Chief Seattle, the great Native American teacher, once said, "What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected."

The Peaceable Practice of connecting with Animals means working through the ignorance, fear, and preconceived notions that interfere with our ability to relate to, identify with and respect members of other species. It means opening the door to a connection to the natural world and our own inner selves that so many of us hunger for, but have lost.

For the most part, we deal with the pain of being separated from other animals and the natural world through a kind of compulsion to control. Rather than making an effort to re-enter the natural world in a balanced way, and to relate to other animals on their own terms, we forcibly bring animals into an artificial world we have created and proceed to control every aspect of their existence.

We capture wild birds, tigers, elephants and primates. We put them in cages, make them perform for our amusement and profit or endure the grotesque torture of scientific experiments. We breed cats and dogs by the millions even as millions of the unwanted are gassed in animal control facilities. We round up and brutally massacre deer, coyotes and geese living in our suburbs, which were not so long ago their wild habitat. We frighten bears into climbing trees, and then shoot them down with enormously powerful weapons. We trap fox and raccoons for their furs, and pull sea mammals from the water with harpoons and hooks. We put millions of fish in little bowls and millions of lizards in little tanks. We breed into existence and take the lives of billions of animals of all sorts on farms.

In spite of it all, the pain inside us does not diminish. It only grows. "For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man," said Chief Seattle. In violating the animals' right to respectful treatment, in taking away their freedom and bending them to our wills, we are caging and mutilating our own spirits.

Connecting with animals means breaking free of the compulsion to control, and opening ourselves to a new, more humble way of relating to animals and the natural world. It means taking the time to learn about the individual and the species, and protecting and respecting the homes and natural habitats of the animals with whom we share our planet. It means taking photos from a respectful distance, not rifle shots. It means going out on the water not to lower fishing lines, but to remove trash. It means adopting animals from shelters and treating them with respect. It means appreciating farm animals rescued by a sanctuary, not eating them for dinner. It means spending time learning from other animals, listening to their unique voices, and doing our best to speak their languages.

Connecting with animals is ultimately a form of healing, one that can transform our consciousness from that of alienated dominators to that of balanced global citizens -- protectors, not exploiters, of the natural world.


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