Karen A. Anderson - The Amazing Afterlife of Animals: Messages and Signs From Our Pets on the Other Side

Adjunct Professor, Department of Psychiatry

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School

Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ

Author of The Secret Inner Life of Pets

T here is an electricity in the air these days, and I think it reflects a difference that is occurring in this era a greater openness, it would seem, to the unseen forces that influence us.

I know a lot about this particular development, because for years I was involved in the greatly limiting if you don t see it, it doesn t exist school of thought, which scientists, including psychologists like myself, used to spend so much of their time on.

Increasingly, this is not the case today. I myself, for example, am not the cautious realistic person that I was in the days when I taught at Princeton University and pretended to be just a hard scientist when there was much more to me than that. Much of this change has had to do with the passing of my very dear pet cat, Dandy, who left this earth on Good Friday of 2015.

Dandy seems to symbolize many other pets who exhibit some special knowledge, and in my case, he was actually the reason I came to know Karen Anderson and the world of animal communication and why I wrote a book on the subject of the profound inner life of our pets.

I am, by profession, both a clinical psychologist and an author, and one might call me an innovator as well, always interested in what is in the forefront of things new ways, new frontiers. But what is fascinating to me is the way my perspective has expanded in the past few years. Is there something new in the air?

I think there is and that this something is being ushered in by unsung heroes, and in many cases, it seems to reflect the wisdom of our own pets. At times I truly believe that these animals have far more profound a role to play in our lives than we have suspected.

Are they perhaps Guardians of us in one sense? Have they perhaps come to us from another realm to open our hearts in a unique way? These are very real possibilities.

As a psychologist, I have always been especially interested in the meaning behind the incredible bond between domesticated animals and their humans. It is one of the oldest bonds that exist as far as we know. Although it may be hard for the human race to admit it, our companion animals play a role that is so special in our lives that often when they pass away their loss is quite often as unbearable as the pain which we feel when we lose our most beloved humans.

Why Should This Be?

One of the reasons I believe is the collection of experiences stored in our genes a memory of the soul, as it were. This may have been from a time when we were as simple and honest and genuine as one of our pets are. In many ways, although we don t often admit it openly, our pets represent a better us, a more real, more simple, more clean and clear version of ourselves, and we deeply respect that part of us and long for it. We respect the integrity these pets have, their simple, loving nature, although we can t seem to admire the average human being that much, nor do we trust them as easily as we do animals. There is a purity in the soul of the animal that few people show in such an authentic manner.

The simple fact is that all things being equal, we trust an animal s love above that of most humans. We know their integrity and do not doubt it. Actually, they are amazing role models. What person do you know who is as forgiving as a pet can be? What person is as unquestioning in their loyalty? How many people give us complete daily relief from the hypocrisy so prevalent in our lives yet so strikingly absent in the animal world?

Karen Anderson s newest book, The Amazing Afterlife of Animals , contains fascinating information from another realm. It gives us a whole new perspective on life after life, and therefore, of course, on life down here right during life. I would urge you to enjoy the engaging adventures reported within this book. Along the way, and very importantly, they will be eye-opening for you.