Rating: 
Summary: Animal Grace
Review: Psychologist Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D. gave up her private practice to devote herself fulltime to animal advocacy. Animal Grace: Entering A Spiritual Relationship With Our Fellow Creatures is her third book. Dr. Randour says that "I learned that as we gain access to our hearts and minds, by acknowledging the ways in which we affect the lives of animals, this knowledge benefits us as much as it does the animals." She believes that humans have much to learn from non-human beings and points out that people have had animal companions since the beginning of time. One of the most important things about animal wisdom is that it's always available to us. All we need to is become aware, which is "about deciding, learning, and acting." Once aware, we then develop compassion. Dr. Randour has found that learning about the intelligence and emotions of non-humans enables us to "overcome other distinctions, such as race, gender, nationality, and religion." Her underlying philosophy is "ahimsa--harmlessness to all living things." Dr. Randour includes interviews with world religious and spiritual leaders regarding their beliefs about the ways animals should be treated. She also includes numerous anecdotes describing how animals help humans with love, healing, spiritual growth, and death experiences. "My work on behalf of animals infused me with a sense of purpose and prepared me to accept my own spiritual energy," Dr. Randour says. Animal Grace will help all readers understand how they too can enter into "reciprocal spiritual relationships" with their fellow non-humans.
Rating:
Summary: Animal Grace
Review: Psychologist Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D. gave up her private practice to devote herself fulltime to animal advocacy. Animal Grace: Entering A Spiritual Relationship With Our Fellow Creatures is her third book. Dr. Randour says that "I learned that as we gain access to our hearts and minds, by acknowledging the ways in which we affect the lives of animals, this knowledge benefits us as much as it does the animals." She believes that humans have much to learn from non-human beings and points out that people have had animal companions since the beginning of time. One of the most important things about animal wisdom is that it's always available to us. All we need to is become aware, which is "about deciding, learning, and acting." Once aware, we then develop compassion. Dr. Randour has found that learning about the intelligence and emotions of non-humans enables us to "overcome other distinctions, such as race, gender, nationality, and religion." Her underlying philosophy is "ahimsa--harmlessness to all living things." Dr. Randour includes interviews with world religious and spiritual leaders regarding their beliefs about the ways animals should be treated. She also includes numerous anecdotes describing how animals help humans with love, healing, spiritual growth, and death experiences. "My work on behalf of animals infused me with a sense of purpose and prepared me to accept my own spiritual energy," Dr. Randour says. Animal Grace will help all readers understand how they too can enter into "reciprocal spiritual relationships" with their fellow non-humans.
Rating:
Summary: A Healing Bond
Review: The author of Animal Grace has integrated the expertise of the psychologist with the insights of a spiritual pilgrim. The result is a book that touches the heart with its stories of human and animal relationships: relationships that have brought about emotional and spiritual healing. In descriing the reciprocal nature of these relationships, Randour avoids the chauvinism that so often treats animals as objects to be added to a person's life--as if they were some kind of extra-medicinal cure for stress, loneliness, or lack of purpose. Although the author shows that such problems can be resolved by a meaningful relationship with animals, she emphasizes that just as a meaningful bond with other humans must incorporate compassion, service, and awareness of the needs of the other person, a healing bond with animals must also be characterized by these qualities.
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