Rhinos and the Power of Belief
The other night, I was watching a television news program about the extinction of Rhinos. Poachers have a new method of thieving horns, a rhino’s only defense in the wild beside his armor like skin. In essence, the poachers use a tranquilizer gun to bring the rhino down in the middle of the African landscape, alone and unprotected, the poachers hack away the horn and leave the Rhino to wake up beaten, broken, and bloodied. The rhino was left in a pool of his own blood, bewildered and in pain, all for a powerful belief. In Vietnam, where the story was featured, some Vietnamese believe that the rhino’s horn is a curative for most diseases like cancer. The rhino’s horn is made out of the same material as nails and hair, but to the Vietnamese people it is a cure like no other and to the richer ones a statement of material wealth. The rhino’s horn has become more precious than gold to the point there only a few rhinos left. I wondered about how strong the power of belief is and how we destroy ourselves and the planet with it.
Our believe systems leave us vulnerable like rhinos on the African landscape. It is only ourselves and our beliefs that leave us in a pool of blood, bewildered and alone. The powerful belief that we are not good enough, someone else is better, we are losers, I will never make it, or I am alone. We believe in those so strongly, that we are ourselves our own poachers beat and hack away at something more precious than gold, our inner divine light.
The picture of that rhino, his face smashed in and destroyed and probably within a few days his life extinguished, has left me broken hearted. However, unlike the rhino, whose plight is intrinsically bound to the human belief system, ours is not. We can change those powerful beliefs of deprecation, sadness, and depression. In a moment’s notice when the poacher comes, our own ego and mind, we can stop them and beat them back with their own hack saw and change I am not to I am. I am a writer, I am good enough, or I am succeeding because even if you have only written one sentence you have succeeded. Perhaps, we can change the extinction and pain of the rhino or any other animal on this planet from the pain and misery of the human experience and its belief systems to a more powerful belief, we are all one.
The horrific cruelties of the human race makes me long for an alien apocalypse, where humans are all destroyed and only the animals are left. allowing the Mother to rest and regenerate – and possibly develop another higher race that is truly “higher” in that they comprehend the great beauty and value of those creatures who are truly worthy…..