One way of Knowing
Grace, Copyright© by Maureen Shaughnessy
Sometimes our flame goes out but is blown again into instant flame by encounter with another being. --Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Once the realization is accepted that even between the closest beings infinite distances continue, a wonderful living side by side can grow, if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole against the sky. -- Rainier Maria Rilke
I made a slight change to both quotes above. I removed just one word from each: human. To me, the insights Schweitzer and Rilke present are more true when seen in this inclusive way: accepting that all beings are capable of loving, of being intimate, of kindling the flame of life in the heart of another being -- even one of a different species.
2 comments:
I love horses (all animals, but some more than others) and I used to work with them. I love these pictures, especially the first one. As soon as it registered on my brain, I could feel the soft skin around it's nostrils and I could smell it's smell.
Pam, I didn't know you used to work with horses. That's so cool. I love it when you tell me something that blasts my preconceptions of you -- or when anyone does that.
I know a horse person here in Montana near my home, who works with horse who for one reason or another are not wanted by the ones who have kept them for years. She has a horse-shelter ranch and many of the horses she cares for and loves are crippled, hurt in some way -- maybe deaf or blind or just really really old. She is an animal communicator, which is very handy to be when you are caring for these "wounded" creatures.
Anyway, the reason I'm telling you that is that she sometimes makes connections between the horses at her ranch and people who cannot walk -- she helps the humans connect with the horses, and ride them. It's such a beautiful thing to do, both for the people and for the horses. They end up having such a heart connection!
I was wondering if you had considered riding -- with help -- even though you are basically confined to a wheelchair these days. I hope that's not really rude of me to ask, Pam. I bet you would be in heaven. :oD
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