Animal Grace: Entering a Spiritual Relationship with Our Fellow Creatures

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.

Ms. Randour has captured the essense of humankind's natural bonding with other animals. We seek connection to nature, our ground of being, and we can find this through relationships with fellow animals. Ms. Randour experiences a sense of joy and liberation when she feels attuned to the needs and passions of other creatures, and many other animal protectionists relate similar experiences. Choosing to not contribute to animal suffering, she finds, is not a sacrifice. Rather, it is a spiritual act that affirms and strengthens her bonding with the natural realm.The book is well-written and readily accessible to a wide audience. I recommend it highly.

As a practicing Buddhist, I was thrilled to find "Animal Grace." I look for books that combine practical spiritual advice that I can follow on an everyday basis with an in-depth and comprehensive spiritual understanding. "Animal Grace" does that in spades. This is a passionate and insightful book that moved me greatly. Mary Lou Randour invites us with skillful storytelling into the lives of animals and shows us how we can rediscover neglected parts of ourselves there. Then she gently moves us to realize that we don't have to be afraid of encountering suffering. As Joanna Macy, a Buddhist writer said about "Animal Grace," "(it shows)how shared pain can open us to live more responsibly and more joyously." I recommend this touching and compelling book most highly.

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.

Mary Lou Randour, Ph.D, and her book advocating the healing relationship of animals, in the engaged Buddhist vein, is a hopeful book for the betterment of people and for animals. Mary Lou, director of programs, for PsyETA (The Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is as connected to the animal kingdom as Brother Wayne Teasdale is to the spiritual. For animal lovers, this is a book that has long been dreamed, and will be an excellent read for cross referencing with the literature on animals, ecology, nature writing, and political advocacy groups. This is a must read for those who want to contribute with passion and compassion. I highly recommend Animal Grace.