Life involves struggle and effort. Survival takes effort and for the most part is based on selfish competition. To be what many people call good is very difficult in a highly competitive environment. We must acknowledge the competitive nature of survival as we make every effort to rise above our primitive heritage. The less we need the better we can be. The more we care about and help others the happier we can be.
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Being altruistic is also part of nature and is humanities destiny. There are natural rules where competition can be channeled into helping each other. For humanities best traits to flourish we need to have social systems that support and reward goodness over evil. With the proper systems in place people will not need to work so hard at being what we call good.
To understand true love one must understand acceptance. If one is in relationship it’s not reasonable to expect one’s partner to change core personality traits. To love another we must accept that other being.
To accept an individual does not necessarily mean we accept their behavior. We can accept an individual and still want to change their behavior. To want to change others and need to change others are two different things. While others need to change for humans to survive as a species, we must accept where we’re at in the history of humanity. If we’re lucky we’re at the end of the awareness stage. We have probably been ebbing and flowing in and out of this stage for a couple thousand years. The difference now is our technology, and the population burden on fundamental resources. Dwindling basic resources such as clean air, energy, and water may pressure humanity toward the wrong evolutionary path.
I see acceptance of the individual and a desire to change the individual’s behavior in dog training every day. People love their dogs but cannot tolerate the dog’s behavior. Fortunately we can change or manage the behavior of most dogs. It’s easier to control a pet dog’s behavior because dog owners have almost total control of the dog’s environment. While we can change or manage most dog behavior, we cannot always change behavior that’s a core part of the dog’s personality. These core personality traits need to be accepted and worked with.
There are times when we cannot fight nature. The Nature humanity wants to dominate ranges from the global ecosystem to human nature. Most common in my business is that people want to dominate the nature of their dogs. While dominating a dog can get better dog behavior, it’s more fruitful to dominate one’s own human nature.
Self governance is at the core of a civil society.
When people can control themselves they can more humanly control there dogs. Acting as a fully evolved human requires critical thought and self control. With self control there can be well thought out systems that encourage good behavior. With self control we can supplement nature and make our dogs supper dogs. In the long run we can even make the core nature of our dogs better by creating a proper genetic history.
Acceptance does not mean idleness. We can accept while working towards a better tomorrow.
To find peace and happiness we must find acceptance. For most people there is a balance of striving and accepting. Even striving to accept is a kind of desire. One’s intention in what they strive for and the degree of willingness to harm others for selfish gain determines the degree that one is good or evil.
Wishing you the very best in dogs and in life,
Andrew Ledford