Podcast Ep4 Deep Dive Into Animism
Originally Published March 1, 2022
Listen: Apple Podbean iHeart Radio
Script
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(Music)
Hi there, this is Janet Roper, your host for the True Kinship with Animals podcast and I believe we all do better when all creatures do better. I'm all about building true kinship with our animal kin and on this podcast I talk about how our conventional bond with animals, for example owning animals, differs from true kinship. On this podcast you can expect to hear from the occasional guest, and weekly I share stories and suggestions to help get you started on that path to true kinship.
For twenty plus years I have successfully been facilitating clear conversations and relationships between animals and people so that your relationship is deepened, moving beyond ownership to true kinship.
If you're so inclined to see how my work resonates with you, check check out my site and socials, links below.
More About Animism
I’ll share with you ways it shows up in my own life, which may or may not be the same for you.
We are born into life inheriting our life lenses, or perspectives, from our family, friends, social media influences, religion, societal systems and our culture. In turn, those different lenses shape our values and influence our daily activities & connections. We tend to keep them because they were handed down to us. Often we don’t examine them because they are laced with tradition plus either spoken or unspoken expectations and mandates.
Sometimes those lenses work for us, sometimes they don’t. As we begin to change and get to know our own authentic wants, desires and self better, it’s common for our lenses to no longer serve us in the way they used to. That can be a very uncomfortable time and lead to tweaking, altering or even discarding the lenses.
For example, growing up I was taught to disrespect animals - kick cats out of the way and yell and hit dogs. I did that because that was a lens I inherited from my extended family. I always felt awful doing it so I did it less than half-heartedly. Still, being a kid, I went along with it because that was how my family rolled and I was too young to know that was not “normal” behavior.
As an adult I started making the necessary changes to grow into my authentic self and I began to examine my inherited lenses. As I explored them and learned more about them and myself, I discovered a great number of my lenses were rooted in colonization and settler thinking.
It was time to do some serious house cleaning with my inherited lenses. That house cleaning was not a one and done thing, I still consistently work on it. That’s what brought me to animism.
My Working Definition of Animism
Is it’s an awareness of what is beyond myself, the belief that everything has a soul, is connected and because of that connection it is possible to be in true kinship with each other.
As my mentor, colleague and friend Kelley Harrell explains it, animism is considered to be the oldest religion and it's a way that helps us experience the world that is greater than our own individual understanding and scope. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, words, computers, cars, pencils—as animated and alive. Being animated and alive means that each non-human being has its own agency, or autonomy.
That’s a lot, right? When I first started thinking about it and living an animistic lifestyle, it about broke brain - because it was so different from those lenses I inherited! Because this podcast is about animals, let’s narrow the animistic world and focus on animals.
What this means is that with each animal we encounter, we have the potential to be in a reciprocal and respectful relationship, one that is based on true kinship rather than power over another. A relationship that recognizes and honors the agency of each species.
Stay tuned, we’re going to take a short break and when we return we’ll be talking a little about human responsibility when it comes to animism.
(Music interlude)
Welcome back. Let’s add another layer to animism deep dive and that is the human’s responsibility.
I bet many of you have seen the memes floating around that say something to the effect that “All horses/dogs/animals are therapy horses/dogs/animals. The majority are just freelancing.”
And I bet it gives you warm fuzzies to think that this just might be the case. Some animal is reaching out to you, just to help you. How sweet is that?
OK, here’s where reality sets in. Brace yourself because I know this may not be music to your ears.
REALLY???
Memes like that are not true. They are written from the perspective of human entitlement and superiority, placing people in a select position above the animals.
Memes such as that create a division and a hierarchy, with people at the top of the hierarchal chain. With humans at the top, the natural result places the animals in inferior positions, at the beck and call of human demands and desires.
Memes such as these are not written from an animistic point of view. Animism considers the animals as having their own agency, autonomy and authority. Animism considers all equal.
Yes, there are animals who choose to work with humans, but this stems from a choice on their part as well as a reciprocal, respectful relationship that has already been well established and is regularly tended.
It doesn’t stem from a human’s feeling of entitlement to what an animal can do for them.
Being With Animals
The thing about being together with an animal is that it’s based on a relationship that’s built over time. When I say time, I am talking about months and possibly even years, not simply 3 sightings of Fox, finding feathers when you’re on a walk or reading a meme that declares all animals are ……..
So, for instance, the relationship I have with my Angel Horse Shiloh has been honed over 20+ years when he was in the physical, the time we are together now that he is an Angel Horse and in lifetimes we were together before this one.
Being with an animal is not coming form a place of ‘you’re mine, I choose you’, but seeing if the animal is showing veritable interest in you and if you are compatible together. Once that is established over time, then you can take those first steps to tending and nurturing a mutual relationship.
Questions For You
So, when your heart goes pitty-patty when looking at the meme, the question I have for you is……does that love come from the sentiments expressed on the meme or is it coming through a lens that is authentically yours?
What can you do, how can you check yourself when you see those ‘messages’ that immediately send you to warm-fuzzies-land?
Be Aware And Be Aware
Question any meme or statement that makes blanket statements about all animals
Question any meme or statement that presumes to speak for all animals but obviously the end result benefits only the people
Ask yourself those hard questions, such as “Why am I assuming the animals are willing to do my work for me?”
Many thanks for joining me today. If you liked what you heard, give the show a like and a follow. And tell your friends and family. To discover more about true kinship with animals, visit my website and socials, links below.
Support This Podcast
If you enjoy this podcast and find my work helpful, support my work by making a financial contribution, a purchase from my Amazon Wish List and/or sharing this podcast.
Just for today remember: We All do better when all creatures do better. See you next week folks!
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