Sense and sensibility

Tenzin Gyatso. the 14th Dalai Lama, tends to present his “advice for living” not as a religious precept, but as common sense, or more often science. He made much of the fact that humans are “social animals” and are therefore dependent on others for their happiness.

All true as far as that goes, but when we came home we noticed that Kid, the older of the two colts, had a big lump on his back – no doubt from being bitten. Susan surmises the culprit was Waldo the pony and the casus belli was jealousy. Whatever the cause, it’s not the only time Kid has taken a knock, or the only time any of the horses has turned up with hoof rash or worse.

That got me thinking about social animals like herd animals, pack animals etc. Stuff goes on out in the pasture that would end up in the police report if they were humans.

But whether domesticated or not, all animals have a code of conduct and a way of resolving conflicts that is understood in the group, and which admits to change, testing and sometimes outright violation. It’s universal and it’s innate. So the Dalai Lama is smart to talk about right behavior being a matter of sense and science, not received wisdom. Unless someday we find the Book of Equus in an earthen jar in the desert somewhere. Then we’ll have to reconsider.