Fallouts from the pandemic have included opportunities to examine our lives, to reach out to animals for companionship, and to consider different choices going forward. Sarah Bowen, award-winning author, columnist, speaker and teacher, explores the connectivity of environmental issues and human-animal relationships in her latest book, “Sacred Sendoffs: An Animal Chaplain's Advice for Surviving Animal Loss Making Life Meaningful & Healing the Planet”.
Here is the first part of PFN’s fascinating conversation with Sarah.
How, in your opinion, should animals be regarded? And why?
Let’s start by remembering that people are animals. If we look at classification charts, there we are, right next to red kangaroos and giant pandas, not far from crested penguins and sea turtles, as part of the kingdom Animalia. Realizing people vs. animal is a tautology is the first step toward treating all living beings with compassion.
My opinion comes from a core tenet of spiritual traditions: Most religions and philosophical systems include some version of the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would like to be treated.” But! How these ideals are actualized in individuals’ lives varies widely due to how each of us has been socialized.
Beyond our opinions, we each are inconsistent in our beliefs and actions, too. Because living in an interspecies world is complex! I believe butterflies and other winged ones are worthy of respect. And I know that insect pollinators have their own lives, help create healthy ecosystems, and are critical to creating a majority of the crops that I eat. And yet, I’d be in denial not to admit that because I drive a car, some of these beings may end up squashed on my license plate. We have to keep adjusting for more regard .... it is not a single belief statement that is an endpoint.
How can we overcome centuries of conditioning through culture, religion and tradition, that positions humanity as superior to animals and perpetuates the view that they exist for our purposes?
In a word: curiosity.
Powerful, complex systemic issues that have been developing for millennia hide what’s going on from us. And we also self-filter. There’s a lot of information in the world, and necessarily we have to make choices about what we think about with our limited time. That makes people really well educated on some topics —and not so much on others.
Unfortunately, we can too easily choose to turn away from human superiority and speciesism because thinking about them makes us uncomfortable. Or we feel powerless, or we can’t understand or integrate the new information we are receiving. So, I think that’s all part of why the conditioning seems to “hold” generation after generation. Overcoming conditioning necessitates a willingness to be curious — and I think that happens one topic at a time, so we don’t flood our emotional systems.
We can start by being mindful of what we see in our environments, on the news, or social media, and ask, “What don’t I see in this story? What might this look like from another point of view?”
Seeing the world as a massive enigma to explore with curiosity — or perhaps a confounding puzzle — can prevent us from stopping our journey of compassion when we feel shame or regret about our part in the mess.
How can we persuade people to extend their circle of compassion to include more animals?
I think it’s important to remember when we advocate on behalf of other species that moral conversations about right and wrong rarely get people to look at these issues. It shuts them down. No one likes to feel shamed. Even if that’s not what we intend, that’s how moral conversations can feel to the other person.
It’s also critical not to suggest that we have the perfect solution. Few people want to listen to a know-it-all, either.
Instead, we need to ask questions in the presence of others. “Have you noticed that…” is one of my favorite tools, followed by, “Isn’t that curious? What do you think?” Starting a conversation will open people to thinking. Don’t worry about winning that conversation, though. Just start it. Curiosity sticks around.
In Sacred Sendoffs, I talk in-depth about how we create our circles of compassion and offer an exercise you can do with others to help them think through this, too, in an internally led way.
How would humanity benefit if we were to do so?
Research indicates that when we treat other-than-human animals with respect, we treat humans better, too. The converse also happens. If we are okay with violence toward other species, we are more likely to allow violence toward other humans and the planet. Poor treatment of animals is a significant factor in climate change, ocean pollution, world hunger, deforestation, and other tragic problems. Respecting animals may help us mitigate some of these issues. And that’s good news not only for polar bears, tigers, and monarch butterflies but also for humans.
What progress, if any, have we made towards allowing animals to live a life they would choose?
Especially since the Age of Enlightenment, concerns for animal welfare have been intertwined with other reform movements. As people embraced “pet” keeping in cities, they became more sensitive to violence perpetrated on those used in entertainment (like dogfighting) and at slaughterhouses. That’s why early groups like the ASPCA were formed.
So, I think intersectionality is a step forward. For example, talking about the dietary racism in “the food pyramid” (a very high percentage of Bipoc people are lactose intolerant) is a significant step forward. Because the dairy industry is problematic both for both cows and humans. As the Black liberation theologian James Cone reflected in his 2007 essay Whose Earth is it Anyway?, “The logic that led to slavery and segregation in the Americas, colonization and apartheid in Africa, and the rule of white supremacy throughout the world is the same one that leads to the exploitation of animals and the ravaging of nature.” Human, animal, and planetary issues are entangled. So, necessarily, the solutions we advocate need to consider all of the parties involved.
The second part of our conversation with Sarah will appear next month but, in the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about her work, you can order her book at www.modernreverend.com