We are related, not by genes, or fur, but by heart.
Let me explain. African Elephants and Asian Elephants share over 94% of the genes on their DNA. The gene sequences are identical. Humans and chimps share over 98% of their DNA. But what does being human mean when there is so much identical DNA as this? What does it mean to be non-human?
I have a long-standing affection for animals of all species. Even the snakes. I had a pet tarantula once. I grew up with them, my father introduced me to them. I bought her while I was studying medicine. I wanted to make sure she did not go to a home where rock music, drugs, and negative influence we present. Some people think owning spiders and snakes means you support that lifestyle. I disagree. Spiders and snakes are pretty, and I have loved them since I was a kid.
That's not to say I am not fond of warm-blooded creatures! Nothing makes me happier than to spend a day on horseback. Or to hang out at the zoo. Even just to visit a pet store makes me happy. They are our brothers and sisters. Do you wonder why?
Here we are on Earth, all of us, together. We all need to eat, drink, pee, poop, reproduce, sleep, and grow. We die. How do we accomplish this? Aside from what our parents tell us, we don't know. I have been to medical school and back. Frankly, from what I know, within man, as a species, the variations between individuals are vast.
Some races tend towards certain maladies. Take the Pima Indians, for example. Very high rates of cholestatic disease (they all get their bladders out). Multiple digits (extra fingers and toes) is called 'polydactyly' and is prevalent in the Amish population. Some are more prone to high blood pressure, requiring three medications to control it where another group typically needs one. Another group has very high rates of obesity and diabetes. And a group from a different continent takes FOREVER to metabolize narcotics.
We are all human. We all have basic inalienable rights. For freedom, and happiness. Food, shelter, and society. A family structure. Within our 99.99%-shared DNA, medicine is basically the same and used to treat everyone with good effect.
So if WE are all human, and we have a head, arms and legs, two eyes, a working GI tract, a nervous system, circulation, lungs that work, and a heart,...what about the other creatures on Earth that do as well? Who made us 'master' over them?
I am an animal communicator, a 'whisperer' if you will. Been like this my whole life. Animals have a higher vibration, more pure. I can connect with them a little easier than I can people. Animals do not lie, however, there are some Amazon and African Grey parrots that will trick you into a nasty bite or a funny prank, respectively. The African Grey will even mimic the noise of the phone to make you answer it. Or the doorbell, or the voice of your significant other. They get the tone PERFECT!
This concept or other animals being smart like us is called 'parallel intelligence'. Just as we learned to survive, by agriculture, language, and society, so did parrots learn to communicate and flock together to live. Every animal out there must possess some innate intelligence to survive as a species. Whales are some of the most intelligent beings on the planet. I have read books out of Sea World, such as 'Whale Done', talking about the success of their positive reinforcement training method that was discovered by trial and success with the whales, and it can be applied to parenting and other human to human relationships.
The common denominator of Earth, as I see it, is that just about everyone alive likes to have fun. On some level. Perhaps fish are not as friendly, and sharks do not take offense to all the lawyer jokes that poke fun at them. But every animal in my home, has a consciousness and I connect to it. And I connect to other animals too. We have birds, reptiles, and mammals covered under this roof. But they play.
When you get a new puppy, what does it do? It plays. And in the animal kingdom, baby mammals for sure, and birds as well, play. They are 'in there', their 'spark of life' is visible to the eye. By extension, although perhaps not as energetic, the reptiles and lesser species are too.
Is this a call to Vegetarianism? No. I have in fact cut way back on my meat intake. It is only 'happy' (organic, grass-fed, free-range) meat and dairy because of the cruelty in agriculture of living creatures.
We bless everything we eat, thanking it for nourishing us, and also to negate the cruelty and fear in the animal as it was prepared for consumption. We are omnivores, which means we could survive on anything. Dead flesh is not very appetizing, but I still have not made the commitment to abstain from all meat for all eternity.
The hardest thing for me to do for over a year now, has been to feed live food to our snake. Mice aren't very, um, personable, and they BITE really easily. A pet shop friend says, 'Mice are mean because they know everyone is going to eat them.'. But as the snake grew, so did its appetite. And at the rat level, I could see they did in fact have soul. Their little paws are like out hands!
The lesson that I learned is two-fold. It is important. Number one: respect how Nature works. A snake is an efficient hunter, and the time to unconsciousness in a constricted prey is seconds, not even minutes. Number two: Love is the answer. I was holding myself back emotionally from the prey. But sometimes snake did not want to eat it. I couldn't always bring the prey back. So, I had to take care of them until the snake was ready to eat. That is how I met 'Three Blind Mice', the special one. Guess what? Now I see, they are ALL special! And I treat them with the love and respect that I would for a pet, because you know why? It is the right thing to do. They are living out their last days in my home. The skinny one of the pair munched away excitedly on a pistachio I had taken from the bird seed! It felt joy!
There is holiness in mouse and rat and snake. In the balance that is between them. We are what is imbalanced. We have taken too much, and forgotten how to give back to our beloved Gaia. We have so much to learn from our animal brothers.
A whale looked me in the eye once. It was high energy thought, 'Good mom.' The whale was judging me, and it was telepathic. That rocked my world!! This happened five years ago, and I am STILL totally excited about it. If a whale looks you in the eye you will never be the same again.
What if something else were to be discovered, something humanoid (an entity that has two arms and legs, a body and head, two eyes, a nose, and a mouth)? Would you run away from it? Or would you welcome it? Would you try to take the time to notice, if it too had a heart? I would. Lord knows everything else does! I hope you would check it out for yourself first, before you decide your point of view.
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
