Examining how human power over animals creates the very suffering we claim to reduce, exposing the logical trap of control-based ethics.
Hodja stories constantly reveal how attempts to control situations backfire spectacularly—the man who tries to teach his donkey to live without food, the schemes that trap their designer. Applied to animal ethics, this concept exposes the paradox of dominion: we justify controlling animals for their own good, yet this control is precisely what enables harm. Factory farming, zoos, selective breeding—all claim benevolent purposes while enabling unprecedented suffering. The Hodja's wisdom isn't to reject all human involvement with animals, but to recognize when our 'management' becomes self-serving delusion. True ethical relationship requires humility about the limits of control and honesty about our motivations. The joke on us is that we cannot dominate nature without dominating ourselves into smaller, meaner versions of what we could be. This paradox invites us to release the illusion of dominion altogether.
Peri can explain this concept, give practical examples, help you decide whether it applies to your situation, or recommend a journey if appropriate.
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