Spirituality, Love and Horses

Chapter 13

Years ago I came across a quote on the wall of an art gallery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. To this day I believe it is the best definition of spirituality that I have ever read. What is says with such simple elegance is what I believe about our world... we are all connected.

“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insects as well as for the stars, human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust – we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible piper.”

What was even more impressive and surprising were these words were not written by some well-known mystical guru. They were written by the greatest scientist of all time, Albert Einstein.

I believe that this “mysterious tune” is a shared consciousness that is always present in everything on our planet. It is evident in all animals and I believe most noticeable in humans and horses. Anyone who has ever had a close relationship with an animal whether it be a cat, a dog or a horse will tell you that sometimes there is an invisible yet palpable feeling of consciousness between them and the animal e.g. “sometimes my dog actually knows what I’m thinking.”

Spirituality was also why I came to love the beliefs, traditions and culture of the American Indians often referred to as the “People of the Horse.” This phrase itself speaks volumes as to how they viewed their inter-species relationships. Humans belonged to the horse, not the other way around. The mutual love and respect within their relationship created an inseparable and sacred bond between them. No words were needed to understand or explain the power of this bond. In fact they treated everything on earth with the same Love that is expressed in the herd dynamics of horses. They believed that people, animals, mountains, trees, water, everything on our planet all had a purpose, rights and dignity. Humans alone didn’t rule the planet. Everything lived together with a shared resource called Earth.