I've had encounters with animals that have been really mystical. I've always been really into animals. But the way they appear in the paintings, they come from my mind's eye more than: 'I'm gonna draw a dog now.' It isn't thought out: 'Now I'm gonna draw a bird.' They just appear.
Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.
I call animals "guardians of Being," especially animals that live with humans. Because, for many humans, it's through their contact with animals they get in touch with that level of being.
Closeness to animals creates the desire to understand them, and not just a little piece of them, but the whole animal. It makes us wonder what goes on in their heads even though we fully realize that the answer can only be approximated.
I went to South Africa on safari and came eye to eye with a beautiful leopard. We were so close; I was staring at him for a long time and I felt a recognition with my own nature.
We and the beasts are kin.
In their sympathies, children feel nearer animals than adults.
My great grandfather had been the neighbourhood 'horse whisperer,' so I've probably loved horses since I was an embryo. Whenever I watched cowboy films as a small child, I wasn't watching the hunky cowboys - which I'd probably do now - I was watching the horses. Even now, I love sitting in the field just watching the way they move.
The left paw has done me well over the years. I'm not a scientist, I'm a martial artist.
Dogs are a window on the natural world.
When I'm around animals, I don't pay attention to people.
I have had mystical experiences with horses. I felt they were communicating with me in horse communication.
We humans should never forget our capacity to connect with the collective spirit of animals. Their energy is essential to our future growth.
Horses are 100% better that people. I love hanging out with my horse, chilling. They're so amazing and ethereal. I could hang with horses all day.
Joseph Obomsawin, the elder I lived with there, says that those who turn to animals do so because humans have let them down.
Well it's true, ever since I stopped eating meat I feel a lot better among animals, I feel I can be much more honest when I pat a dog.
I was a dog in a past life. Really. I'll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.
I'm a cat whisperer. When I go to people's houses, their cats always like me better than the owners.
I'm really an animal guy. I express myself in different ways as an animal.
I am either blessed or cursed with having little barrier between feeling emotions and displaying them for all to see. My heart is on my sleeve. It's not comfortable but...I am an artist so it's useful and my friends are used to me getting teary at any moment. So, it just runs through me and I know it will continue to, but my best source of grounding are animals and nature. Animals live more in the moment and don't worry so much! And nature is proof of a greater power than myself. Both put things in perspective, or at least gently move us forward.
By the time I was six, I made an important discovery that I get along much better with animals than humans.
All those animals that were in the cages, I would spend a lot of time in those cages with the animals in-between shots, just hanging out, because I prefer animals to humans. If I get an opportunity to be with them, I'll usually take it.
Thought subsides when you pet your dog or you have a purring cat on your chest. Even just watching an animal can take you out of your mind. It is more deeply connected with the source of life than most humans, and that rootedness in Being transmits itself to you. Millions of people who otherwise would be completely lost in the conceptual reality of their mind are kept sane by living with an animal.
Perhaps the attempt to achieve grace by identification with the animals was the most sensitive thing which was tried in the whole bloody history of religion .
Polo is a great thing to do with your kids and your family - it is a great day out. And to me, horses are amazing creatures that give you this cable to Earth and put you in contact with nature.
