Peace-Keeping Law of the Community of Life

I had said I was going to write a post on Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael and it's relevance to natural beekeeping. I will eventually write that. (I promise!) In the meantime, let me leave you with two short quotes from the book today concerning what the author calls "the peace-keeping law of the community of life:

This law that you have so admirably described defines the limits of competition in the community of life. You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down your competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war. [129]

Bees will deny you access to what's inside their hive in the apple tree, but they won't deny you access to the apples. [128]