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A Spiritually Enlightening Online Magazine. July's Theme: "Beyond the Horizon"
Volume 6 Issue 5 ISSN# 1708-3265

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 		Lifetalks
with Dawn Baumann Brunke

Some of the questions people ask after they find out that it is indeed possible to communicate with animals (including humans) who have departed the earth plane is: What happens? What's it like when we leave this world? These are questions I wonder about too. Most of the time, life seems to stretch out before us like an endless road. But there in the distance, just past the setting sun, beyond the horizon, lies a mystery.

Not long after my good canine pal Barney died, I had a dream:

I am walking up a small path to a house that has an open front door. As I approach the door, I see Barney inside the house. "Barney! You're alive!" I exclaim. I am very excited by this, though an older man—a doctor—appears and tells me that, obviously, the dog was just asleep and hadn't really died. I begin to argue with the man, but it is no use; he insists that a dog cannot die and come back to life. I see, then, that he is stuck in a belief and no amount of arguing will change it. I surprise myself by slapping him across the face, saying firmly, "You saw it. He was dead. And now he is alive!"

On waking, my fingers actually tingled from the slap, and the visual "open door" of death seemed deliberately funny, despite the parts of me (as evidenced by the doctor) that still wanted to deny that truth.

Perhaps this is an indication from your inner world that the division between life and death is not as you once believed, nor as others may want you to believe, Barney commented later that day. Although Barney wasn't physically present, I had found that I was still able to hear him and carry on conversations just as we had when he was alive.

He continued: You are already guessing the doctor in your dream represents an older, male-based, authoritative way of seeing the world that you once held as true.

That seemed to fit. In the dream, the doctor was a good representation of a worldview which focused on hard and clear delineations between life and death; a traditional Western medical or scientific view. Because this is what we are taught, this is what we come to believe.

That you slapped the doctor indicates your moving away from these views, though notice that it still entails an argument. A part of you continues to want 'the doctor' to believe you; thus, you are not necessarily fully centred.

Hmm. True as well. It annoyed me that the dream doctor was so insistent in his views. And yet, the "I" in the dream was insistent as well. I wanted my old self—the doctor—to come on board with the possibility of seeing things differently; I wanted to slap the arrogant side of conventional reality upside the head. Why such emotion? Apparently, there was a strong part of me that wanted validation and agreement. I sighed.

This is fine; this is where you are, said Barney. It seems a human pattern that leaving one paradigm often involves some type of struggle. Once you get past this division of life and death, however, you see that it is simply another choice of form.

Think of it like this: upon death, there is a falling away of personality, less identification with the ego and character subroutines that are dominant in the physical. It is as if the soul or spirit form of 'you' may now observe the software program or container you were using while on earth. Your focus widens to a larger part of yourself, rather than a narrowly-focused view, which is most often the perspective from the physical body.

It is interesting that animals often have less identification with 'personality' than humans do. Perhaps this is why, to some extent many humans believe animals do not have souls—because they do not see the personality of an ant or a tiger, or whatever animal you happen to project upon. Do you see how this identification with personality and soul becomes coded at a level beneath your consciousness, of which many humans are not even aware?

"You're saying that we sometimes relate personality and soul when in fact the two are very different?"

Different and yet at the same time related. On the one hand, personality is a program, a unique development each soul chooses while in a particular body. As such, it is also related to the soul, since the soul has created it. But it is not the soul itself. Rather, it would be like a piece of art or music or story that you create.

By riding along and sharing consciousness with other beings, you are able to realize at an experiential level that your manner of seeing the world is simply your manner of seeing the world. It is your perception, based on who you are. Just as a dog's perception is based on who and what he is, or a dolphin's based on her unique view. The amount of soul or spirit you are aware of in the body is dependent on how open you are to allowing that essence to infuse your consciousness. We could liken this to how 'realized' a novel is, or a piece of artwork, or a song.

As you continue to open, you realize you have many talents, you are capable of many perspectives, that you can wear many hats. For example: 'you' open to this voice of 'me' speaking in your head. To some degree, you are creating it in the sense that you are providing the words and expressions. It is your fingers typing, translating the inner words into phrases on a keypad into written sentences for others to read, and your thoughts helping to carry my ideas outward. Can you describe this experience to others?

I laughed at the way my wise old friend so deftly brought teachings back to the core of experience. "Well," I said, tuning into just how it was that I did this thing, "it is as you say. I quiet my thoughts and feel for a particular tone of energy and then I listen." For a moment I did just that. The effect of consciously listening to myself listen, however, had a curious effect—like suddenly being hyperaware of yourself looking at yourself in a mirror.

"I don't know where you're going with this, Barney," I said after a bit. "And when I think that thought, I get a little fearful. I know that's silly because all I really have to do is be and listen. It's almost as if when I'm not thinking and just being calm that it all flows the best."

And don't you see how this is great advice for yourself, for your life and death? When you allow and are 'open,' then your soul can open within you. Then there is the space for more of the greater you to filter into and infuse the physical you. You are enlarged; you become more aware of your totality, light and brilliance. And if you continue with this opening, you will begin to see the brilliance not only in yourself, but also in all other shapes and forms, all other beings. At that point—which is not really a point at all but a Be-ing—there is no longer a need for words.

And for a moment, Barney and I sat happily together in silence, our beings dancing to and fro, shuffling out beyond the horizon. And back.


Dawn Baumann Brunke is the author of Animal Voices, Awakening to Animal Voices and the recently released Shapeshifting with our Animal Companions. Her books explore the deeper nature of our relationship with animals, nature, each other and ourselves. For more, see Dawn's website.

Be sure to read the reviews of her book "Awakening to Animal Voices" in our May 2005 Issue and her book "Animal Voices" January 2006 Issue.

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