For centuries, humans have said to horses, 'You do what I tell you or I'll hurt you.' Humans still say that to each other -- still threaten, force and intimidate. I'm convinced that my discoveries with horses have value in the workplace, in the educational and penal systems, and in the raising of children. At heart, I'm saying that no one else has the right to say 'you must' to an animal -- or to another human.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of respect and understanding in relationships, rejecting intimidation and force as means of control.
Monty Roberts highlights the parallels between human-animal and human-human interactions, criticizing the use of threats and coercion to gain compliance. He advocates for a more compassionate approach, suggesting that true leadership and teaching should be rooted in mutual respect rather than fear, and acknowledges the broader implications of these ideas in various societal contexts.
In practice
During a team-building seminar, this quote can serve as a reminder to leaders about the importance of fostering a supportive and cooperative environment.
I had been riding horses before my memory kicked in, so my life with horses had no beginning. It simply appeared from the fog of infancy. I survived a difficult childhood by traveling on the backs of horses, and in adulthood the pattern didn't change.
A good trainer can hear a horse speak to him. A great trainer can hear him whisper.
You must somehow understand that we as horsemen can do very little to teach the horse. What we can do is to create an environment in which he can learn.
In our world, we have this huge focus on vicarious living - politicians, movie stars, athletes, coaches, all these people. What our research has shown very clearly is that people who are really happier and have more meaningful lives are people that focus on living their own lives.
We try many ways to be awake, but our society still keeps us forgetful. Meditation is to help us remember.
It is no judgement of a thing outside yourself to say it makes you ill. The wise reader knows that every pronouncement is, to some degree, an act of self-exposure; the book you find too challenging might only show how ill-equipped you are to face its challenge.
I prayed for Faith, and thought that some day Faith would come down and strike me like lightning. But Faith did not seem to come. One day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans, 'Now Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God'. I had closed my Bible, and prayed for Faith. I now opened my Bible, and began to study, and Faith has been growing ever since.
I felt a trembling along my skin, a treaveling current that moved up my spine, down my arms, pulsing out from my fingertips. I was practically radiating. The body knows things a long time before the mind catches up to them. I was wondering what my body knew that I didn't.
Hope is practiced through the virtue of patience, which continues to do good even in the face of apparent failure, and through the virtue of humility, which accepts God's mystery and trusts him even at times of darkness.
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