Podcast episode: Mysticism, hunting and power

This podcast edition from Wild beim Wild brings together two perspectives on the same fundamental question: what does it say about people when they rule over animals even though no survival depends on it?

The first part looks at religious and spiritual traditions and their ethical stance towards animals and recreational hunting. An explicit hunting ban is rarely found, yet many central teachings fundamentally call into question avoidable killing, violence and the notion of human dominion over other living beings.

With the principle of ahimsa, Swami Sivananda takes the most far-reaching position: non-violence applies without exception to all living beings, in thought, word and deed. If even avoidable killing for food is morally problematic, then trophy or leisure hunting can hardly be justified at all.

Francis of Assisi, too, stands for a relationship with animals shaped not by ownership and prey, but by kinship. The edition carefully distinguishes between documented statements and widespread quotations that are not verified by source criticism. The legend of St Hubertus is also read anew: it does not tell of hunting being sanctified, but of a moral conversion — the hunter gives up hunting.

Buddha, Mahavira and Pope Francis add to this ethical line. Buddhist teaching forbids killing, having others kill, and condoning killing. The Jain principle of ahimsa demands that no sentient being be harmed. In «Laudato si’», Pope Francis criticises the notion of absolute human dominion over other creatures. Taken together, these positions do not amount to a uniform religious hunting ban, but they do provide a clear yardstick against avoidable violence, cruelty to animals and the reduction of wild animals to trophies.

In the second part the episode turns to the critique of hunting and power voiced by a spiritual teacher of the 20th century. His encounter with a recreational hunter distils the criticism: anyone who kills an animal although food is available, and who regards the killing merely as a “game”, is not, on this reading, seeking food but power over a defenceless living being.

The critique extends beyond recreational hunting. The mystic also sees political power as an expression of an inner deficiency: people try to compensate for feelings of inferiority through dominion over others. His provocative diagnosis is that both recreational hunters and politicians strive for control over the weaker instead of developing inner awareness. His image of the tree illustrates the claim: politics often merely prunes the visible “leaves”, whereas genuine change must address the social and personal “roots”.

Core idea

Across religions, spiritual teachings and mysticism, one ethical motif recurs: strength is shown not in dominion over the weaker, but in compassion, non-violence and the recognition of other living beings as individuals. The episode therefore asks whether recreational hunting can be compatible with an ethic that does not regard animals as resources, trophies or an available stock.

Internal linking fits the dossiers Psychology & Hunting and Animal rights.