Wolves, Sheep and Sheepdogs

Lt. Col. Dave Grossman — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A modern parable about protection, violence and the hero path

Original Author: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, U.S. Army (Retired)

Qualifications: Ranger, Ph.D., author of “On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society”

A Vietnam veteran, an old reserve colonel, once told me:

The Three Natures

The Sheep

“Most people in our society are sheep. They are productive, gentle, kind creatures who only hurt one another by accident.”

The sheep live in denial of reality. They do not want to accept the fact that there is evil in this world. They may accept that fires happen — and so they want fire extinguishers, sprinklers, alarms and fire exits in every corner of their children’s schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of placing an armed police officer in their children’s school. Our children are thousands of times more susceptible to being killed or seriously injured by school violence than by fire, but the only response of the sheep to the possibility of violence is denial.

The idea that someone might come to kill or harm their children is too hard, so they choose the path of denial.

The Wolves

“And then there are the wolves, and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You had better believe it. There are evil men in this world who are capable of evil things.”

The moment you forget that, or pretend it is not true, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

The Sheepdogs

“And then there are the sheepdogs and I am a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.”

If you have no capacity for violence, then you are a healthy and productive citizen, a sheep.

If you have capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you are an aggressive sociopath, a wolf.

But what if you have capacity for violence and a deep love for your fellow countrymen? What do you have then?

A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who walks the hero path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and come out again.

The Relationship Between Sheep and Dogs

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdogs. He looks too much like the wolf. He has sharp teeth and the capacity for violence.

The difference, however, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot, and will never harm the little sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog bothers the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves out there.

The sheep would rather he did not tell them where to go, did not give them tickets and did not stand around in airports, in camouflage, holding an M-16.

Manifesto of O Livrinho, The Blame is on the Sheep

Belem Anderson Costa — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

“In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with Θεός, and Θεός was the Logos.”

– John 1:1 (Bíblia Belem AnC 2025)

The Blame is on the Sheep

A fundamental declaration about responsibilities and choices, about walking toward or against the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Dear sister Sheep,

For a long time, we believed that responsibility is something that should be delegated rather than assumed. So we delegated part of our responsibilities to others. Parents, Pastors, Pharisee/Sadducee priests, rulers, authorities of all types, forms and colors.

Thus, we hoped that along with the outsourcing of responsibility we would outsource the blame. And yes, it is easier to blame the outside than the inside. It becomes possible to point the finger far away.

However, escaping blame does not necessarily keep us from the consequences. Even the innocent pay the price of bad outcomes. Therefore, blame should not be more feared or avoided than results, for results are what actually make us suffer the consequences of actions that in many cases are independent of whether they were taken by oneself or by others.

The Practitioners of Evil

And it is Blame that motivates the deliberate sale of Freedom for the modest price of exogenous control.

And there are some who seek exactly power, centralization, control. They take advantage of the natural fear of blame, but to truly control the world they go further: they provoke the scenarios that lead to accountability, that lead to decision, that are therefore avoided out of fear of blame, and therefore responsibilities are outsourced to those who tirelessly seek them.

The Wolves

They do not fear blame because they possess no integrity. Think about the kind of being that does not blame itself? In whom blame generates no weight whatsoever regardless of the result to be paid?

These consciousnesses are the most conscious. They assume responsibilities because they could not care less about the consequences, for they themselves will not pay for them. They receive the delegated responsibility, but delegate the results. Bingo!

They skip the blame, and return to those who gave them the blank check the letter of judgment. These are the practitioners of evil. They exploit this flaw in their character, the lack of blame, and use it for their own benefit and to the direct detriment of others.

They are the wicked, the wolves. They wear Sheep’s clothing and pretend to be sheep, but when night falls they tear the sheep apart at their dinner.

We can therefore blame the wicked for their wickedness. But there is a truth that can no longer be ignored: ultimately the blame is on the Sheep.

The Great Teaching of Jesus

Humility as the foundation of the human condition.

Humility! Humility to recognize one’s own fallibility. Humility to admit error and to understand that true arrogance resides in the pretension of perfection.

Jesus demonstrated what perfection means in its highest expression, and in doing so made evident that such a state is not accessible to us, limited creatures.

Therefore, the Sheep are not paralyzed merely by the comfort of non-decision; they surrender mainly through the unreal pursuit of a position free from flaws. The pursuit of perfection – impossible for human nature – leads to the replacement of freedom with rigid religious structures.

In this process, inner integrity is traded for external rituals: offerings, prayers, symbolic sacrifices, while nothing is transformed in the intimate space where the true temple of Theos is found.

And when they inevitably fail, hypocrisy emerges as salvation – precisely the one that Jesus denounced with intensity when addressing the Pharisees, extending this criticism to all religious leaders who, by not entering the Kingdom, also prevent others from doing so, for the Kingdom is for the Free and not for the self-enslaved.

The Core of the Biblical Narrative

Here lies the core of the biblical narrative and of the project to restore the Kingdom of Theos: the call to authenticity, to the recognition of error and to the willingness to bear the consequences that are born from it – without lies, without revolt and without revolution.

For Humanity is self-constructive and Alive and growing, and being so could never subsist through dogma and static and immutable laws, for they led humanity to falseness, to lies, to hypocrisy and to deception.

We are ashamed of erring, yet we err consciously. One must choose between one and the other.

The Universe cannot by definition of existence sustain itself on lies. Imagine an atom that pretends to do its job? Imagine the Earth stopping to take a sneaky little detour while the boss is not around!

Nothing that works does so without Rigid Rules and Laws, but only those that are essential to existence. If not, they are foolish and empty, they are false and useless for the purpose of Theos – but useful for the purpose of the destroyer.

The Brilliant Simplicity

The Simplicity of the message of Jesus is Brilliant. It is Divine because he is Θεός the Creator himself!

Live with errors, but live in the Light. If you believe something is correct, defend it in the light and do not operate in the shadows while criticizing others similar to you.

And what in the entire World can allow the construction of inequity with more freedom than Power?! This is why the beasts took it and made it operate as they operate: in the shadows, in plain sight, but exploiting the collective blindness caused by vanity, arrogance, laziness of thinking and of being.

From the arrogance that generates the fear of erring and in order not to err one does not exist – one surrenders. This is the second death!

Jesus Taught Us EVERYTHING

Each Sheep carries civil and spiritual responsibility for their choices. The responsibilities of thinking and of being!

We make choices every day but always fail:

By following without examining.
By accepting ready-made discourses.
By handing our judgment to others.
By preferring the comfort of ignorance over the discomfort of truth.

The Truth is easily detected, but it does not serve the majority – so, by non-confrontation, one swims with the tide.

“Do not think that I came to bring peace, but a sword”

– Matthew 10:34

“I came to cast fire upon the earth”

– Luke 12:49-53

Let the Omissive Know

Jesus says in the Unveiling:

oida sou ta erga hoti oute psychros ei oute zestos; ophelon psychros es e zestos. houtos, hoti chliaros ei, kai oute zestos oute psychros, mello se emesai ek tou stomatos mou.

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth.”

Unveiling 3:15-16 – Codex WH1881 | rigid literal translation (PT-BR) “Belem, An.C 2025”

Morphological analysis – Subject identification:

oida = verb with implicit subject I (the Christ speaking)
ei (v.15) = subject YOU
es = subject YOU
ei (v.16) = subject YOU
mello = subject I

Reflections — Blog - The Blame is on the Sheep

Wolves, Sheep and Sheepdogs

A modern parable about protection, violence and the hero path

The Three Natures

The Sheep

The Wolves

The Sheepdogs

The Relationship Between Sheep and Dogs

Manifesto of O Livrinho, The Blame is on the Sheep

The Blame is on the Sheep

The Practitioners of Evil

The Wolves

The Great Teaching of Jesus

The Core of the Biblical Narrative

The Brilliant Simplicity

Jesus Taught Us EVERYTHING

Let the Omissive Know

Morphological analysis – Subject identification: