Animals (Michael Channeling)
From New Age Village
By Shepherd Hoodwin
Like all life, animals are expressions of the Tao. The aspects of the Tao expressed in animals are less complex than that in humans, and generally more complex than that in a blade of grass.
Nonetheless, even a blade of grass has consciousness; it reacts when it is cut, for example. While animal consciousness is generally more complex than that of plants, some plant consciousness is more sophisticated in different ways. For example, contrast a redwood tree with an amoeba.
Animals especially embody movement. They are like specific musical rhythms solidified, while plants embody emotion, and minerals, intellect. Minerals embody intellect by reason of their focused structure. The structure of a crystal is very much like the structure of a thought. You might say that intellect provides the structure for emotion, which is the substance or atmosphere of consciousness; together, they generate movement. Similarly, the mineral kingdom of the earth’s crust contains the plant kingdom; together, they make possible the animal kingdom.
The Tao is continually experimenting with all kinds of life forms for sentient consciousness.1 As life forms evolve, they become more complex and sophisticated. Those that are not sentient are moving toward sentience; those that are sentient are moving toward increased sentience. Goldfish are not yet sophisticated enough on this planet to be sentient, at least not to any meaningful level. However, what is learned by making goldfish on this planet may be applied on another planet in making a goldfish-like creature that is sentient.
Although animals have consciousness, they are not self-conscious. They do not say, “I am.” They are being themselves without knowing it. They have relatively few choices to make. That is just as well, because their equipment is not yet complicated enough to handle many choices, nor is the consciousness incarnate in it capable of making many choices. Organisms are designed for the consciousness incarnate in them; they are wired with a range of choices that is suitable for their consciousness. Of course, some animals are more intelligent than others. Still, the most intelligent animal does not have as wide a range of choices as the dullest human being with a normal brain. Animals primarily act on instinct, which is what is programmed into them. They may have a choice to make if they are confronted, for example, with two different foods, provided they are not hungry enough to eat both and both are suitable. Then they will go on their experience. They may go for the Purina rather than the Kal Kan because they know what the Purina is like. If they are confronted with two kinds of food that they have never had before, they will probably go with the one that is most like what they are accustomed to. Of course, human bodies are animals, but they are sophisticated enough to accommodate sentience. When we use the word animals here, we are referring to those that are non-sentient.
Animals have awareness, certainly, of other animals and people around them, if they are in contact with people. They sense the energy of human beings, sometimes more deftly than human beings sense the energy of other human beings. Some animals know enough not to trust someone who is trusted by other human beings. It is well known how some animals will attack a person who is fearful. They sense the fear through the energy emanating from the person. It is largely kinetic sensations that affect animals—touch, for example, and vibration.
Animals have emotions, of course. Those who are accustomed to a particular person will miss him when he is not around. They can grieve. But they tend to relate more through kinetic connections. Plants also have this kinetic connection, but tend to communicate more emotionally. Minerals are dominantly intellect—they give off an intellectual vibration. In these three kingdoms there is a reflection of the higher universal pattern of love (emotion), truth (intellect), and energy (movement).
Animals are, of course, aware of their surroundings. Dogs competing in a race are especially aware of the energetic atmosphere. They also recognize their physical surroundings visually and through scent if they have been there before, but their physical surroundings are not the primary factor for them; they simply note them to get their bearings. Cats are more aware of their surroundings than dogs are; you can often observe cats exploring their environment. The more sophisticated the consciousness, the more awareness there is of surroundings. For sentience, there must be awareness of surroundings to a full extent. Someone who does not know where he is is not considered conscious. How far along a species is in its movement toward sentience can be measured by the extent of its awareness of its surroundings.
How good or bad animals feel about their situations, such as being made pets, made to race, or put in cages, depends on the way they are treated. If it is a pleasurable and rewarding experience, they feel good about it. If it is a painful experience, they obviously do not feel good about it. In general, participants in races are not thrilled about it. Nevertheless, they are willing to experience races for the growth opportunities—every consciousness welcomes the opportunity to grow—unless there is undue pressure put upon them, such as by medical or mechanical prods. Horses especially are usually well cared for because they are potentially valuable, and generally, the people working with them love them. That tends to ameliorate some of the stress. House pets usually like being pets if they are not too constrained and if their owners are kind to them. Snakes and lizards in cages usually do not mind it too much if they are given good, live food. Fish generally would prefer larger spaces to swim around in. The constraints of a small aquarium are not natural for them and do cause some discomfort, but it is not extensive. Animal experiments, of course, can be very painful.
Generally, animals do not mind being food for humans. Those routinely raised for food understand their fate. Animal consciousness can expand and evolve by being exposed to the more complex human consciousness, even when killed and eaten, especially if it is done with respect and appreciation. However, it is rare for this to be the case. Particularly nowadays, they are often crowded into feedlots, killed in cruel and barbaric ways, and eaten with greed and selfishness. This does little to evolve the soul of the animal, let alone that of the human.
Animal souls generally do not have as many lifetimes as sentient souls, because being less complex, there is less to learn. Cows might incarnate as a sacred cow in one lifetime, on a feed lot in another, and on a farm in another. It is similar to human beings varying their locales to have different experiences.
There is much beauty in simplicity. An infant in the arms of its mother is simple; it cannot do many things, yet it can radiate bliss. There is also much beauty in complexity that is ordered and working well, but in human beings, when complexity becomes complication, it can be a block separating them from their essence. Animals, in their relative simplicity, can be closer to their source than humans are to theirs. For this reason, people who love animals often find inspiration in them.
The part of you that is animal is connected to other animals. The gazelle may be evident in people who run beautifully or who dance; the tiger, in those who have ferocity. People compare others with animals all the time, speaking of someone being cuddly like a bear, for instance. When you do this, you are unconsciously tapping into resonances between humans and animals.
Some of these resonances were formed when you first came to earth and explored it in spirit form as a deva before you began incarnating. You may have developed a particular fondness for bears after working with them. Devas can “go inside” natural life forms and get first-hand experience of what their consciousness is like. Affinities with animals, plants, minerals, mountains, clouds, oceans, and so forth, can derive from your devic stage. When you are a deva, you do not usurp an animal’s soul; you can leave at will. This may be a source of a misunderstanding that found its way into Hinduism. You do not reincarnate as animals, although some people choose to have deva-like experiences between lives.
Animals can learn about sentience by being around it. Since they are moving toward sentience, positive human contact accelerates their growth.
Back to Shepherd Hoodwin | Michael Channeling | Channeling Archives
