"we're not that different at all..."

 "Why can't they understand 

the way we feel?

They just don't trust 

what they can't explain.

I know we're difference, 

but deep inside us, 

we're no that different at all.."

Dateline: May 20, 2021.  Religion News Service. "Sixty years after she stepped into the jungle to observe chimpanzees in their natural habitat, Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primatologist and conservationist, has won the 2021 Templeton Prize, established by the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton to honor those who use science to explore humankind’s place and purpose within the universe."

I felt tears spring to my eyes as I read the news this morning.  Jane Goodall has had a profound impact on the way that I live my life and how I few all conscious beings. 

I remember thinking of her groundbreaking work as a primatologist, while sitting in a darkened theater with our young daughter watching the Disney's animated film, Tarzan. and I always think of whenever I hear Phil Collins' beautiful song, "You'll Be in My Heart," from that same movie. 

As Sir John Templeton's granddaughter, Heather Templeton Dill, wrote of Goodall: 

“Her discoveries have profoundly altered the world’s view of animal intelligence and enriched our understanding of humanity in a way that is both humbling and exalting. Ultimately, her work exemplifies the kind of humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery that my grandfather, John Templeton, wrote and spoke about during his life.”

Humility, spiritual curiosity, and discovery.  Aren't these the defining attributes of every great thought-leader.  

My own spiritual heroes, Jesus Christ and Mary Baker Eddy, brought these same qualities to their desire to understand the law of Love and the impartial and universal application of that law in the lives of all conscious beings.  

I am so deeply grateful for the progress that humanity has made in recognizing that although, on the surface, we might seem so different, we're really not that different at all.  Spirituality dissolves the differences we define as race, gender, species, genus with the consciousness of God's All-in-allness. 

I have learned more about unconditional love from our non-speaking family members -- the ones who navigate this experience on four legs -- than I have from most humans.  

So today, I am deeply grateful for the legacy of respect and compassion for all creatures, that Jane Goodall has left to us as a record of our ever-evolving history of what it means to be conscious beings sharing the same spiritual landscape. 

offered with Love, 

Cate