Beyond Hierarchies: A Lived Path Toward Unity with Life

We often compare humans and animals through narrow lenses—intelligence, emotional capacity, self-awareness, or spiritual development. These comparisons usually rest on human-made definitions and hierarchies, intellectual constructions meant to explain how the universe operates or how spiritual growth is supposed to unfold.

Over the years, I’ve encountered spiritual systems so elaborate—so layered with levels of reality, phases of existence, and prescribed pathways—that my head began to spin. While I respect the brilliance and dedication behind such teachings, they never felt real or necessary to me. I could not sense that I had to move through all those stages, nor that spiritual life itself required such rigid architecture.

Growth as Expansion, Not Ascent
What resonates far more deeply for me is not hierarchy, but expansion or a widening circle of inclusion. Growth, as I experience it, is a movement into greater unity with all existence, not an ascent up a ladder of spiritual achievement.

When I look across the vast landscape of spiritual realms and possibilities, what I perceive is not obligation but choice. There are innumerable adventures available to consciousness, countless turns in the road, paths shaped by inclination, curiosity, and desire. These are not mandatory routes spirits must follow, but creative expressions of being alive across dimensions and lifetimes.

I admit that I can feel turned off when spiritual structures become overly abstract or intellectually complex. Some people thrive in that terrain, and I honor that. The human intellect has remarkable capacity. It allows us to organize reality, stretch our understanding of the physical world, and enjoy the human pleasure of insight and discovery. At its best, intellect serves life.

The Reach and Limits of Intellect
Yet I find deeper satisfaction and a more enduring sense of truth by orienting toward the intuitive and spiritual reality that exists behind all forms and systems. That reality is far vaster than what the mind can organize into neat boxes or labels.

I am drawn to perceiving the felt nature of beings, the intentions that animate them, and the deep, quiet intelligence of a divine presence seeking experience and expression through life in all its forms. My central focus is cultivating kindness, compassion, warmth of connection, and an ever-deepening sense of unity. This includes gently dissolving the limitations created by emotional wounds and the boundaries of intellect itself.

At their best, even the most elegant intellectual systems are only pointers to truth, not truth itself. One of the greatest thinkers of our time openly acknowledged that while intellectual inquiry brought him enormous fulfillment, it did not grant the spiritual liberation he ultimately longed for. Still, he could not and did not wish to turn away from knowledge. It was his creative force, and through it he contributed profoundly to the emotional and physical well-being of countless people.

There is wisdom in that. Beings flourish when they pursue what comes naturally to them, when they develop their innate talents and offer those gifts to the rest of life. Intellect and intuition are not enemies; they can be complementary expressions of being human. But they are not interchangeable.

Felt Knowing and Inner Perception
There is a fundamental difference between abstract knowing and felt sense.

This distinction becomes especially clear when we consider our relationships with animals.



What does our own feeling and inner knowing reveal about the benefits of being with animals for our mental health, emotional balance, and spiritual well-being? How does this compare with being with other humans? And what might animals’ way of living tell us about the essentials of life itself, about integrated presence, attunement, and belonging within the natural world?

Animals live immersed in the fundamentals. Their energy fields are coherent, responsive, and deeply rooted in the present moment. Exceptions arise when animals are experiencing the effects of trauma, most often through the impact of human activity.

When I am simply enjoying the company of my animal friends, their love, wisdom, and playfulness remind me of what I value most and what truly sustains me. They call forth kindness, curiosity, and a sweetness of being that exists beneath the defenses we humans often erect in response to a harsh or confusing world.

A cat’s rhythmic purr. A dog’s enthusiastic chase after a beloved toy. A chicken’s devoted search for seeds and tiny insects. A tortoise’s slow, deliberate munching of fresh grass. A coyote’s graceful pounce. A hummingbird’s delicate sip of nectar. A butterfly’s soft flutter. A tree’s rooted, wordless knowing.

Communion with the Living World
The presence of other species and of the landscapes they inhabit brings out the best in me. Through them, I feel a growing communion with all life: animals, plants, Earth itself, other humans, and my own deeper nature.

Life on Earth would be inconceivable without this vast community of beings. I relish their contributions, their teachings, and their companionship.

Above all, I feel gratitude.


This contemplation opens into a deeper exploration of intelligence, awareness, and difference without hierarchy, which I’ve shared more fully in a companion essay to follow.