Abstract
This paper intends to apply the framework of Thomas Moore’s everyday spirituality that he calls “care of the soul” on animals. The idea is to come up with a form of contemporary eco-spirituality for animals that is not the ancient form of animal piety that worships animals as gods nor a modernized Indian animal piety in which the animal soul speaks as a guide for human life, but one aiming to cultivate the animal-human connection aimed at an ethical treatment for the animal. Moore (1992) defines care as something a nurse does: cura, which is Moore “means several things: attention, devotion, husbandry, adorning the body, healing, managing, being anxious for, worshipping . . .” He also defines soul as “not a thing, but a quality or a dimension of experiencing life and ourselves. It has to do with depth, value, relatedness, heart, and personal substance.” Care for the animal soul, then, means cultivating respectful relations with animals in terms of attending to their daily needs, a devotion to learning about their ways whether by practical observation or scholastic studies, deepening awe and appreciation for animals though art, participating in community management of animals and ecosystems, etc. This study moves in three parts: first, by a discussion of myths that testify to the fundamental animal-human connection; second, by practicing rituals of care for companion and neighboring animals and deepening the sense of animal subjectivity; and third, by sensing the voice of the suffering animal through forms of animal poetics.
Presenters
Mira ReyesPhD Student, Philosophy, University of Pardubice Centre for Ethics, Czech Republic
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Religious Community and Socialization
KEYWORDS
Care, Animal Soul, Thomas Moore
