Horses as Zen master

Man has often used the horse to satisfy his ego. In the past, only noble people rode on horses. That is why it became noble, or special, because everything that had to do with nobility was special. The horse is also the only animal around which an Olympic sport was ever developed. But horse lovers know better. Horses have something that is far above that human ego. They have a very developed ability that is clearly still in its infancy in humans. 

In this way, horses make us aware that we can experience higher sensory perceptions. They show us the difference between hearing and listening, between looking and seeing. Or in other words: they teach us the power of the now. And they symbolize that potential themselves: a horse is 600 kilos of bundled strength, fully present in the here and now. They are Zen masters of the highest level.

Not everyone looks at horses that way. For many people, they are simply animals that must obey. We have absolutely no idea what's going on in that big horse's head, so we fill it with human excuses: he's disobedient, she challenges me, he doesn't want to work, etc. We then project human qualities onto their behavior. But that's not how the mind of a Zen master works. His head is empty and his attention is present. There are no ego-, control- or power-driven thoughts. There are also no thoughts beyond this moment. There is only feeling in the now.

Opening yourself up to horse knowledge is a fantastic experience. In his book 'Being and Not', Sartre makes the distinction between Being-For-Itself and Being-In-Itself. The horse is clearly a Being-For-Itself. Horses are lively, intelligent and consciously present. They observe without any judgment and when they start moving, there is always a personal objective behind it. They avoid what they don't like and go to what they do like. But they don't look for it, they stay in the now. They make us aware of a whole new emotional dimension.

I don't believe horses see humans as an alien species. Those who are lovingly present are included in the herd, an insider. But perhaps they don't even see us as a different being and we are simply part of a changing energy landscape in which they move.

One of the great lessons that horses teach us is that what 'you' want doesn't matter. They are completely zen. They have no sense of guilt and yet they live in a collective and ordered system, the herd. They live from moment to moment and teach us that what 'lives' is infinitely more sacred than anything else we know.

Wow, I think about it again and again... how much we can learn from horses!

🐴 ❤️ 🐴
horselovers@rommersum> 

Sources of inspiration: 
- Eckhart Tolle, The Power of the NOW
- Tom Bunzel, The Mysticism of Cats