ability to fully understand and share another’s feelings is our single greatest attribute. Compassion empowers us to connect with others. When we feel compassion for others, we are empowered to see into their world and inspired to act on their behalf.
Nonviolence (Ahimsa)
I believe violence is immoral whomever or whatever the target. Violence results in more violence. In order to stop violence to people, animals and the earth, we must be first at peace with ourselves. The power to build a peaceful and compassionate world starts with our ability to be at peace with ourselves. This starts with an understanding of Ahimsa, which Mahatma Gandhi describes as the “only true force in life.”
Interbeing
I believe everything is interrelated. It is therefore important to understand to the best of our ability our actions have consequences often beyond our knowledge and comprehension. Consequently, I believe my thoughts, speech, writings and actions must be based on my life-long quest for an understanding of truth, an uncompromising commitment to nonviolence and a compassionate heart. The concept of interbeing was originally developed by Thich Nhat Hahn, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who teaches a socially engaged form of Buddhism.
It has taken me decades of activism and thinking to develop and understand my core values of animal protection.
Questions about our frequently cruel behavior toward animals go to the heart of our humanity (or the lack of it). No one is completely innocent of animal cruelty and exploitation. Our relationship with animals is contradictory and complex. We call some animals “pets” and others “dinner.” This confusion is reflected in our inability to coexist compassionately with others irrespective of species. Human history is replete with violence, rape, murder, war, cruelty and environmental devastation – and our often instrumental use of animals to commit these acts. But we can be equally capable of great acts of humanity toward others, including animals. I believe acts of humanity happen when we intuitively know the truth, when we are grounded in nonviolence, motivated by compassion and connected to the world by a strong sense of interbeing.
Questions about what it means to be human and what constitutes humanity have been asked ever since our ancestors began to think about the world they lived in and tried to make sense of it. I am not the first (or the last) to dwell on this complex issue. But we must at least try to understand – however inadequately – why animal cruelty and exploitation occur. Otherwise, how can we realistically expect to build a peaceful and compassionate world?
We live in a world that is simultaneously simple and complex, small and large, finite and eternal. It is important that all of us who want to make a difference for animals understand how we live impacts the lives of others.
Our only alternative is to view the world through the prism of what is the opposite of the four core values of animal protection: lies, hatred, violence and alienation. Indeed, these are the values of the pro-animal-use-economic-interest groups claim that this is the message of the animal protection movement. Their mission is to convince the public that our actions for animals are motivated by lies, hate, and violence and that we are alienated from society. True, there are a very small number of activists whose actions invoke these negative values but they do not help to make a peaceful and compassionate world.
With so much animal suffering in the world and the seeming indifference of most people, it is easy for those of us who care about animals to lose hope and confidence that we can make a difference. The misery of misanthropy is tempting for many who grieve over our inhumanity to animals. The four core values of animal protection shows us, however, that it is possible to develop a long-term strategy that will achieve fundamental, institutional, permanent and positive change. Ultimately, we are answerable to no one but ourselves. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi. We may not be able to save the world. But we can save our own individual worlds when we lead by example when we speak the truth, act peacefully and with compassion.
