These are challenging times.
Climate chaos, “natural disasters” resulting from human impacts on the Earth, massive loss of individuals and entire species, pandemics, violence of all kinds, the rise of authoritarianism and fundamentalist religious theocracies and fascism here in the United States and around the globe…it is understandable that we will feel grief, anger, fear, and sometimes a sense of despair, helplessness, hopelessness, or the desire to escape from it all into denial or avoidance.
As I witness all that continues to unfold in our world, and see the shifts and changes in my own community and other communities that I love, I continue to ask myself what have become the guiding questions of my life for many years:
What are the gifts that I have to share? What matters most? What is my response, and how do I remain resilient, adaptable, and open-hearted in this time? What is my part to do, and what is the best way to do it?
The essence of the answers to these questions remains consistent, though the specifics may shift at various times. Conscious connection, communication, and relationship with all life…particularly with the vast beauty of the more-than-human beings who share our world, is the foundation, both for my own personal life in terms of joy, resiliency, purpose, and guidance, and also in terms of what I want to offer and share with others in this time.
I remember the first yoga class I ever attended, long before I ever thought about becoming a professional animal communicator. In the relaxation (sivasana) practice at the end of class, which is a deep meditative state of rest, the guidance came to me as a clear message:
Go to the animals.
As I recall this now, over two decades later, I am reminded of the strength, the clarity, and the foundational essence of this guidance.
Why is this so important? Why does this matter so much, especially now?
The answers to these questions may be obvious to some…and yet, there is so much confusion in our human species about our relationship with the rest of our world.
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I confess: I do not like the word “Nature.” I suppose that I can understand its usefulness as a kind of shorthand in describing the more-than-human world, but it separates, and it also overgeneralizes, as if “Nature” were one thing. There is “us” (humans) and “Nature” (a monolithic everything-else.)
Here is the definition of Nature from the Oxford Dictionary: The phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations. (bold is mine)
This is a polarization, a binary, a “humans vs. the rest of the world” , and also an intimation that the “physical” world of “Nature” is separate from the “human” world of consciousness and awareness. This is a grave and dangerous distortion of perception. There is no sense of the human species being simply a part of the whole…one of the many expressions of life, awareness, and sentience in our cosmos. In my opinion, this is an example of the many ways that the English language in particular is impoverished…a reflection of our limited sense of being and relationship with the entirety of life forms, ecosystems, sentient awareness on our planet…including Gaia herself.
[For beautiful, deep insight into language and how it impacts and shapes our relationships, I recommend the work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, especially her gorgeous book, Braiding Sweetgrass.]
Why does interspecies communication and relationship matter, especially in this time? Why should we pay attention to and cultivate our fundamental but often-atrophied-from-disuse birthright, our natural way of understanding other beings, when there is so much else that is calling for our attention?
As I consider these questions and our potential responses to our global predicament of either denial or despair, I suggest a third alternative: Deepening.
- Deepening our connection with the Earth and all beings who share our planet home
- Deepening our connection with each other as humans, as difficult as that is in these polarized, fractured times
- Deepening our relationships in our communities…including the more-than-human communities in which we live
- Deepening our connection with all life, with the Earth, our planet home, and the communities, ecosystems, animals, plants, trees, mountains, rivers, oceans, soil that connect us all.
Interspecies communication connects us. Every day I am privileged to talk with people from all over the world who have deep, profound, intimate relationships with beloveds of other-than-human species who share their lives, their homes, their families. Interspecies communication is a life-skill, a way of understanding those closest to us and deepening our relationships with them.
Interspecies communication also has the potential to connect us more intimately with the land where we live, with our ecosystems, our communities. What would it be like if we asked the land what it wanted and needed from us, if we could “hear” when a storm was coming, when an earthquake or hurricane was drawing near, if we could understand how best to care for the trees and plants in our gardens, the waters that nourish our bodies, the wild animals who grace us with their presence, their wisdom, their awareness, the beauty of their own unique lives, both different from and connected to us?
What would it be like to return to living in this way, part of the whole, not separate, connected, in relationship with the consciousness and awareness of all life?
I continue to imagine that a world such as this is not only possible, it is being created in small pockets, communities, ecosystems all over the globe. In some places, this way of being has never been extinguished, In others, it is being reborn, remembered, regenerated. We can be part of this remembering, this reconnection, this renewal.
This is different from “saving”, and also different from the spiritual bypass of “it’s all going to be okay.” I feel that facing the reality of our situation clearly is essential in this time, both for ourselves, for our species, and also for all of the other beings who are so deeply impacted by the unconsciousness of the human species. Who do we want to be in this time? How will we show up? What is most essential, most important, and most impactful? How will we live…with ourselves, our families, and in our communities?
For each of us, the answers to these questions will vary, depending on our histories, our situation, our gifts, our passions, and our calling.
My beloved cat Louie, my muse, guide, wise teacher, and friend, sums it up this way:
Sit on the Earth. Listen to the feelings in the soil, the voice of the trees, the touch of the wind. Open your awareness to the birds, the insects, the sounds in the air, in the soil, and on the surface. I spend my whole days immersed in this awareness…there is nothing else. It would be good for humans to live like cats…touching, feeling, sensing, listening, understanding. You can understand everything if you simply stay still and listen.
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If you’d like some guidance in exploring your own ability to communicate deeply with animals and all life, you may want to consider this learning opportunity:
Beginning Animal Communication Online Class
