the horse's mouth
by Nedda Wittels
animals can talk to us, does this mean they are sentient beings who are
self-aware and conscious? My experience tells me this is so!
I was a small child, my father told me that to learn the truth
abut anything, you had to "go to the horse's mouth."
Since horses were my favorite animals, this notion had great
appeal. When I was older, I asked my Dad where this expression had
originated. He told me this story.
Medieval Europe, it was common practice for the monks to debate
questions, such as, "How many angels can sit on the head of a pin.?"
Always the scriptures were used as the final source of truth about
everything. Since the scriptures didn't always agree with each
other, the debates would rage for days, weeks, and even months and
One day, someone asked, "How many teeth are in a horse's
mouth?" The arguments went on for hours until a young novitiate
asked, "Brothers, why don't we go to the stables and look
into the mouth of a horse and count his teeth." And they
all fell upon him and beat him.
same problem applies to communicating with animals today. Many
people feel that by observing animals, we can surmise what they want or
need or even what is wrong with them. Others choose to use behavioral
modification and other training techniques along with classical
veterinary medical tests to determine what is causing symptoms and/or
behaviors. These approaches generally agree that animals
don't have "human emotions" and only have limited
intelligence. While they work some of the time, they don't
always. Something more is needed, some new way of perceiving who
the animals are.
The approach of a telepathic communicator
assumes ideas that are not widely accepted in the 21st Century.
it assumes that animals are sentient beings. Sentience is a
concept that traditionally has been used to separate humans from
all other species. Sentient means not
only intelligent, but self-aware. Self-awareness is often tested
by how someone reacts when looking into a mirror, i.e., does the animal
"know" the reflection is their own self, or does it think the
reflection is that of another animal. Modern science has shown
that we "see" not with our eyes, but with our mind, and it
takes training or life experience to interpret the electromagnetic
messages that come into the brain. Therefore, how an animal or
human interprets the reflection may not only depend on what information
is received in their brain, but how the brain has been trained or not
trained to interpret that data. It is not necessarily a measure of
telepathic communication assumes that both humans and animals are capable of telepathy.
British biologist Rupert Sheldrake has begun research and
gathered evidence to support this and has published it in Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home. The
bottom line for this "pet psychic" is that if I want to have a
conversation with another being, I must show them respect and honor by
assuming that s/he is capable of responding. (This is true for
humans as well as for animals.) If I don't make that assumption,
then I am creating a situation in which the other may be unwilling to
respond. When I hold this as my intention, the animal (or human)
can feel that intention and is more likely to choose to respond.
of this discussion is meant to logically prove the existence of
telepathic communication with animals. All of this discussion is
intended to help others understand where I, as a telepathic
communicator, am coming from when I have conversations with
I "tune in" to an animal, I assume that the information I am
getting is correct, and that if there is error, that error is probably
in my efforts to translate the energy I am receiving into something
understandable in English. The confirmation I receive
is not in the form of general rules or assumptions or test
results. Confirmation may be given when the animal responds by
either changing their behavior as a direct result of the communication,
or when the human who knows the animal tells me that some of the
information matches their own experience or knowledge, or when the
animal's physical problems are confirmed by veterinary medicine.
To me, as a telepathic communicator, that is evidence enough to support
the efficacy of my work.
communicating telepathically, it is immediately evident to me that animals are sentient, that they feel a
wide range of emotions, and that they make conscious choices. Call
it intuition. Call it empathy. Call it telepathy. I
receive information in the forms of pictures, words or phrases,
emotions, physical sensations, knowings, intuition, concepts, and
combinations of all of these forms. Then comes the more difficult
job to putting this information into human language, which I find far
more limited in expression than a telepathic sharing with another.
propose that the time has come to stop making generalizations about
animal behavior and begin "going to the horse's (cat's, dog's,
turtle's, fish's and so on's) mouth." When you want
another human being to listen to what you have to say, you must treat
that person with respect. When someone speaks to you respectfully,
you are more likely to listen, to consider their opinion, perspective,
and request. It doesn't mean you will always agree or that you
will be obedient. Obedience is not intelligence!!!
same is true of the animals who live in your family. They are more
likely to listen when you assume they are intelligent, have feelings,
and have reasons for what they do or don't do. Treat them respectfully,
but don't assume that this means they will agree with your perspective
or always do exactly what you say. What can happen when you do
this is that a conversation may take place that opens the door for
reaching a new understanding at a new level. And that
understanding may be the first step towards resolution of the situation
and a whole new way of relating between humans and animals.
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