Earthfire’s first obligation is the care of our animals.
The next is to share the incredible, unsuspected capacities they have and how much they are like us in their emotional lives–something we have observed countless times by living with them over their lifetimes. This enlarged awareness enriches us humans, gives us a sense of companionship as part of the larger family of Life, and moves us to protect habitat in which they can live.
Thus, the three underpinnings of our work are to give the best available care to our resident animals, to work to conserve wildlands for their wild counterparts, and to share as widely as possible the insights gained from our interactions with them. This month’s animal story of Heather and Akela the wolf is just one example of the intimacy and relationships wild animals are capable of under the right circumstances. (Which in turn means they do indeed have these emotional capacities).
We then take the insights gained from living intimately with our bears, wolves, bison, and others and share them with people around the world through speaking, writing, retreats, and workshops. We explore their intelligence and capacity for emotions, as well as their capacity for consciousness, edging into the area of spirituality and what that tells us about the nature of reality. A wide range, but to understand the richness of Life as best we can requires a multidimensional approach.
I just returned from a private retreat in Spain, working with world-renowned physicist Federico Faggin, who is making headway on showing through quantum physics how all Life is conscious and how deeply we are interconnected. He is interested in our observations on animal capacities, consciousness, and behavior based on living with them intimately through all the stages of their lives. For anyone interested in my retreat with Federico, please feel free to contact me!
