This past week I was reminded of the importance of looking at the world from a different point of view. As humans I don’t think we step often enough out of our own reality and into another being’s reality. In fact, we let what we see and think and perceive to become our only reality. This is in spite of the fact that we share vibrational space with other beings whose thoughts and emotions are sometimes radically different than ours. It is possible, of course, to create shared reality with other beings and when that happens it can be positively mind-blowing.
Case in point was speaking with a wonderful human who calls herself a “sacred activist” (which I totally love) for a particular species on this planet – elephants. She’s been to Kenya numerous times and on my radio show several times and everywhere she goes it’s about informing and supporting the right relationship between humans and elephants. This is her life’s work and her passion and she does this extremely well. While we were chatting on another topic the subject of hope within the animals of the world came up – as in, do they have hope – for themselves, for us, and for the world?
It may surprise you – as I think it did her – that the answer was a resounding – YES! “Hope is all there is”, they say – “hope grounds us in the realities that surround us by pointing the direction forward.” As Emily Dickinson said: “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul – and sings the tunes without the words – and never stops at all.” This IS the perspective of all the other species on the planet about life on Earth and their own species as well.
The question was asked by my friend – “are they afraid for themselves and for their futures?” Remarkably – then again, maybe not – the elephants offered this wisdom: “We feel it when a species goes extinct on the planet and we mourn their passing just as we mourn individuals within a species. We know that we, too, shall pass as an entire species perhaps sooner than we’d like. It is that connection with our brethren that makes this tolerable because as they paved the way for us here they are paving the way for us There” – the “there” they’re referring to (apologies for the variations of there here) are other dimensions that I believe we humans might refer to only within the context of quantum physics. We’re fairly tied to our third dimension and the perception of how energy functions in this one itty bitty teeny tiny part of the galaxy that we’re really missing the forest here, at least according to Elephant, whom I trust implicitly.
My friend breathed a sigh of both surprise and relief and I’d like to think that for just a moment Elephant shared the burden of her life’s work with her. In this splendid space of just one energetic breath they were united as one. It became less about Human fighting for Elephant and became more about Elephant illuminating their spiritual guidance for all beings on our shared planet. It was a torch of both hope and grace that passed from one being to another and which eased a beautiful soul’s day. When hope seems dim I invite you to ask the Animals for their support – they have an abundance of it and so much more if we just ask! Photo credit: Elephants by Dominik, resized.