"There's no more savage beast stalks through
Wales than the four-legged beast who talks."
___ Welsh proverb
This grim little proverb sees humanity as the most savage beast that walks the earth, the top predator of the animal kingdom rather than the supreme species. The truth is known in our hearts: that every human being living is capable of acts of great cruelty. This capacity is not always acted upon, of course, but it remains as a kind of negative potential, a misuse of our human abilities that can bring about terrible violence and harm.
Acts of violence, harm and coercive manipulation can stem from good intentions as well as from bad ones. There is no point in taking the moral high-ground against a particular trouble spot unless we each first understand our personal capacity for negative potential. Only a clear examination of motivation and intention and mutual vigilance can keep us from walking the same road as the perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
Neither religions nor ideologies, however ideal, have the monopoly on the one correct way to behave. The only valid criteria for action are truth, compassion, and justice, together with a deep comprehension of the laws of cause and effect and a firm grasp upon the ethical pathways that lie under the feet of every human being alive.
"Contemplate your own negative potential. What areas are potentially hazardous for you? Where do you have to be most careful in your actions? Clarify your motivations in order to place your life on an ethical pathway."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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