The modern tendency to accept pets into our lives and our homes is, I think, a subconscious human attempt to cling to nature in a world made of glass and steel that has divided us from it.
Unless we begin to align ourselves with nature, nature will be endangered and our own lives with it. Our own souls with it, in fact.
We are here as a part of creation, not as consumers of it. We are here to care for this planet, not to exploit it. We are here to find our proper place in it, to grow with it spiritually as well as physically.
We know now that if human beings disappeared tomorrow, the existence of birds, insects, water creatures, and land animals wouldn’t be affected at all. If animals disappeared tomorrow, on the other hand, human beings could not possibly live without them.
This excerpt from the book Two Dogs and a Parrot by Joan Chittister is reprinted by permission of BlueBridge/United Tribes Media Inc. Today we remember Helena, mother of Constantine, who died around 330.
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