Consent
To agree, to accord, to feel together, consent is not dominance, it is an agreement between parties.
To give consent is to agree to an action, allowing that action to proceed.
When we are children we might learn that many objects are not ours, that another persons body and space is not ours unless by consent.
Consent has respect embedded.
To take anything without consent from another is a violation, if not a theft.
To consider that we might have the authority and rights over another to ignore consent is to reduce the other to a less-than-we-are human.
I have heard it said that people under the influence of alcohol or drugs lose their moral compass and can take from another without consent.
I am not sure I agree. The shadow self that is unleashed under the influence of chemicals needs to exist already.
Someone who has integrity, respect and care of others entrenched in their psyche from childhood is unlikely to flip even when under the influence.
Only those born with the belief they do not require consent, those who can easily place other humans and life forms in a category they deem below them, will respond to chemical influence with an exacerbated response.
Photo taken March 27th 2021
