National Museum of Animals and Society

The beliefs, philosophy and concepts of the Kindred Spirits Project seems to be evolving in the collective consciousness of society recently.  My dear friend and colleague, Dr. Marc Bekoff has recently shared in his blog post about the creation of the new National Museum of Animals and Society in Southern California.  With all the museums in the world honoring so many worthy causes, movements, art and history, I am so thrilled to see the creation of this new Museum of Animals and Society. NMAS even has a tour titled Souls that Awaken Us and can be found on their Facebook page.

This museum, NMAS, is another physical manifestation of the vision of acknowledging a new level of awareness and connection between humans and animals.  It has been an ongoing evolutionary process, back to the future, so to speak, acknowledging the vast, intimate interconnectedness between humans and nonhuman animals and all living beings. It seems so obvious, yet, in a society where technology, competitiveness devoid of ethics and morality, darwinian capitalism and survival of the fittest seem to be the dominant themes, the healing power of human, nature, animal connections seem to have been less honored and acknowledged for their vital part in a healthy society.   Years ago, the Harvard based entomologist, E.O. Wilson termed this connection “biophilia”, the inherent love of all living beings.  I discussed this subject as one of the foundations of my book, “Kindred Spirits”, over ten years ago.  This has began to evolve into a  relatively new field of called anthrozoology that is focused on research on the nature of humans-animal interactions. It is exciting to see how this  field  is gaining a good deal of momentum from researchers representing many different disciplines.

On the anthrozoology website, Anthrozoology is defined as “the study of the relationships between humans and animals”.  The website states that “Anthrozoology is unique in that it studies the role of animals in the lives of humans, and vice versa. It has been called many other things, including “human animal interaction”, and the “human animal bond”.  The term Anthrozoology comes from the Greek anthropos, meaning human, and zoon meaning animal.”

These days it can be challenging not to become disheartened  by all the pain and suffering occurring to animals and humans throughout the world. It is a joy to see some positive acknowledgements about the importance of nature and animals in the survival of our world.  I am grateful that we can all be part of this new awareness and each of us bring this awareness to all our friends and our communities.  Check out these new worlds and museums and spread the great news!

Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring and with the new buds and flowers blossoming outside, may new love and light blossom within each of us and be of benefit to the world as well!