The horse’s prey mind believes in the “we” of the herd, an egalitarian notion of the common good of the group. Membership is more motivating than selfishness. Inclusion in the group is more important than identification of the self. This sense of communion derives from an awareness of connectivity.
On the other hand, the psyche of the predator asserts the primacy of the “me.” This is the fundamental faith that success ultimately rests on the principle that there are limited resources and these must be secured in a competitive, if not outright hostile, environment. Where herd members derive part of their character from the cohesiveness of the herd, human beings derive it from the notion of autobiographical isolation, of an ego that separates the psyche from everything else. The herd establishes an intimate connectivity while the predatory view insists on differentiation.
Global awareness will be required in a world increasingly crippled by planet-wide threats rather than regional ones. The escalating threat of pandemics like the Ebola virus will inevitably impose a new consciousness that what tragedy befalls my neighbor is also my tragedy, his children are my children, his herd is my herd.
The prey view is compelling. It offers us hope that the common good may present us with as much satisfaction and security as did our earliest, primeval appetites, and that we could frame our survival not in terms of predation and consumption, but in terms of stewardship and charity.
Perhaps, because we have been so deeply touched by horses, we may prove ourselves more willing to ride down a different path, to veer off onto a different trajectory. Where our human herd will travel, where our footsteps will next carry us, is simply a question of where we will place our faith and how we choose to live.
Albert Schweitzer, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, summed it up when he asserted that we must all strive to live ethical lives. He wrote: “A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.”
The way of the herd, the faith of the horse, all lie on the path to goodness and grace.