Survival of the fittest does not mean the same thing as survival of the most brutal, or survival of the most selfish. Being the only "culture-bearing animal," humanity has interfered with its own natural course of evolution.

I gave up on using the term "Wiccan" years back, when people first began to fight over it being different from everything else which was happening (and I realized that I didn't fit into either side's "definitions."). I was originally able to use it on my USCG personnel file for "Religion: Wicca" because back then ('72) the term was so obscure that nobody realized it was an excuse to hassle me over.

But I do not seem to see the Rede the same way as many. To me, it is a declaration of Personal Responsibility (somewhat like Heinlein's discussion in that one scene of Stranger about the phrase "Thou art God!"). After all, it states "will," not "whim," and of course whims are wants and not actual needs of the organism.

I suppose that if I had to write an adaptation of the Rede, (I guess sort of an addendum) to illustrate how I have come to see its meaning, it would go something like this:

or "Go about your life with no intent to go out of your way to cause deliberate harm to any others, but when the situation calls upon you to cause harm, if it must be done for the greater good then you must do so, and step up and take responsibility for what your conscience has required of you."

• Vegetarianism based in principles against killing (even though there are still plants dying) is an Idea I have no problem with.

• Vegetarianism based on the false idea that it is wrong for an omnivore species to be so, I have no use for. (culture interfering with nature once again)

All of this is of course still a "work in progress" as my knowledge and level of understanding continues to change and (hopefully) grow over the decades.