It is no accident that bestselling books about mountaineering have such evocative, spiritual titles as “Touching the Void.” The increasing appeal of ever more ‘extreme’ sports, the vast growth industry to the last remaining places of wilderness on earth, all testify to our continued need to find the unsullied snows within our own souls. We see highly valued qualities, such as loyalty, nurturing, intelligence in animals as well as ourselves.Īs urbanites, largely cut off from the world of nature, our spiritual reliance upon wild things is particularly poignant. The shamanic traditions understand the human spirit as essentially the same as animal spirit. It is not simply that our own continued existence depends upon the survival of our physical world but that we risk our wider empathy with animals. “What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beast also happens to the man” (Chief Seattle) We feel concern in an intellectual sense about the future of our planet but how often do we explore our emotional and spiritual links with the animal kingdom? We tend to be less concerned about the daily demise of whole species of bugs and creepy crawlies who are also a vital part of our ecosystem. It is also the case that we tend to have dramatic feelings of loss about the big cats and other beautiful mammals who share the planet with us. There is of course nothing new about this situation. Just recently I read that the Sumatran tiger is in imminent danger of extinction. And felt an icy hand grip my heart in despair.
0 kommentar(er)
