A bull in an open meadow, strong, well fed and clothed by nature, owns more of the world than many a wealthy man, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá uses it to ask what our striving is for. The wolf kills one sheep to live, while human violence knows no such limit. Among birds no distinction is made between male and female. A bird on its high nest breathes the breeze free of care, the whole plain its harvest, while a person toils and barely meets his needs. Jesus also pointed to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field to loosen the grip of anxiety [1]. These creatures are mirrors, not models: the animal spirit perishes with the body, and the human being is called to something the animal cannot conceive. From the meadow the way leads to kindness toward animals and their rights, to the old debate between competition and cooperation, and to the higher and lower natures within ourselves.
Consider: a bull in a vast meadow, in a verdant pasture abounding in water and grass - its strength exceeds man's and its food is many times that of ten strong men. Its clothing is natural, its joy inherent, its wealth all the verdure of the plain, its home the expanse of meadow and dale, valley and mountain. What man can attain to such amplitude of livelihood as the bull?
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-Feb-04, to Mirza Mahmud Khan -- AB05772)
02
When an animal tears apart another animal - and not of its own kind - it is compelled to do so for food. For instance, the wolf is called ferocious. The poor wolf tears apart one sheep, and that only for its sustenance, for if it does not, it will die of hunger since it is carnivorous. But one human being becomes the cause of a million souls being torn to pieces, and then they cast aspersions upon the poor animal.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1914-Aug-03 in Haifa -- ABU0359)
03
Consider the animal kingdom, where no distinction is observed between male and female. They are equal in powers and privileges. Among birds of the air no distinction is evidenced. Their powers are equal; they dwell together in complete unity and mutual recognition of rights. Shall we not enjoy the same equality? Its absence is not befitting to mankind.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at women's suffrage meeting on 1912-May-20 -- ABU0098)
04
The majority of the illnesses that afflict man also afflict animals, but the animal does not treat them through medicines. The animal's physician in the mountains and the wilderness is its powers of taste and smell. The sick animal smells the plants that grow in the wilderness, eats those that its smell and taste find to be sweet and fragrant, and is cured.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Chapter 73, Healing by Material Means, 1904-Oct ca. -- AB00646)
05
As for the animal spirit, which is shared between man and animal, it is perishable in itself and becomes non-existent when bodies perish and forms dissolve, for it is of material elements. Since its substance is subject to non-existence and changeable through the passage of time, it must inevitably perish.
For instance, how much must a person toil and labor to secure his livelihood, and even then hardly one in a thousand succeeds in fully providing for his needs. But observe a bird that builds its nest on a lofty mountain overlooking the sea and plains, on the highest branch of a tree. … In this nest, the bird inhales the gentle breeze in perfect peace of mind, free from care and sorrow. The vista is supremely sweet, the water perfectly pure, all harvests are its wealth--without toil or effort, without struggle, the entire plain belongs to it.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1915-Jul-15 in Haifa -- ABU0663)