By Carole Devereux, Animal Insights

Do animals possess a sixth sense? Do they have thoughts and emotions? Are they conscious beings? Do humans and animals have a spiritual connection that reaches beyond our present comprehension? Today, even though the human race is growing more and more separated from nature, people are asking these questions.

But, does anyone really know how animals can forecast disaster, or how a dog knows when a person is coming home from work, or when it's time to go for a walk. Some believe animals have a highly developed sense that enables them to feel the earth move before an earthquake, or smell gas escaping deep beneath the ground before an actual event.

In any case, anthropologists claim that ancient humans may have once also possessed this higher sixth sense. But, because we rarely use it, we have all but lost it. Perhaps the animals can help us reclaim it.

Humans and animals have enjoyed a long prehistoric relationship that originated thousands of years ago when the animals were evolving from wild beasts into the domesticated companions they are today. In 1997, UCLA biology professor, Robert Wayne startled the dog world by announcing his research suggested dogs were first domesticated as early as 60,000 to 100,000 years ago in Hunter-Gatherer societies. He also confirmed that dogs are descended only from wolves and not jackals or coyotes as some scientists had thought.

For the last ten years, I have been working to bring into human awareness the theory that animals and humans have shared a longstanding psychic and spiritually-based, nonverbal system of communication of which there is evidence in Stone Age cave paintings created during the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago.



Paradoxically, as our culture endeavors to move toward interplanetary communications, we would be wise to remember that within the heart of ancient interspecies relationships, lies a "jewel within a stone," awaiting our rediscovery.

That jewel (telepathy) is the essential healing bond animals and humans once shared in early times. Within this bond is a gift that can guide us in our spiritual and interplanetary quest. And since humans have denied the essential core of this telepathic connection for so long we need to relearn it, or at least reinvent it, so we can evolve cooperatively to the benefit of all, accepting our commonality with other species on Earth.

While researching my book titled Spirit of the Horse , I learned a lot about the diverse relationships early humans once enjoyed with animals in ancient times. Recently, many books have been published on this subject. Yet, this is not an academic study. It has everything to do with and is very relevant to the survival of our planet today. If we are going to heal the Earth from the damages we have wrought for so many centuries, we must return to this deep and rich telepathic connection with nature and allow it to guide and teach us.

Animals are psychically aware spiritual beings just as much as humans. And they possess as complex a system of thoughts and emotions as we do. They have a lot to teach us about life, if we would only listen. But, few realize the rich and complex spiritual "sameness" we share with animals is the foundation upon which our relationship with them rests.

When early people began to settle down and build permanent dwellings they also began to subvert the heart of this wonderful association with wild beasts. We learned everything we know from them then, and are still learning from them today. We needed them to survive the weather, the seasons, to find food, water, and shelter. Today we need them again. But something has changed.

About the same time, we began to justify exploiting not only animals, but other humans, nations, races and sexes as well , be began to lose our psychic ties with nature. Armed with this reasoning a person had only to demonstrate the "other" was not fully human or "closer to an animal" to establish his right of dominion. And according to Aristotle, women were also deficient in a rational soul, and the relationship of male to female was naturally that of superior to inferior.

As humans, we have spent thousands of years telling ourselves we are above and apart from the "others" in nature. Today, this paradigm, which is slowly receding, still dominates our world and has shaped modern societies across all boundaries of race, religion and creed.

The new paradigm, which focuses on a more holistic worldview, seeing the world as an integrated whole, recognizes that our fundamental interdependence upon one another as we now share the same ecological concerns. Once the shift begins to take hold, we will begin to realize, by embracing our relationship with nonhuman species, that we are truly in partnership with everything alive, and we can start to understand how to heal the past.

After many years of communicating with humans in my professional life, I realized the best way to reduce prejudice and alienation was to listen to others without judging. Using these same nonjudgmental listening skills I began to sense the rich heritage we share with other species, as I listened to them and found a rich heritage, one as rich today as it was when we shared caves and watering holes with bears and wolves.

Carole Devereux is the editor, publisher and author of the NW Oregon Stable Guide, and an upcoming book titled Spirit of the Horse. She conducts seminars in La Center, Washington and gives workshops around the country.

What you can do:

1. Please visit Carole's website, Animal Insights.
Click Here

2. Visit AAR resources page to learn more about animals and spirituality.
Click Here

Posted by Michelle Buckalew, Best Friends Multifaith Outreach Program