Tenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This paper identifies and describes a contemporary form of animal piety present in ordinary encounters and experiences with neighborhood animals in urbanized settings. It defines animal piety in three aspects: one, the experience of wonder and attention invoked by the animal that sparks an “iconized’ adulation for it; two, the loving attention on the animal that develops formalized structures of community practices geared at ethical practices fostering animal-human bond and animal welfare; three, the formation of mourning rituals that generate symbols, actions, and words that appear as “intimations of immortality.” This paper will subscribe from philosophical principles of Iris Murdoch’s spirituality as a process of unselfing which brings us closer to the harsh reality of things, yet lifting toward goodness and beauty; Simone Weil’s ethical attitude as a gaze that is unattached; and, Levinas’ beholding of the face of the other as a desire for the face of God. The work will also put into focus as an exemplar of community animal spirituality the campus cat shelter of De La Salle University-Taft-Manila known as DLSU-PUSA. Daily cat-watching by students ballooned into institutionalized practices of care maintained by networking with university administration, media, and the larger public.