CULTIVATING COMPASSION
Vision for Living...
“Chickens Are Smart (and Yes, They Can Suffer),” by Jennifer Mish - ler ( Sentient Media , March 10, 2021; https://sentientmedia.org/are- chickens-smart/). “Fishful Thinking: Waking Up To The Truth About Fish Oil, Fish and Fishes,” by Mary Finelli ( Pathways , Spring 2021; PathwaysOn - line_Spring21). I acknowledge, however, that it is a fool’s errand to pick out but three pieces, given that articles on topics such as these are pub- lished in untold numbers of news media, scientific and medical journals, and other types of reputable publications these days the world over. The world’s religious, spiritual, and wisdom traditions from across the ages, not surprisingly, have much to say on the pre- ciousness of all life. For a sampling, see: Compassion for All Living Beings—”Together for Peace and Compassion: Respect, Safety and Dignity for all Living Beings,” by Compassion for All Living Beings, a Cooperation Circle of the global interfaith organization, United Re - ligions Initiative. See, especially, the pages on “Religious Teachings” and “Ageless Wisdom” (https://compassion4alllivingbeings.org). A Personal Cameo In 2005, I attended the second-ever “Awakening the Dream - er, Changing the Dream” symposium by the Pachamama Alli - ance, which in the years since has been delivered in countries all over the world and in multiple languages. Today it is available to the individual online (see Pachamama Alliance Global Commons). It was there I heard a presentation by David Ulansey about the Sixth Mass Extinction underway on Earth. Later, back home at my comput - er, I wept as I scanned the website, Mass Extinction Underway, that Dr. Ulansey created in 1998 and has added content to regularly over the many years since (see www.mysterium.com/extinction.html). It was through that experience I committed to working to preserve the en- tire community of life henceforth, not only for peace among humans. And with a species going extinct every twenty minutes, although not species-specific nor localized in a nation or region, the mass extinction needstobeunderstoodasaformofgenocide.Inthiscase,however,it’sone that threatens not only the species being wiped out, but the future of the perpetrators aswell, namely, the viability of human life onplanet Earth. continued on page 74
...continued from page 20 artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feathermagnified and thewhole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their trag - ic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not bemeasured byman. In aworld older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, liv- ing by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellowprisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.” “Other Nations,” “... Finished And Complete” Daily, hourly, minute-by-minute, we are learning so much about the sentience—the emotions and intelligence—of animals, as glimpsed by Henry Beston and many other religious and philosophi - cal sages over time. We see, for example, the deeply caring parenting behavior of so many animals—notable among them the species “farmed” for hu- man exploitation. We see especially their distinctive expressions of mother love, including at times the nursing and raising of or- phaned babies who are not their own and who sometimes are not even of their own species. (See “Celebrate Mother’s Day with kind - ness to animal mothers, too,” by Cynthia Sampson, Mountain Xpress, May 6, 2015; https://mountainx.com/opinion/letter-writ - er-celebrate-mothers-day-with-kindness-to-animal-mothers-too/.) We see the committed social relationships and community struc- tures of various animal species; their joy, curiosity, and spirited play- fulness; their self-sacrificing behavior; and their deep mourning of the loss of loved ones, including inmany cases a loved human in their lives. A random smattering of but three articles on animal sentience that crossed my e-waves as I pondered this article in recent weeks were: “A Cephalopod Has Passed a Cognitive Test Designed For Human Children.” by Michelle Star ( ScienceAlert , March 3, 2021; https:// www.sciencealert.com/cuttlefish-can-pass-a-cognitive-test-designed- for-children).
PATHWAYS—Summer 21—73
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