Empathy with animals

[melody]

I like watching nature films. It is, in a sense, an armchair eco-travel, and very educational.

It is quite pleasing to watch the animals to roam around. It is, however, a totally different story, in terms of empathy, watching animals hunt and feed on other animal life forms.

Here are 3 examples of the most recent episodes I saw that brought some confusion regarding the concept of empathy and being one with every living creature.


Episode 1 - Polar Bear and Walruses

A male polar bear swam for a long time, over a very long distance, in search of food. He finally arrives, quite exhausted, to an island with walruses. He rests a while and then begins to circle around the walruses, hurled together, to find a breach in their formation, or to spot an easy pray. He attacks, by jumping on the back of one walrus and biting into the flesh. Other animals drive him away with their tasks. This is repeated several times, until totally exhausted and wounded the bear lies in a ditch at dusk, to die.

My first feeling of empathy was with the bear, swimming a long distance to find food. Then I felt quite uneasy when he attacked - I felt empathy with the walruses. And then again I felt empathy with the bear when starved and wounded he had resigned to die.

Episode 2 - Elephant and lions.

In a hot African desert, a herd of elephants and a group of about 30 starving lions are trying to drink from the same, very small water whole. During the day, elephants manage to drive the lions away. But at night the whole group of lions corners out a small elephant and start chasing it. (Lions have a great night vision, and elephants don’t.) The elephant really puts on a fight, and then just attempts to flee, while the lions are jumping on its back and biting into it, and others are biting his legs and the sides of his trunk. He falls, and the lions devour it.

At first I felt the empathy with the starving and thirsty lions, and then I hated them as they hunted down and killed the elephant. I could no longer feel as one with them.

Episode 3 – The Ocean

This film showed a feeding frenzy of one species on another up the feeding chain, all happening at the same time. A big school of small fish was feeding on Krill. A larger type of fish was feeding on the small fish, still larger fish was feeding on the intermediate size fish, the seals were catching the big fish, and the Killer Whales – Orcas - were cornering the seals and devouring them. At the same time the seagulls were flying low over the water also catching the fish.

This scene was totally chaotic and vicious. I felt no empathy at that moment for any of the species. I felt disgusted.

I realize though, that those animals have no other means of surviving other than killing other living creatures.  This is a very sad proposition.

So in view of Our Ultimate Reality when one animal has to kill and feed on the other, how can we feel a total empathy and oneness with the victor?

[melody]

This is an adorable video 
 
Otters holding hands
 
With a song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u17nOCMR4Js&mode=related&search=
 
The original without music
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno

[Werp Weg Alles]

Hello again and again it seems Melody,

I still wonder about animals also.  According to Adrian, they all have minds as much as we do, and are an equal aspect of God, and like such they evolve etc.  He even goes as far to say as many dogs and such animals have higher natural e.s.p type abilities then we do.  If this is true however I truly feel sorry for animals, because in accordance with karma it must be near impossible to get past reincarnation for animals. I mean, they constantly kill, fight, and etc....hmmm

What's your opinion on the reincarnation and evolution of animals Melody?

Werp

[melody]

Hello Werp,

I do think that in order for the animals to reach any higher understanding they do reincarnate. Humans also fight and kill, and they nevertheless reincarnate, to work on their 'karma' in the future lives. Animals, most likely, do the same.

Every living organism has a part of God in it, and that part makes them evolve. Maybe the souls of animals would even come back - at some point - as human beings, once they will reach a certain level of development?

Some spiritual teachings do not distinguish between different souls, and claim that human beings can reincarnate as animals, and vice verse, animals can reincarnate as human beings.

But who is to tell for sure?    

[melody]

According to a research just conducted chimpanzees have a better memory than human adults - students at a Japanese university.
Here is an article about it

http://www.halflifesource.com/news/2007/12/03/article10284.htm

Here is a longer version of an article on this subject from a different source

"Scientists from the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University taught three five-year-old chimpanzees and their mothers the sequence of the numbers one through nine, then matched them up against human adults in two short-term memory tests. In both cases, the chimps won.

"Our study shows that young chimpanzees have an extraordinary working memory capability for numerical recollection, better than that of human adults," reported Tetsuro Matsuzawa and Sana Inoue in the Dec. 4 issue of the journal Current Biology.

Matsuzawa said the findings challenged the assumption of many scientists that "humans are superior to chimpanzees in all cognitive functions."

"No one can imagine that chimpanzees - young chimpanzees at the age of five - have a better performance in a memory task than humans," he said in a statement.

Using a touch-screen monitor, the pair began teaching the chimps numbers at the age of four. When the chimps turned five, they introduced the memory tests.

In the first test, the chimps faced off against a dozen human volunteers in a race to order the numbers one through nine based on memory, as the numbers were replaced with white squares when the first number was touched.

The chimps, while not any more accurate than the humans, were faster.

The second test took the fastest and most accurate chimp, Ayumu, and matched him up against nine university students. Again, the challenge was to put the numbers in order, but in this test the numbers flashed for a limited time, ranging from 210 to 650 milliseconds, then were replaced by white squares.

When the numbers were displayed for about seven-tenths of a second, the chimp and the college students had comparable success rates at about 80 per cent. When the display time was shorter, Ayumu trounced the students. The chimp maintained his 80 per cent success rate, while the students were only able to complete the task about 40 per cent of the time.

"The limited-hold memory task provided a means of performing an objective comparison between the two species under exactly identical conditions," the report explained. "Our present study shows that young chimpanzees can quickly grasp many numerals at a glance, with no decline in performance as the hold duration is varied."

The chimp's edge may have come from his youth, the researchers said. They linked Ayumu's ability to memorize complex patterns to a comparable phenomenon in human children, called eidetic imagery. The ability is known to decline with age in humans, which may also be the case with chimps, as the five-year-olds outperformed their mothers.

Matsuzawa said the chimps may also have had more success at the memory tests because human ancestors lost much of the ability to memorize at a glance in order to make room for language skills."

[Baki Hanma]

I wonder though this may not have anything to do with what this topic is disscussing..

Do animals have a soul or spirit?

[melody]

I wonder though this may not have anything to do with what this topic is discussing..

Do animals have a soul or spirit?

Hello Baki Hanma,

That's a really good question! I would also like to know...

One thing is sure, the animals are far more intelligent than we imagine them to be. We make them into objects, so we can use them to labour for us (horses) or kill and eat them. But apparently even cows are quite intelligent. They were tested by researchers and it was discovered that cows liked to solve intellectual problems that researchers presented them with. And when they found a solution, they had an "Eureka!" type of reaction. They showed excitement (they were measured with electrodes) and even started jumping up! That was a similar reaction a human would have when solving a difficult problem!

[melody]

Here are videos of monkeys performing the number test much better than university students

Are you smarter than monkey?
http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?rn=222561&cl=5306871&ch=222562
 
More clips You have to watch an add at first, though
 
Chimps Beat Humans in Memory Test
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3948143

[melody]

You can read more about cow's intelligence at this website

http://www.goveg.com/f-hiddenlivescows.asp

If you are interested you can find more about other animals on the same website, if you search for it.

Many people love pork and bacon. But did you know that pigs have an intelligence of a three year old? (Without the human verbal skills though.)

[Adrian]

Hello everyone,

Hello Werp,

I do think that in order for the animals to reach any higher understanding they do reincarnate. Humans also fight and kill, and they nevertheless reincarnate, to work on their 'karma' in the future lives. Animals, most likely, do the same.

Every living organism has a part of God in it, and that part makes them evolve. Maybe the souls of animals would even come back - at some point - as human beings, once they will reach a certain level of development?

Some spiritual teachings do not distinguish between different souls, and claim that human beings can reincarnate as animals, and vice verse, animals can reincarnate as human beings.

But who is to tell for sure?    

Some cultures, for example Buddhism, do teach transmigration in both directions, that is to say a human will incarnate as an animal and vice versa.

I personally, while not knowing the answer in absolute terms, seriously doubt that. I do feel it is possible that animals can and do incarnate as humans, but at the same time I do not regard animals as "lower" in any way, so such a process would occur because the Soul of the animal feels that it needs that experience.

Earth humans do not have a monopoly on reincarnation and evolution. There are countless Beings throughout the Universe in all spheres that are on their own path back to the Source, but different to our own. All paths nevertheless ultimately arrive at the Source. There are an infinite number of paths of experience to achieve perfection, which is actually a part of the grand plan.

Keeping in Mind that Perfection is not about physical abilities, form, technology, social status or any other human concept, there is no reason why animals cannot be more advanced than humans in the only aspect that really matters - relative to The Source.

It is only the Ego that causes most humans to see animals as "inferior" and fit only as food to gratify the physical senses. Animals belong in their rightful habit as provided for by Divine Providence, not killed processed, impregnated with preservatives and E chemicals and boxed in brightly coloured packaging designed by psychologists to gratify the senses of consumers.

If one of the many races of ET came to Earth to treat humans like that, which they can and would, I am sure humans might not appreciate it

Kind regards,

Adrian.

[melody]

Elephants painting.

Although I have just discoverred that one of the videos below has already been posted last night in a different discussion section, I nevertheless feel so strongly about the topic of feeling empathy for animals that I am posting in this thread as well.

Elephants are known to be very intelligent. But elephants painting? Just check this out. Animals are far smarter than people's arrogance allows them to be. Maybe, on purpose, we do not want to see how intelligent they are so we can eat them.

Elephant Painting
http://youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk

Elephants Painting!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SVmdJ6UR3l4

[Awakened Soul]

Episode 1 - Polar Bear and Walruses

A male polar bear swam for a long time, over a very long distance, in search of food. He finally arrives, quite exhausted, to an island with walruses. He rests a while and then begins to circle around the walruses, hurled together, to find a breach in their formation, or to spot an easy pray. He attacks, by jumping on the back of one walrus and biting into the flesh. Other animals drive him away with their tasks. This is repeated several times, until totally exhausted and wounded the bear lies in a ditch at dusk, to die.

My first feeling of empathy was with the bear, swimming a long distance to find food. Then I felt quite uneasy when he attacked - I felt empathy with the walruses. And then again I felt empathy with the bear when starved and wounded he had resigned to die.

Ha! That's a polar bear strategy I've seen before myself, but in the case I've seen, he knew that the walrus pack were going to a certain island, so the bear went there sooner before the walrus pack arrived. He just waited until the walrus pack was half asleep and then silently came down from his hiding place and killed a walrus to eat.

I think the bear usually gets what he wants. In your example he lost.

[melody]

Ha! That's a polar bear strategy I've seen before myself, but in the case I've seen, he knew that the walrus pack were going to a certain island, so the bear went there sooner before the walrus pack arrived. He just waited until the walrus pack was half asleep and then silently came down from his hiding place and killed a walrus to eat.

I think the bear usually gets what he wants. In your example he lost.

Hello Awakened Soul,

Your example with the polar bear hunting illustrates that the bear does not only act instinctively when he sees pray, but actually strategizes. He can create a beforehand plan, which shows his intelligence.

It is a pity that carnivorous animals have no choice, but have to kill to survive.

I read somewhere that the carnivorous and killing situation is part of this physical world and was created by our law vibrations and our way of thinking. And if human beings would chose to distance themselves from all sort of killing and torture, this change of vibrations on this plane would also affect the animal world, and they would slowly readjust themselves and would cease to be carnivorous. This might be a pure supposition, but the Bible claims that there will come time when the lion will lie down with a lamb. Is this a purely allegorical image, or is it literal? Many think it is literal.

[tessa]

just on the elephants painting, yes I agree it shows that they are intelligent, but it isn't as if the elephant just picked up the paintbrush and started painting unprompted and I can't help but imagine what amount of cruelty must have taken place in order to 'train' the elephant to do that for the crowd.

Sorry to be the one to bring a negative thought to this when everyone seems to be enjoying it.  Just felt like I had to share my view

Tessa

[juliainkc]

Hello Tessa,

Actually every point of view is valid. Thank you for sharing yours. It adds depth to the whole picture.

 I do wish for you to know, it wasn't my intention to promote any cruelty to animals. My granddaughter has a unique affinity with animals. She is always sharing with me what they are 'thinking' or emoting. She did love this video because she is an energy sensate artist and she loved the elephants energy. She said this elephant is so sweet in nature and is enjoying its painting. Just sharing a 10 years old perspective.

Because of what you shared I will send loving energy to the elephant and its trainers to be who they truly are Love expressing.

Sending Love your way,

Julia