One night in July of 2022, CJ was awoken by the sound of horse hoofs and whinnies.
Slightly confused and disoriented, he arose and looked out his window. He could hear the huffing of a horse near by, and even though the half moon was high in the sky, he couldn't see where the horse was.
Bleary eyed and tired, CJ found his way back to bed while this spirit horse pranced around his tiny home, whinnying and snorting.
As CJ lay in bed, his heart began to race as he thought about confronting this unknown creature in the moonlight outside. He envisioned himself walking outside and finding a brown mare waiting for him, eyes glinting in the moonlight. CJ imagined what he would say to this being - whether he would be mad or upset for being awoken, or if he would be scared and timid, or if he would simply be in awe and grateful for the opportunity to be face to face with this mare?
From this place of peaceful pondering, an understanding blossomed - this horse was every bit alive as me. The same imaginings as I had were also available to her: would she be mad or upset for being disturbed, or would she be scared and timid, or would she simply be in awe and grateful for the opportunity to be face to face with this man?
From there, it was an easy extrapolation to all other beings - trees, wolves, dogs, whales, opposing political believers, mouth breathers, religious zealots, old people, young people, all people! We all share the same possible outcomes, the same possible experiences, the same possible opportunities. And we seem to forget this, we ignore this in order to reinforce our belief systems and structures - but at what loss?
Blank Are Beings Too is a call to stop "othering" people - including non-human people. This doesn't mean stop using the trees as resources, or stop eating meat, or stop believing in your beliefs. But what this does mean is start having respect and empathy for others beliefs, way of being and offering of resources.
We're all on this Space Ship Earth Together for an unknown reason and amount of time - let's start meeting each other more, and ostracizing ourselves and others less. Let's recognize the Being-ness in others, so we can feel the Being-ness in ourselves.