Mystical Dogs: Animals As Guides to Our Inner Life
"For many
years, I have been a student of spirituality and states of
consciousness. For many more years than that, I've been a student of
dogs," says bestselling author Jean Houston, whose study of this subject
is the basis of Mystical Dogs. Houston has spent a lifetime bridging
the worlds of animals and humans, exploring a realm that pet owners have
glimpsed and indigenous peoples have known for millennia. The author
identifies dogs, with their deceptively uncomplicated, joyous, loving
nature, as custodes animi, guardians of our souls. She shows how
animals, particularly dogs, are often the best spiritual teachers. For
example, in Houston's hands, a seemingly simple story, such as a man
saying goodbye to his beloved dog, becomes a striking metaphor about
personal and planetary transformation.
Barnaby was like a mood, a fragrance of the harmonious inner life, permeating everything with which he came into contact. He knew sorrow and he knew joy, and he held them in a delicate balance of serenity and peace. He knew how to respond equally joyfully to an invitation to walk or talk or sit together, which seems to me to be a particular kind of training in grace -- a willingness to respond easily and happily to even the most modest adventure together. Perhaps it could be said that within his framework of being a dog, he lived life as a spiritual exercise.
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