Before we begin, I want to make something completely clear. If there is anything that I am not, it is a theologian. While I have nothing against education as such, I have found out, over the years, that we can become so wrapped up in the minute details that we lose sight of the larger picture. To a considerable degree, in my opinion, this is what has happened to humans in their relationship with a Supreme Being, the Almighty, or God, whichever name you wish to apply to the spirit which supposedly guides us to positive realms. Over the course of my life, I have also discovered that my relationship with animals, both wild and domestic, has lent itself to a greater appreciation of the connection between God and our Earth. In observing these truths, I began to contemplate and seriously consider the grand parallels which could be drawn between these relationships and how we, as humans, should also interact with God. The thoughts and reflections involved in this process became the genesis of the book which you now read in the electronic device of your choice. During the course of my life, I have spent most of it in rural environments, with a small portion being in cities of significant size. As city sizes increase, it becomes noteworthy to see that, in increasingly losing connection with nature and its inhabitants, people tend to become less, rather than more, civilized. City planners who try to incorporate "green space" into city layouts seem to be trying to mitigate some of that negative impact. But, in the end, increasingly crowded conditions make basic civility more and more difficult to maintain. To a surprising degree, the interactions of animals among themselves can strangely mirror human behavior, with the largest source of contention and aggressive behavior being centered on the breeding urge. As an example, consider the deer, those four legged creatures with antlers. They generally have few conflicts among themselves except during mating season. These almost always come from the males in the population. They assert their masculinity by attempting to assert their superiority over other males to gain favor with the females of the herds. At any other time, you can see them congregating together with little or no signs of outward conflict. They are, for all practical purposes, at peace with God's plan for their lives. By contrast, because humans are considered the "intelligent" species on our planet, we become wrapped up in many details which simply do not matter all that much. Our relationship with "God" becomes a perfect example of this problem. When you look around you at members of the animal kingdom, you see a tacit acceptance of each animal's role in the grand plan. They are at peace with that. I know that there may be a tendency to ridicule these ideas. Assuming that you continue to read this book, all I ask is that you try to maintain an open mind as they are unfolded for you. With this in mind, let's begin our journey.
About the Author: Rudy Kemppainen has been a free-lance writer for 40 years. In his early career, he wrote books for both Prentice-Hall, Inc. and John Wiley & Sons. Starting in 1989, he turned his attention to writing for newspapers and continues to do so. He returned to writing books in 2016, publishing six books, including one novel under a pseudonym.