Kinship with All Life Paperback – January 28, 1976

For years I was able to buy this in the bookstores at Unity Churches all over the country. I would buy it by the dozen to give to my clients, receiving body and breath work with me. The reality of the nature of the relationship between J. Allen Boone and Strongheart, the movie star dog, was so powerful that anyone reading it with an open mind could learn the truth about who dogs think they are, and what they intend in their purpose. At the time that I used this book as a meditation for people to discover the world of nature, and the depth of their experience with animals there were very few books related to the topic of the mental intelligence, and emotional life of animals. The scientific work of Darwin, 1872, "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals", discussed genetics in emotional expression for both species. There were a few books about psychic events with animals, anecdotal stories that were inspiring, and fell along the lines of experiences I had had with animals. Currently, "How Dogs Love Us", Gregory Berns, shows that amazingly, or not, he was able to train dogs to hold still for MRI scanning, which after many hundreds of scans reveal that apparently dogs could develop a mental model of their world view to include us. Dogs used their awareness, all parts of their brains, they smell accurately every piece of information received that way, which to us is more than a foreign language, it is an alien language. Dogs appear to know us and their eyes show us,(just watch a dog watching you) that by their careful observation, they have developed superb empathy: may be at cause for their domestication, and the development of so many different breeds, sizes, colors, and purposes. Nothing seems to be closer to us in terms of life that is shared than the dog. No other domesticated animal has such a huge variety in their species, and the dog described in Kinship With All Life is a superior creature, no matter what standard is used to judge. Looking at the variety of breeds, there is so much to consider about how they became all the different sizes and breeds. These dogs met, Boo Boo, a 24 oz. long haired Chihuahua, 4 inches high, and George, 245 pounds, 7 feet 3 inches, nose to tail, Great Dane. Such variety in thebreeds, bodies,same species. Although there are differences in intelligence and doggonality, in this book, the magnificent German Shepherd, a champion trained for the military, and police work was evidently a teacher, once Mr. Boone gave up his position of being the superior, more intelligent being, he became able to receive instruction. The dog explained very patiently everything he was doing. In addition, the book contains other stories of animal human encounters that are amazing in their freshness and understanding of what the animals must be experiencing. Now that it is possible that we are likely to allow thousands of species of animals to be destroyed by our carelessness, it feels urgent that we examine the truth about nature and our relationship to all that is, including animals. When Strongheart was delivered to J. Allen Boone, for him to take care of while the dog's people were traveling on Strongheart business, the instructions included reading to him from material considered to be inspirational and intelligent, on a daily basis. Reading to the dog? I have done so, including when a dog was left in my care and became suddenly, inexplicably ill. Until I got her to a vet, in the morning, I read this book to her and she listened carefully, fully attending, and seemed to feel better, and I felt that she was glad that I was treating her as an intelligent being. The vet found the weed seed, foxglove or something that had gotten lodged in her airway, and was able to remove it, and she immediately felt better. This dog, myself and my son had such a deep bond, it was as if we had been together all of our lives. I will say that this book, and "The Language of Silence" also by J. Allen Boone, "Letters to Strongheart" and others, were among the first to open the doors to another universe, one so close to us, but separated by chauvinism, 'species ism', and confounded lack of common sense on the part of people. Strongheart himself, like his brother Jesus, of Nazareth, (some people call him the Christ) as defined by Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, founders of Unity, as a teaching vehicle, which became a church, "We believe that Jesus expressed his divine potential and sought to show humankind how to express ours as well. We see Jesus as a master teacher of universal truths and as our Way Shower. In Unity, we use the term Christ to mean the divinity in humankind. Jesus is the great example of the Christ in expression." Today, we can say that the divinity is expressed in beings such as Strongheart as well. They know very well who and what they are. They do not need to be taught, they are the teachers. In addition, today there are many books on the market that describe communication with animals. Some are very good. This one could not be better. Mr. Boone does not profess to be an expert at animal/human communication, and it appears that he was very good at it, and very humble. He also talks about other animals, from horses to ants. You will laugh as well as learn.

Another Great Book on Animal & animal communications. I learned about this book from Great Book by Dr. Agnes Julia Thomas - "Pets tell the Truth", about which I have already written my review. And this book "Kinship with All Life" was originally published in 1954 and since then it looks like published continuously. Many people already reviewed, valued and gave great comments on this book. So, I just write my impression how it was inspirational and full of wisdom on nature and world by just writing on small things. Together with Dr. Agnes Thomas's Great book, this book should be read by all human being, not only by pets lovers but by all people on earth.This book starts from his encounter with great German shepherd "Strongheart" as his teacher and he (Boone) was modest enough and wise enough to learn from this great dog. What he learned from "Strongheart" expanded not only to other dog world, but also to other small animal world including, skunk, rattlesnake, ant, earthworm and flies. What he learned was to maintain very spiritual attitude common to Indian, Bedouin, and other spiritual leaders - listen to the nature and feel totality with earth, whole world. What a great book this is to show us what we lost in this too mechanical world, losing contact with nature and losing love against whole world including every creatures large and small! His story is amazing. He spent a lot of pages on his friend -fly "Freddie the Fly". Unbelievable! But it must be true. And after finishing this book, I found my view on all animal, especially on Fly, Ant and others changed forever. I know he was writing truth since I have lived with dogs and cats from childhood and watching other animal too, how they behave. Less than 160 pages, but how great this book's wisdom shines! I love this book and the same as other people in this review, I will get extra copies and give to my friends. It is important to know that we can learn many things from this tiny but great book. Thank you J.A. Boone. You were also great!