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Can we talk with the animals?
mfranzdorf
Veteran
Hi all, I hope you are all well. I haven't been in here much lately, but I thought this was an interesting subject and it lends itself to the belief that we as humans really are connected with the world around us. It's a short video about Anna Breytenback. She claims, and in my mind demonstrates an ability to truly communicate with our animal relatives.
Please watch this short video and tell me what you think.
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Comments
I fully accept this. The mechanism is not known by science too much but animals are aware of our emotional or emphatic state. They do respond to Mettā (Pali) or maitrī (Sanskrit). That is my experience. Many thanks for posting
There is no question in my mind that such communication is not only possible, but does absolutely happen. As a Dog Behaviourist, I see the behaviour and temperament of dogs and I can, to an extent, 'get it'. This woman's ability is way beyond the realms I have explored though.
Given our obvious connection and coexistence with these creatures, such connection should be made as widely-known and acknowledged as possible. We should make such things widely known and accepted, that these animals - all animals - deserve, and at times command, the deepest and most sincere, humble respect.
Tragically, I have in my mind's eye, a totally inverse and directly-proportionate image of inhuman unspeakable cruelty of a video purportedly doing the rounds... I can't even begin to bring myself to describe it. It just made me week with horror and frustration.
This is so uplifting and marvellous.
Awesome. Really, in every sense of that word. Awe. And then, some.
Cool, and very courageous.
I have done something similar with a grumpy ginger cat, but admittedly not in the same league.
All a sentient being wants is to be happy ie, free from suffering , that what the Dharma teaches us....
I guess the communication would be in the form of sensations/vibrations that produce images within each other's minds...
At first when I saw the title I thought "Doctor Dolittle" ...I guess it's the same thing.....
Can we talk to animals? Maybe it would be best to ask them.
I can barely talk 'uman - that should have been empathic
We have a robin that sits on our garden door handle, usually when someone is wearing red. A lot of his talk is based on body posture, varied chirping, crapping if startled etc ...
I also speak sufficient wasp to get by in. I am trying to learn raven. All animals, including pre-animals such as trees and plants should be talked to IMO and as @genkaku says listened to ...
White Anglo Saxon Protestant ...The language of the (Not having a) Klu Klux Klan ...I guess they are a wild untamed pack of animals....
THE IRONY OF SAMSARA
Imagine this scene: a layman sits in front of his house, eating a fish from the pond behind the house, holding his son in his lap. The dog is eating the fishbones and the man kicks the dog. Not an extraordinary scene one would think, but ven. Shariputra commented:
"He eats his father's flesh and kicks his mother away,
The enemy he killed he dandles on his lap,
The wife is gnawing at her husband's bones,
Samsara can be such a farce."
What had happened?. The man's father died and was reborn as a fish in the pool, the layman caught his father, the fish, killed it, and was now eating it. . The layman's mother was very attached to the house so she was reborn as the man's dog. The man's enemy had been killed for raping the man's wife; and because the enemy was so attached to her, he was reborn as her son. While he ate his father's meat, the dog - his mother - ate the fish bones, and so was beaten by her son. His own little son, his enemy, was sitting on his knee.
Tsk, tsk.
I thought someone would inevitably misinterpret an insect for an insect brain. I find such racists and bigots speak a language of hate that is not worth discussing.
Flying wasps, I learned make excellent practice protectors for scaring away those with a bee in their bonnet.
Insects are wonderful creatures. I do tend to like the naughty ones, spiders who are catching the fruit flies in my kitchen for example ...
@uppeka may believe that scenario he mentions and sadly I think he has sutras to back up such ancient ignorance. I am afraid Dharma might be in part a web of nonsense for the unsuspecting. [too harsh?] maybe I will be reborn as a pebble.
Good thing we have a variety of interpretations/updates ...
And now back to talking to animals ...
I would like to believe we can talk to animals. Ravens have always interested me. Haven't yet had a conversation though.
I talked to the cows on my long solitary retreat, they are very good listeners provided you scratch their heads from time to time.
I can't see why not...Animals are human too....
Case in point
I like ravens too @grackle I think they get a bad rap from a lot of people. Very intelligent creatures.
As do snakes. Which I love, and used to keep. I know quite a bit about them, but a lot of people hate them, for the most irrational reasons, and sometimes for no real reason at all....
@Walker. There is a charming little myth from the NW called "Raven Steals The Sun". Its a story about how light came to the earth.
It reminds me of "Call me by my True Names" from Thich Nhat Hanh.
We can see ourselves in each other (most on this forum I'd guess leastways) but can we see ourselves in the animals? Can we see ourselves in the plants and the minerals and the very fabric of life and the cosmos?
Once we can do that we can see the suffering of owls in a toothpick and the not-even-meant evil displayed by beings such as we.
And it's degrading.
I do think the interpretation of events you provided take the quip out of context, take it too literally and seems way too convenient though. I don't think it's all so close to the conventional home, so to speak.
I've fallen back into eating chicken and fish since I got real sick for a few months last year. I don't like it and am weaning off of it. I didn't realize the B12 source in soy milk so was losing a lot by not replacing nutrients lost when kicking cow mucous.
Edit to add: Sorry all. I thought this was the how we see animals thread, not talking to animals.
So just to at least mention the actual topic, I do believe we communicate with animals all the time even when we aren't paying attention.
That woman is amazing, wow.
My dogs know from just from one glance at me, when I've decided to give them a bath, and make a run for it. There's no hiding it from them. There's all sorts of communication going on that is invisible to us, apparently. Something I am doing is saying "Bath time" to them. Maybe I actually smell different. Who knows?
@David, do you want me to move your comment....?
Up to you.....
I really think this is it. Most animals have a sense of smell many orders of magnitude more sensitive than a humans, and from what I've read they can smell the emotional state of other creatures (including humans) in the vicinity. Fear and mistrust probably trigger aggressive responses in animals, whereas an animal would probably find a calm, compassionate state of mind reassuring.
@Cinoger. My Irish setter always knew it was bath time and contrived to avoid it by absenting himself long before I got underway. It did not help to change the day or time.
Absolutely spot-on.
I am constantly informing clients that in order to be able to communicate effectively with their dogs, they have to remain Calm, Consistent and in Control. I don't mean 'control' in a domineering or aggressive way. I mean, Self-assured, confident and open to their animals' needs.
Clients are always amazed that if I take the leash of the dog and walk with it, the dog behaves completely differently with me, even though I never actually make physical contact with the dog. ("He never does that with me!" "How are you doing that? That's amazing!") But I 'communicate' down the leash. Never harshly. I never ever used Cesar Millan's methods, let me swiftly add.
Communication for dogs is through body language and physical 'attitude' (stance, presence, confidence). And yes, smell is a primary factor in the process.
Aw, thanks but that's ok. Unless you want to of course. I was quoting a post from this thread but even that post doesn't seem to go with this topic.
I think you're right. I think @upekka 's post is also misplaced...!
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i humbly apologise for what i have posted in this thread
sorry
@upekka, if you're apologizing for posting on the wrong thread like I did, it happens but don't apologize for posting your thoughts. Especially to me.
We are all students and teachers.
I think so, animals too can teach us.
We are in a unique position, being able to protect and care for our fellow animals. By that I mean respecting their kinship and wish to survive (be well). In this sense I feel animals have much to offer us. It is why our cruelty (eating them is not respectful - I do that)
or bad zooing, unnecessarily stressful experimenting or product testing, circusing etc is not kind.
Kindness, kinship and humility is something animals recognise. It is the start of communing with nature.
I wonder what they (different/other species) would say about the practice of factory farming ?