THEY FEEL

In my lifetime, I have observed every emotion imaginable exhibited by animals of a myriad of species.  They feel.  All one must do is be present to know this to be so.   ~ Gerean Pflug, The Animal Spirits

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”People must have renounced, it seems to me, all natural intelligence to dare to advance that animals are but animated machines…. It appears to me, besides, that [such people] can never have observed with attention the character of animals, not to have distinguished among them the different voices of need, of suffering, of joy, of pain, of love, of anger, and of all their affections.  It would be very strange that they should express so well what they could not feel.”

~ Voltaire, Treatise on Tolerance

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EMPATHY ~ THE UNIVERSAL SOLVENT

“Empathy is a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble.” ~Simon Baron-Cohen

Empathy is defined as “a complex form of psychological inference in which observation, memory, knowledge, and reasoning are combined to yield insights into the thoughts and feellings of others.   Empathy is a highly developed and sophisticated emotional response that references self and others. ”

The heinous taking of innocent lives not only in Newtown Connecticut, but worldwide, can neither be explained nor cured by debate of weapon control.  There always have been and always will be a way to take the life of another.  The recent travesty in Newtown did not happen because of guns, it happened because of a human being who had no empathy.  An empathetic human being does not take such action of harm against another living being.  All life taken by violence violates all of humanity

Can we control the senseless taking of innocent lives?   Sadly, no, we cannot.  Control is an illusion.  We have never and will not ever control the actions, reactions, thoughts and even words of others.  The only things we control are our own individual actions, reactions and words.

While we argue and fight among each other . . .

• Millions of humans worldwide are homeless and/or starving to death
• Worldwide war which only benefits those in political power is rampant
• Human life is being sold into slavery on the black market
• In the most inhumane and cruel ways imaginable, man and animal alike are being abused tortured and mercilessly slaughtered
• Our wildlife is being massacred to extinction
• We are abusing our planet to the point that it is crumbling beneath us

Someday the planet earth will cease to exist.  Someday the sun will burn out.  We are not promised tomorrow.  We are not even promised the rest of this day.  This moment is all that we have.  If we use this moment to channel our energies into making a positive difference in the lives of others, we will effect profound change of mind, heart and spirit.   These changes ripple and grow and affect the lives of others, not only in the moment, but vastly beyond this moment.

If we choose to spend this moment in argument, competition, debate, anger and words that hurt, what will we achieve?  Nothing.  I believe that this moment is the perfect moment to shift to higher levels of consciousness.  Today is a very good day to begin to act  from the heart, not the critical mind and to focus on becoming true models of the good we wish to see in this world.

For myself . . .

I choose to

support, discuss and write about

those things that build up,

encourage,

inspire,

motivate,

uplift

and propel others toward love.

I choose

to focus on

and promote

the heroes of this world,

rather than the villains

(although one certainly cannot be illuminated without the other).

I choose

to hope

that all of us will consider

the powerful opportunity

provided to us

to make a profound positive difference

from where we stand

and through the act of

standing together

in unity

reaching for the highest level of consciousness . . .

the evidence of this consciousness being . . .

empathy,

compassion,

kindness,

gentleness,

understanding

and peace.

Many Blessings.

~Gerean Pflug, The Animal Spirits