When strangers from the city step onto a farm, they often see disorder—muddy kitchen floors, grass growing in ditches, animals or birds that poop and have no character or personality. It looks messy. But to the person who tends the land, that same scene is alive with relationship—a quiet understanding between humans, animals, and place. Without that bond, decisions are clinical, missing the big picture, and limited by what is perceived as possible from that worldview. For instance, the virologist who was interviewed by CBC along with others presented the challenge of testing the ostriches from a technical point of view arguing that the birds were too strong, fast to be tested. No one considered, at least that I saw, recognized that the farmers could have done the testing because they had raised the birds since birth. The ostriches knew and trusted them. The decision was sourced in a worldview that was missing the reality of the relationship and farm life.
Relationships is the basis for understanding complex interactions. Oversimplication is easy but misleading.
That gap in understanding shaped the fate of 317 ostriches in British Columbia. The cull revealed more than the tragic, unethical, disconnected method; it exposed a deeper divide between how caregivers, scientists, and government officials see life.
This video takes you onto a farm, where the connection between you and the animals you care for leads to cooperation, after trust has been established. To a city dweller, animals are animals. Objects. Edible objects. To anyone working with a modicum of sensitivity and consciousness, they are sentient creatures who understand much more than you think they do.
The other day, while leading one of the stallions in, I told him I’d be walking him in. Usually, he runs himself in. I’ve learned that if I don’t explain what is happening, he makes his own decisions, like pulling a 100-pound bale of hay off the stack.
We cooperate. It didn’t start that way. Boundaries needed to be set on my part.
The sum total of how we see and interpret the world is captured in your worldview, individually and culturally.
Consciousness is when you are aware of your worldview and able to observe how it differs from the worldview of others. Shifting perspective and empathy are the two metaskills that illuminate the source of conflict or tension. With tension as your signal, you can ask questions with an open mind.
I had a lovely conversation on worldview with Kathy Jourdain on the podcast. Understanding worldviews can reduce polarization and bring people together to reach some level of cooperation in solving a complex problem. If you missed it, listen here.
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https://embed.acast.com/5a6fab1455cdce603414631c/6385025a1c0715001196cadc
Understanding worldview opens the door to greater understanding. Without it, decisions are made that lack humanity and any ethical integrity.
The daily news is full of opportunities to practice spotting the source of different perspectives. As a consciousness shifter, recognizing when you’ve just stepped into a different world, provides a fresh context for how you process your experience and make decisions.
J.K. Rowling knew that when she created the world Harry Potter lived in. The world we live in, is still being shaped and formed in everyday decisions, and in the decisions that tilt toward affirming life, or killing it.
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Reconnecting back to life sustaining wisdom means being humble enough to know that how you or I see the world, is not how it is from many other points of view. I love the work this musician (Plume on YouTube) has done to discover how sensitive animals truly are. Animals respond to the emotion you bring and their experience.
Enjoy!
