Taking Care of Multiple Animals Helps us Take Care of Human Animals

Because it turns out, some of the best and most humanistic medicine is being practiced by doctors whose patients aren't human. And one of the best ways we can take care of the human patient is by paying close attention to how all the other patients on the planet live, grow, get sick and heal. - Barbara Natterson-Horowitz

From multiple locations across the internet I received a link to this TED talk by human cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz.  She "shares how a species-spanning approach to health can improve medical care of the human animal — particularly when it comes to mental health." As a veterinarian myself, and as a Unitarian Universalist minister and facilitator to the First Principle Project I share the same approach as hers, and in fact, always have.  I do not see a fundamental divide between any two species, and to place humans in a category above or by ourselves limits the benefit possible to ourselves and others.  These benefits include physical, mental, and spiritual health, ecosystem health, welfare of the multiple species within our communities, and for us humans, a sense of belonging and wholeness.  Seeing the inherent worth and dignity of every being opens up a world of possibility and wonder, and of care for all. 

One of her most compelling observations in this video follows in the quote below, and I invite you to ask yourself a similar question:

How might I be taking better care of humans if I see them as a human animal?

and also

How might I be taking better care of many species if I see our species as a human animal?

I'd love to hear your reflections on this question, as well as the video (you can read the transcript here).  Your comments can be written below.

I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts and reflections, because it would be lovely to travel with you on this fascinating journey of being alive amongst such diversity and preciousnous, On our way together I believe we Unitarian Universalists will come to hear how all are called to multispecies ministry and medicine, or said another way, to the caring and healing of many species.



Rev. Dr. LoraKim Joyner 

Physicians and scientists, we accept intellectually that our species, Homo sapiens, is merely one species, no more unique or special than any other. But in our hearts, we don't completely believe that. I feel it myself when I'm listening to Mozart or looking at pictures of the Mars Rover on my MacBook. I feel that tug of human exceptionalism, even as I recognize the scientifically isolating cost of seeing ourselves as a superior species, apart. Well, I'm trying these days. When I see a human patient now, I always ask, what do the animal doctors know about this problem that I don't know? And, might I be taking better care of my human patient if I saw them as a human animal patient?

The Unbroken Chain of Inherent Worth and Dignity

Today's Guest Author:  Rev. LoraKim Joyner, DVM

Unitarian Universalist Minister in Multispecies Ministry and Compassionate Communication
Main blog: Lafeber Conservation
Main website:  One Earth Conservation and Ministry

There are many pathways into living a life faithful to this world's reality, and the concepts and tools of religion are just one of many.  In many religious traditions, science too guides us in knowing how we and others belong to earth. For instance, as a Unitarian Universalist minister I am also a scientist. Working as I do with evolutionary principles and evidence ever before me there is no escaping the reality of the long line of ancestors that brought Homo sapiens to where we are now.  I combine this knowledge with my Unitarian Universalist ministry mode of telling stories to share with you my sense of how all beings have inherent worth and dignity.

Imagine that along one side of a dirt road in Africa there is a family of humans walking.  The youngest daughter is walking in front, and she is holding the hand of her mother who follows behind. In one arm is an infant, and the other hand grasps and supports her mother.  On the other side of the road, another family similar in makeup is also traveling.  The young chimpanzee daughter walks in front holding her mother's hand, and her mother in turn reaches behind her with her other hand to grasp that of her mother.  So similar, and yet an apparent wide gulf divides the two families.

Now imagine that on each side of the road the grandmother reaches behind her to grab the hand of her mother, the great grandmother, who links up with the great-great grandmother.  Imagine this line of primate hands extending back, back into time, to all the mothers who came before until at one point human hands begin to grasp that of Homo neanderthalis who grabs the hands of earlier hominids.  On the other side of the road the chimpanzees are holding hands with ever more slightly different species. Then a peculiar thing happens. The road seems to  narrow as the two lines converge, until at one point, the human line is holding the hand of the same individual who is also holding the hand of the last of the chimpanzee ancestor line. At some point in our history, we share the same mother. 

Now going forward along both lines, at what juncture where two hands grasp, do we begin to say that one species belongs to the earth, and not the other?  That what owns more of the earth than the other?  That one has inherent worth and dignity, and not the other?  It cannot be done, for we all are sons and daughters of this one earth.