Pets ground us in a way that we often underappreciate. What we call a pet, an animal or insect living in our home, is often a living embodiment of nature – something we miss in ourselves. Through our inculturation and indoctrination, our thoughts tend to wear well-worn paths, and much of our living and thinking becomes somewhat mechanicalistic (even if we don’t think so). To our mechanized mind, this provides a sense of safety and a structure that we hope provides some peace. But what happens when our typical ways of living don’t serve us or our earth? When what we’ve been doing and are used to doing undermines the very foundations of life around us and within us? I think that we must return to nature and return to the wisdom teachings that are close to the ground if we are to have any hope to survive as a planet.