Remember this: Homo Homini Lupus in Latin means, "Man is a wolf amoung men".
I really must inform you, this is not an 'anti-hunting' treatise where wolves are concerned. There are laws regulating that endeavor which makes it legal, so it's fair game until someone in the Big House decides it's time to give it a rest.
This piece is more how I respect such a thing because I am such a thing (metaphorically speaking).
No, I do not change at the full moon, run naked, and all the while killing sheep or small children.
The truly understanding reader would be open to this explanation and not one that immediately scoffs to disregard the commentary. They are in denial. Ego has blinded them from what is naturally wild within them. When I say wild, I do not mean savagery. Savagery is beyond control. There is always protocol in the Animal Kingdom, even where killing is concerned, unless you have the rogue. The rogue beast can have its defining factors of what it will and will not do. The animal that is without bounds is what one would consider a killing machine; without any kind of prejudice. As a human being, I chose not to be a killing machine, where life is without value.
This is one of the concerns for hunters and huntresses. When does hunting stop being hunting? At what point do you become nothing more than a killing machine? Once you have quested and succeeded with every animal species, when do you turn to or on man? Could this happen?
I found this quote while researching and its always stayed with me. Aside from the fact that man does not have the same characteristics of the wolf in physical form, but shares a kind of hierarchy of levels, from dominant alpha to the lower less dominant omega. There are similarities in intellect, mating, and somatics. In life, we refer to human packs as cliques. A clique in itself can be benevolent or exceedingly violent. There is always a ring leader and his/her followers, for good or bad. The underlings will do everything the leader wants because there is a limited amount of protection to be had in one. The dire part is being tossed out. Having to find a new way is probably more beneficial because the atmosphere of your life changes for the better. The 'lone wolf' as it were, is the most free. That person can go their own way without being under the heel as a suppressed person or held back by another person's decisions. They can choose to be with whomever they want but move in and out of territories. I have wondered why people give that kind of power to others who are beneath them, but it happens.
I then laugh and say, "Why didn't people in antiquity pick a porcupine?" A porcupine is mean enough and will leave you with presents in the form of quills. It reminds me how kings use lions as their representing mark when a male lion is a dandy. The only thing magnificient about him is his hairy coif.
I have read that Homo Homini Lupus can be translated as man's aggression against one another. This can be seen on the internet and in war, class, or ethnic torn countries. I have also noticed from the online banter, in a most unfriendly way, the conversations between hunters and huntresses range from arguments over hunting technique, imagery, and whose the coolest hunter of them all.
It's my belief anyone that wants to hunt properly is more than adequate.
There are also people that legally know they can't kill but will exert their aggression on another person because violence is achieved to some degree, if not fully.
Man is known to hunt. Wolves are known to hunt. They could possibly hunt each other in the right circumstance if presented with it.
I always took movies into consideration that were about lycanthropy. On one hand, the moon drives the character crazy. It's almost always about a man that turns into a wolf or has wolf attributes. He loses his humanity, to eat and kill things (mostly sheep and people). When the character is not fully animal, he/she is fighting with the creature inside. In truth, people are always struggling with some inner turmoil. Even now, you can see it where people are fighting against societal rules and want to be free. Does that mean free to act as wild animals without defining boundaries? There are people courting anarchy but anarchy leads to even more violence because it's unregulated. People have a problem regulating themselves, where right and wrong exist.
In regards to wolves, you could see it as another species running through the woods with an open season placed on it for hunting purposes. It has no meaning other than nuisance or quarry. Value comes from its fur, which I wouldn't eat one, but I am sure there are people out there that eat anything, much like a goat.
There are people that need to believe in things, even at the exasperation of others that do not share their beliefs or views. Is it wrong either way? No.
There are people that come to terms with the close association of the other. Humans have the uncanny ability to extend a certain amount of respect to another animal species while knowing that respect will not be returned, acknowledge or seem real to the other. That is man's coming to terms with the sameness in the other animal, even if they come to kill one another. I like to think in terms of the idea that man thinks to itself, "I can take your life but choose not to do so right now." We can mentally chose.
After some previous research the moon has also been representative of a woman's female parts which has been known to drive men crazy, so maybe some of that is about the relationship of women. Of course there is Cleopatra and Helen of Troy. All kinds of violence ensued after a man fell in love/lust with them.
You, as the hunter or huntress, can always choose your behavior. You can choose how you present yourself and treat other people. You may be an animal but you are not a savage.
As far as wolves go, there are those that look at this animal as a nuisance or just another dog. It has been my long held belief that nothing is above you or below you. Being egotistical by having a condescending attitude, by devaluing a creature with dismissal, would lead you to devalue the idea of life itself. As long as you can learn something from it to help you understand yourself; to kill a wolf is to kill a hunter. You, as a hunter, could kill yourself metaphorically because not revering something that teaches lessons in the natural realm as you would percieve it in yourself would mean you are denying or killing off that part of you ( that you wish to deny) is thereby its equal. Man is a wolf amoung men. Man is a wolf in heart. Man is a hunter and a predator. Man is man.
~Written by: W Harley Bloodworth~
~Courtesy of the AOFH~
