A bird shedding its feathers. Is it gifting a few to me?
I use shed feathers for my art. I don’t need to steal them from the bird. The birds are still alive.
The word, taking can mean different things: taking without asking is stealing. Taking after asking, listening, and receiving permission is like receiving a gift. Do I take/steal a touch without asking because I feel entitled to? Do I give the other person a chance to say no? Do I pause to listen if they are willing? How would I ask and receive permission to kill the plants and animals that I eat? When do we ever ask permission of the land to build on it? And of the earth to take out its minerals? We mostly just go about taking/stealing with the story that we are entitled to everything on the Earth and beyond because we have made up a story to make it easier to take. The story is that humans, and especially certain human are different, separate, and above all other life and things.
The stories we have influence our perceptions. Stories are made of words. To change our behavior, we need a different story, using new words such as one for the act/process of asking for permission, listening, then receiving a gift of permission.