Topic: Animals

[nichi]

It is just like man's vanity and impertinence to call an animal dumb because it is dumb to his dull perceptions.

- What is Man?
Mark Twain



Of all the animals, man is the only one that is cruel. He is the only one that inflicts pain for the pleasure of doing it.

- "The Lowest Animal"
Mark Twain



If you talk to the animals
they will talk with you
and you will know each other.
If you do not talk to them,
you will not know them.

~~~Chief Dan George




But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;
And the fowls of the air, and they shall teach thee;
Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;
And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Who knoweth not in all these
That the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind.

Job 12:7-10, R.V.




There is not an animal on Earth, nor a bird that flies on its wings, but they are communities like you.

The Koran 6:38

[nichi]

The soul is the same for all living creatures, although the body of each is different.

~Hippocrates~



Animals share with us the privilege of having a soul.

~Pythagoras~



Love animals: God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled. Do not trouble their joy, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness, don't work against God's intent. Man, do not pride yourself on superiority to animals; they are without sin, and you, with your greatness, defile the earth by your appearance on it, and leave the traces of your foulness after you - alas, it is true of almost every one of us!


~-Fyodor Dostoyevsky~



Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual fact.

-   Ralph Waldo Emerson




We should understand well that all things are the work of the Great Spirit.  We should know the Great Spirit is within all things:  the trees, the grasses, the rivers, the mountains, and the four-legged and winged peoples; and even more important, we should understand that the Great Spirit is also above all these things and peoples.  When we do understand all this deeply in our hearts, then we will fear, and love, and know the Great Spirit, and then we will be and act and live as the Spirit intends.

-Black Elk-



He who sees his Lord
within every creature
deathless dwelling
Amidst the mortal.
That man sees truly.

~Bhagavad Gita~



We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendor and travail of the earth.

Henry Beston -
"The Outermost House"

[nichi]

Non-human animals are not some lower form of life, living only on automatic reactions or stimulus-response programming. Yes, they are different than humans. They have different bodies, genetic backgrounds, functioning, senses, and they therefore experience the world differently than humans or any other species. Animals as individuals combine their physical species nature with their mental and spiritual qualities to uniquely express themselves and their purposes in this universe. While it's good to study biology and behavior to learn about species-specific needs and patterns, this will not bring complete understanding of individual personalities, ideas, hopes, purposes and dreams. We can't separate the physical body from the spiritual aspect of a living being. Where there is life, there is spirit.

From "The Human-Animal Spiritual Bond,"
Penelope Smith



Interspecies telepathic communication is a connection, a direct link to the spirit present in all beings. It is based on the recognition that all beings are intelligent in their own way and that they can understand, inter-relate and communicate. It is the experience of receiving direct thought transmission, images, feelings, impressions and concepts, from individuals of other species. It is confirmed by positive changes in behavior and enhancement of cooperation, peacefulness and closeness among the beings communicating. When deep mutual understanding occurs, fear, aggression and dominance are usually replaced by harmony, dignity and mutual respect.

     When people divorce themselves from Nature, from the spiritual essence that flows through all of life, and emphasize pursuing material goods, their relationship with their fellow creatures of different forms often assumes the shallow character of owner and possession. Without the spiritual connection, even when they profess love for their "pets," they may expect the animals to supply the emotional and spiritual sustenance that they are lacking within themselves. The animal companions often mirror their humans' deficiencies.

     How different the relationship when our domestic animal friends are viewed as fellow spiritual beings of different forms, who are allowed to live their own lives and express their own dignity, while still enjoying a mutual companionship with us and each other.

From "The Human-Animal Spiritual Bond,"
Penelope Smith

[Jennifer-]

 

[Michael]

yes, 'tis not until we be one ...

[nichi]

I see the animals, plants, rocks and other non-human forms as the spiritual guardians or keepers on the planet. They never lose their awareness of themselves as spirit and their innate connection to all of Life. Of all species, humans appear to need the most education to master their existence. Humans, unlike most animals, struggle with their analytical complexity and choice to feel either connected to or separate from the whole, to acknowledge themselves as spiritual beings or feel finite and alienated in the material world.

     Ancient and modern tribal people recognized the need for humans to remember and focus on their deep connection to all of Life and Spirit through ceremonial observance of the seasons and stages of life, and prayers and rituals for guidance and protection in their earthly sojourn. They regularly acknowledged all beings as part of themselves and necessary for their physical, mental and spiritual health or wholeness.

     We who are inculcated with the separation of existence through logic, analysis and scientific rationality, need the reconnection to animals, plants and the earth more than ever, before we destroy ourselves and our world. The animals and other non-human beings can teach us who we really are, since most of them always know and never choose to disconnect from that awareness of self as eternal Spirit. Humans need the animals and all other life forms on many levels, from biological to spiritual. All the other beings on this earth, by their presence, their honest communication, their wholeness, can, if we are receptive to their help, lead us back home.

Penelope Smith
The Human-Animal Spiritual Bond