Saturday 11 June 2016

Live and let live


I quite often I come back from a little holiday with a sort of catch-phrase or motto which I have been mulling over whilst away, and this is the one for this last trip.

There are plenty of pubs in England called this, and some 18th century drinking glasses are engraved with it. Curiously, it is applied to hunting and shooting activities more than any other - maybe as a stock excuse for bad shots.

The aspect of 'live and let live' which caused me the greatest mulling-over, is that it is most often used by meat-eaters without any sense of contradiction. How can this be?

The people who would benefit the most by adopting it as a motto - I am thinking of ISIS and certain homophobic, fundamental Christians - detest the message. I suppose it smacks of the broad way leading to hell.

That scene in The Deerhunter where the Vietnam vet has the stag lined nicely up in the sights before lowering the gun, is what it is all about, as far as it literally goes.

Putting the fish back into the river after a hard-won fight; admiring tonight's potential dinner purely for its ability to fly; not killing the snake just because it is venomous; not killing spiders just because you are an arachnophobe; being at peace with yourself and all other living creatures; knowing how and where you fit into the world, without fear or the irrational hatred which springs from it, does not take the redness from the teeth and claws of nature.

'The best form of defence is attack', is what frightened people say.

Live and let live.

34 comments:

  1. The photo of my friend's latest batch of kittens in the mountains above El Chorro is a shameless attempt to garner more comments and irrational affection from you lot. Everyone knows that bloggers cannot resist kittens.

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    1. I put my cats in a post the other day although the post had nothing to do with them at all

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    2. Did it work? I tried talking about dog shit, but that didn't seem to work.

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    3. If I really craved 1000s of comments like I pretend to do, then I would fill this blog with contentious vitriol, then sit back and wait for the reactions.

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    4. You need 950 followers, seventeen dogs and 25 cats.

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    5. And a husband who is a layman in the local church...

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    6. .......and a better sense of humour

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    7. ...and a Christian maniac or two as a stalker...

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    8. You can have mine with pleasure

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  2. What will happen to them though, in the days of my youth, pretty little kittens were often drowned because there were too many around.
    Live and let live, a good Zen thought, except perhaps when you are the fox eating the rabbit!

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    1. They already have homes in the neighbourhood. There is another cat in the household which is also due for a litter right now. Then they will both be neutered.

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    2. Oh, and I already covered the one about the fox eating the rabbit. 'live and let live' is a concept which animals are born with. It's only us humans who have to re-learn it, and that doesn't stop us from hunting.

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    3. And another thing - 'live and let live' is far from any dispassionate Zen philosophy. Someone once said that it wasn't that God did not seem to care that bothered him, it was that he doesn't seem to care about anything!

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  3. Yes, the kittens are cute, but it was the title of this post that intrigued me. The post itself was full of good sense, well expressed.
    The prior post has reminded me to find time for a "listen again" to that particular program.
    Good to have you back from Malaga.

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    1. Obviously I don't need cheap tricks to win your heart, Frances.

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  4. I am not my brother's keeper. Is it like that?

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    1. I don't think so, but I have had trouble with working that one out in the past. I see 'I am not my brother's keeper' as relinquishing social responsibility without getting attacked for it, but I may be wrong.

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    2. The other thing is that the Bible is full of contradictions, like 'turning the other cheek' at the same time as taking 'an eye for an eye', etc. 'Live and let live' is primarily a sportsman's philosophy.

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    3. It always makes me think of "don't interfere" when perhaps that's exactly what you should do. However, it is best not to think too much about it. Live and let live is fine by me and if applied to ISIS we might be in a better place in the world now. I never thought of it as primarily a sportsman's philosophy.

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  5. And a good philosophy to follow Tom.

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  6. I like this philosophy of "live and let live". Your posts are always very well expressed and, no matter what the subject is about, and some subjects I would normally ignore elsewhere, you always have the ability to explain it with simple words that even I am able to understand.
    Your kittens remind me of the Norwich Peregrine chick that has died; harassed by GA. So sad. Nature is cruel
    Greeting Maria x

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    1. They are currently doing a post-mortem on that chick to see exactly how it did die. Until then, the rogue female is innocent until proven guilty.

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  7. Cute little buggers, aren't they. Big heads, big blue eyes. I'm not so sure animals "live and let live." I've seen a cat tease a mouse to death, and walk away. The most interesting "trophy" hunting by an animal was watching a robin eat his fill of worms after a heavy summer storm, then for the pure sport of it carry worm after worm up to a telephone wire and drop it to the ground.

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    1. Beware of anthropomorphism, Joanne. A fox will take one bird from an unprotected pen, but will kill all the others because it is programmed to kill everything that flaps and makes a fuss in front of it. As for what constitutes 'sport' for a robin, I have no idea, and am not qualified to pronounce judgement on what seems to me like cruel behaviour.

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  8. It's too late in the evening for me to have any profound thoughts. I'll just admire the kittens.

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  9. It sounds as if you are turning into a Jaine.

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    1. of which I would thoroughly approve.

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    2. Hardly. I kill clothes moths and horse-flies every day.

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  10. You don't realy need the kitens.

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    1. Well they don't work for me anyway. I was offered one to take home, but declined.

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  11. Live and let live = the absolute opposite of what just went down in Orlando Florida.

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