Ahimsa [respect for, and not causing harm to, all other living things] is much more an inner disposition of heart than an external set of behaviors. It is primarily a celebration of the prodigious fertility of God and of the primacy of God's creativity and care for everything that exists. It requires of the devotee not merely a sense of respect for all God's creation but an inner discipline, an asceticism, that inculcates a state of mindfulness, a deep contemplative attentiveness to the sacredness and uniqueness of every living organism.
— Diarmuid O'Murchu, Poverty, Celibacy, and Obedience