Newsletter Articles written by Tera Thomas
Issue 19
Loving All Species
by Tera Thomas
April was a very special month for me. My father had his 85th birthday so my sister and I took him to Washington, DC where he grew up to see the house he lived in, find out where he went to school, and what his life was like when he was young. The weather was beautiful, we laughed a lot, we learned a lot, and we had a most wonderful time together.
Earlier in my life I was not so good at relationships with people. I felt disgusted with the human race and embarrassed to be a part of it. At that time, my only real love and commitment was to animals because I knew I could trust them to be honest and true, and to love me for who I am.
All that changed about ten years ago, when I was beginning to communicate with animals professionally. Belle, a very special horse friend, told me that all of the animals supported my desire to work with them and to assist others. However, she said that if I did not open my heart to my own species the animals would refuse to be there for me. I was shocked by this and explained to her that I didn’t dislike all humans, just the ones who were ignorant, bigoted, or cruel.
Belle said I was a good example of being ignorant and bigoted in thinking that I was competent to judge others, and that my judgments were often very cruel. Yikes! She said that I needed to open my eyes and open my heart to perceive the spirit of each human in the way I was able to do with animals. The core of every human is love, just as it is with animals, and if I could focus on that, I could perceive the love in every being and encourage that love to surface.
Belle was speaking of love as a universal force, not some romantic ideal or a false sweetness. Love, she told me, is far more powerful than most of us understand. Love is not some sappy emotion, it is a building block of the universe and there is an unlimited supply of it.
It was true I had no judgment of animals and always saw them with love, but I was in great judgment of people. I was afraid to allow people to feel my love because I didn’t under-stand how to let it be the force without the attachment or the sticky emotions. And how could I love people who appeared to be unfeeling and uncaring? I didn’t really understand love in the way Belle described it. I agreed to learn about love as a force in my life and to offer it freely.
Since that time, many animals have helped me to love more and to judge less. I began to understand that you can dislike what a person does and still be in a space of love with them. This is not always easy to do. I can get riled up and think I have found the one person that really is not a spiritual being at the core and does not deserve my love—politics can really get me going in this direction.
I have often gone to my llama friend, Inka, and said, “Not this one. Surely this is not a person I need to love.” He always says, “Yes, that one too, especially that one.”
Oh! Sometimes I want to stamp my foot and have a tantrum at the injustice of it. But soon I give in, take a deep breath, and allow the force of love to fill me up. In that space it is easy to let go of judgment and to perceive the spiritual core of everything. There is no attachment to anything in this space; it is a powerful bliss that is exhilarating. I am then able to send that love I feel out to meet the heart of the person or thing that previously was getting under my skin.
This exercise has deepened my relationship with the animals, with the earth, and most especially with my own precious species. It is so easy to judge ourselves, to look at the state of the world and get angry and upset, to blame others, to close our hearts to those we feel have done wrong, to view others with hatred instead of love. But that makes us a part of the disharmony we so desperately want to heal.
Remember the outpouring of love we all experienced right after 9/11 and the tsunami? Our hearts were shattered open and suddenly our differences were inconsequential. We felt compassion for each other, we loved each other, and it was happening to people all over the world.
Inka has told me over and over that love is the answer to every problem. I forget it sometimes but I always come back to it in the end. If we sent love to all the people who have different views than us, all the people we have judged, who knows what could happen.
I am so grateful for my relationships with the humans in my life. I love my family more than I ever thought possible. I have such beautiful, loving friends; I have so many amazing clients and students. I am able to see the beauty in all of these people, to not judge them, or judge myself. Animals see us through the eyes of love and compassion. They see the vulnerability, and the spiritual core of the human race. Now I can see this too. We humans have been naïve and overbearing at times, but we have such great potential.
I’ve come to believe that judgment is at the core of separation and if we can let it go and accept each other as spiritual beings all here to experience ourselves as humans, we would not be separate any longer. I also believe that our dream of a world of peace and harmony is already here, we only need to love it into reality.
I thank the animals every day for teaching me this most amazing lesson, for showing me how to love myself and my own species, and for making me walk my talk with inter-species communication. It means all species are members of our family; we are all connected, all related, and here together to embrace this multi-faceted experience on our beautiful planet. Love to all of us, every one! Let the force be with us.
