Communicating With Rats and Snakes in Tamera:
Learning to Co-operate with Animals
by Sabine Lichtenfels and Barbara Kovats / Tamera Center for Humane Ecology
Animals, like humans, are expressions of life:
soul-full organs in the body of Creation. If we harm them
then we are
harming the very same Creation which we ourselves are part
of. However, if
we enter into contact with them then our lives change; a
fascinating journey
of discovery begins. This is a report about attempts to communicate
with the rats in
Tamera.
For a long time now in Tamera, we have been carrying out
initial experiments
to communicate and co-operate with animals. After the
thousands of years of
fear- and violence-filled history, it requires a very
cautious, determined
but also playful rapprochement. The results are inspiring:
frogs at the
'Oracle Source' no longer leap away, instead they approach,
full of
curiosity, when humans arrive. Snakes repeatedly lie on the
doorstep or even
seek direct contact with people. In this article, we will
highlight just one
example from many, since this one is currently the most
continuously
researched: our contact with the rats.
Just the mere mention of the word 'rat' triggers feelings of
fear, disgust
and horror in many people. In the towns, pest controllers
are paid to ensure
that the town remains 'rat-free'. Nevertheless, the rat is
biologically very
close to the human. It has an astoundingly similar genetic
code. This is one
of the reasons why rats are forced to die and be tortured in
horrible ways
in research laboratories all over the world 'for the benefit
of humanity'.
Nonetheless, rats continue to seek out for themselves
contact with humans
and like to make themselves at home in our living places. If
you look for
contact to the rats instead of chasing them away then you
will be guided
through many layers of your own soul, layers which relate to
angst and
disgust. The homeless, the failures, those who have to live
in the dark
corners of the cellar, 'the scum of society': these are the
ones who have to
live with rats. Slums and flood- or epidemic- stricken
areas: here the rats
are at home. We picture them as bearers of disease; in many
films they are
portrayed as aggressive animals who even attack humans. I
remember well my
own fear of rats which I had as a teenage girl. Fear creates
aggression or
hysteria.
If, on the other hand, contact can be made to this
animal, then it
appears completely normal and familiar. We in Tamera were
able to study this
process within ourselves. Initially the old fears surfaced
which we thought
we had overcome long ago. Even those who consciously knew no
fear of rats
experienced sudden irrational images of witch-hunts or
similar horrors. It
seemed as if rudimentarily recorded memories of the soul
were being
awakened - threatening memories. It is not long ago that
women were
persecuted for being witches simply because they tried to
communicate with
animals. Our reactions are sudden, completely beyond reason.
Sitting deep in
our soul is the message: I don't want anything to do with
rats! However, our
defences are not provoked by the rats themselves, but by our
desire not to
have anything to do with the traumatic associations set
loose within us by
the word 'rat'. The fear that we have has nothing to do with
the reality of
a rat.
The rats in Tamera provoked us into communication when they
moved into the
newly built Akron House a year ago. We tried using
meditation to get them to
move out. Our numerous attempts failed. Instead, they became
even more
intrusive. This simply aroused really old fears and defences
in many of us.
It was only as we had the idea of offering them an
alternative that we had
any success. Using visual meditations we tried to offer the
rats another
place to live - an old ruin in our budding Peace Garden,
which we had given
a roof. Suddenly the rats were really gone. They had moved
out. After a
while, we were able to confirm that they had moved into the
old ruin; from
this time on it has borne the name 'Rat Temple'.
About one year later, however, they returned to House Akron.
Why? In
meditation we received the clear information that they
wanted more contact
with us humans. We decided to visit them every morning in
the Rat Temple.
The success was once again clear to see. The rats moved back
out of House
Akron. In the Temple, the first rats began to show
themselves to us. First,
they made themselves noticeable with sounds, and then they
also made
themselves visible. Now a reception party takes place every
morning, where
they appear in great numbers. After a while, they even dared
to come and eat
from the plate of food which we brought them while we were
present. During
our visits, we could clearly observe that the rats have the
same fear of
humans as humans have of rats.
As humans reduce their fear
and anger, the
same transformation happens amongst the rats. It was
inspiring to experience
firsthand how they approached with caution and then became
more confident
from day to day. In the meantime, there are even some who
will come right up
to an outstretched hand. Now we are faced with the challenge
of not turning
them into tame zoo animals. Sometimes we get the impression
that the rats
are really looking for communication with humans, not just
contact. Again
and again, when we meditate intensively in the Rat Temple,
unusual
communications appear. Suddenly we will experience an urgent
and existential
call from an animal soul that wants to tell us something.
This newly started
experiment will probably turn into a long-term research
which leads us ever
deeper into the wonders of nature, her connections and
communication
structures. There is only one Being. Could a human who has
experienced the
beauty, wildness and intelligence of a rat ever permit them
to be tortured
and killed in vivisection laboratories? No! If we get
involved in this
experiment of co-operating with our fellow living beings,
then it will
change our life.
Creation is a Whole. Within this Whole, holistic laws apply.
If humans
destroy or torment a part of this Whole they cause more than
just a
localised wound: pain, shock and fear arise in the inner
part of the whole
organism. This means that the way we are treating animals in
factory farms,
slaughter houses and vivisection laboratories creates pain
and fear within
the whole biosphere and therefore within every one of us as
well. The powers
of trust and original love are abused, they do not receive
any positive
feedback from the world, they are disappointed, rejected.
In order to heal the animal powers, places are needed where
animals, and all
other creatures, are once again able to trust. These will be
places where
humans fully re-assume their roles as guardian and
protector - the roles
they should really fulfil vis-à-vis other creatures. This is
a significant
aspect of the contribution that Healing Biotopes and their
Peace Gardens can
make towards holistic healing. If continuity here leads to
trust being built
up, then a new basis for co-operation between humans and
animals will arise.
Reports about the Bishnoi - a religious community in India -
show us just
how far this trust from animals towards humans can go. The
Bishnoi, who live
in the Radjasthani deserts, take it for granted that they
lay out watering
and feeding places for the animals and protect the
surrounding areas from
hunters. They themselves do not eat meat, since they regard
it as obvious
that animals are beings with the same divine essence as
humans. In the
vicinity of the Bishnoi settlements, it is possible to
observe that the
animal world's fear gradually disappears. Even the antelope,
known for being
timid animals, can be seen playing with the Bishnoi
children.
We in Tamera want to create these areas of protection and
trust just like
the Boshnoi do. Notice boards on our land inform hunters
that a Healing
Biotope is developing and asking them not to hunt here. The
hunters and the
hunt-associations are beginning to accept and support our
wishes. The
children from our emerging Children's Republic paint animal
pictures, talk
about our intentions with the hunters on the days of the
hunts and are doing
a lot for sick animals in the neighbourhood.
The animals - with their fine-tuned senses - are aware of
this growing
protection and they are taking the risk of showing
themselves to us
increasingly often. Animals have souls made of the same
inner substance as
humans' souls. They are expressions of the greater world
soul, which is also
within us. "Through your eyes shines the light, Mashallah,
wonder of God in
you". This song celebrates a fact that applies to an animal
just as it
applies to any human who faces me. The soul lives in both of
us and in both
cases it is the universal essence of being: "the wonder of
God in you".
The animal world is a master of accomplishment when it comes
to precision,
composure, concentration, transformation and the realisation
of powers. All
these qualities are expressions of their connectedness with
the universal
body of life from which they originate, and from which
humans also
originate. Humanity can learn a lot from the qualities which
an animal life
has when it is lived out in a state of inter-connectedness.
In this sense,
animal life is a spiritual teacher for us. We can even learn
from animals
how to see the Earth's ethereal properties and energy flows,
since whales,
migratory birds, ants and others orient themselves in this
way. They
co-operate with Creation's powers and have strong abilities,
for example, to
see changes in the weather coming. Perhaps they can even
influence the
weather, as it is said that frogs can do. If humans learn
once again to
co-operate with animals, then through them we can get to
know Creation in
all its detail, and learn how to co-operate with it.
The first step towards co-operation is perception. We need
lengthy training
before we are able to silence our prefabricated conceptions
and really take
notice of just whom our counterpart is. Each living being
vibrates at its
own frequency. If we can succeed in really perceiving the
vibration of
another being, then we can find the level on which we can
learn how to
co-operate and to send and receive information. Dorothy
Maclean (co-founder
of Findhorn and author) made this discovery with plants. Her
ability to
perceive the plants' "Devas" - we could also say "the
plants' spiritual
beings" - was an important basis of the extraordinary growth
rate of the
Findhorn garden's plants.
Every child has probably dreamt of being able to speak to
the animals or
plants; it is an archetypical image. Later it is dismissed
as childish. When
we re-open our adult's heart for this image, it brings our
soul into a state
of almost holy excitement. Who hasn't been touched by the
images of St.
Francis of Assisi speaking with the birds? Is this something
that only
Saints can do? Or can anyone learn it?
We can assume that in earlier cultures this ability was part
of normal life.
In the book Traumsteine (Dreamstones) by Sabine
Lichtenfels there are
impressive descriptions of how the contact with all living
beings was taken
for granted in earlier nomadic or half-nomadic cultures.
Contact to plants
and animals was a significant part of everyone's path of
development.
Children and youth received schooling in this contact - it
was fundamental
to their later path through life. Whoever wanted to learn
how to really love
another human had, as a pre-requisite, to study love towards
plants and
animals. They were helpers for humans. The concept that
plants and animals
also have a soul was obvious. It was also clear that humans
share the
responsibility for all beings. How did the ancients discover
the numerous
healing plants, when they didn't have chemical laboratories?
By questioning
them. How could they protect themselves from the many wild
animals? By
co-operating with them. Is this picture a naïve dream from
the spiritual New
Age? A typical retreat from reality? Or is it a sober fact,
which we could
re-learn today? We are faced with this question again and
again.
Take initiative for this project
We need financial and material support to continue with the necessary
constructions on our place. Please help so that our work can succeed and help
to invest into a future worth living. No more investment into a culture of
the destruction of life, but instead into a culture of compassion and
cooperation with all beings. For more information about possiblities of support
for Tamera, please click here.
For more information, email Tamera at tamera@mail.telepac.pt or
visit the website at Tamera.org.
THANK YOU!
The Tamera-Team
RETURN TO OMPLACE HOME