Letters to the Editor
-
The sentient and spiritual nature of domestic animals
Anyone who has lived with a cat or dog...anyone who has left himself or herself open to communication with that animal...that person has been privileged to understand how effectively and powerfully cats and (especially) dogs communicate with us. Right, of course I am nuts for saying this. Of course I am anthropomorphizing if I ascribe a soul and spirit to a "dumb" animal, I must be one of those PETA lunatics! But I have had a cat tell me through her eyes and face that she wanted me to let her go because, at age 17, life had become unbearable for her. I have felt the forgiveness flow into me when I lost my temper at our dog and hit him. I have learned that people have sophisticated themselves out of contact with the soul that lives in those animals. Yes: I eat meat. I wear leather. I am not the plastic-and-rope-wearing prophet in the desert who thinks that all animals are sacrosanct. No, you do not abuse any animal lest you become what you do. But in the special case of domestic pets, for millenia part of our households and our lives, you do not descend to butchery, torture, and a place on the menu. You do not kill and eat somethingn with a soul that can talk to yours if you are not so closed-off and ignorant that you can't sense it's there.