The recent popularity of designer dogs, cats, mini pigs and other pets may lead one to believe that pet ownership is nothing more than a fad. Indeed, there is an opinion that pets are a Western fad, a relic of working animals preserved in the memory of the past.

In the UK, almost half of homes have pets; a lot of time and money are spent on them, but they themselves do not contribute to the acquisition of material wealth. However, during the 2008 financial crisis, spending on pets remained at almost the same level as before, which suggests that for most owners, pets are not a luxury, but an integral part of life and family.

However, some people keep pets, while others have no interest in them at all. Why is this happening? It is very likely that our desire for the company of pets actually has something to do with the history of our cooperation, which began tens of thousands of years ago and played important role in our evolution. If this is the case, then perhaps genetics can help explain why love for animals is something that some people simply don't have.

Health issue

IN lately Many studies have been conducted on the effects of dogs on health, including scientists who have found that dogs reduce the risk cardiovascular diseases, help cope with loneliness, alleviate symptoms of depression.

As John Bradshaw writes in his new book, The Animals Among Us, there are two problems with this statement. First, there is a similar number of studies that show that pets have no or even some effect on human health. negative impact. Secondly, pet owners live no longer than those who never even thought about getting a pet. And even if these health benefits were real, they would only apply to today's stressed, depressed and sedentary lifestyle life, not our hunter-gatherer ancestors, so this cannot be considered the reason why we started keeping domestic animals.

The desire to adopt a pet is so widespread that one might think of it as a universal trait of human nature, but not all societies have a tradition of keeping animals. Even in the West, there are many people who have no particular affinity for animals, whether domestic or wild.

The tradition of pet ownership often runs in families, and it has been assumed that children raised in a home with pets are also likely to have pets, but recent research has shown that this phenomenon is genetic in nature. Some people, regardless of their upbringing, may be predisposed to seek out the company of animals, while others may be predisposed to avoid them.

Thus, unique genes that contribute to the desire to keep pets may be present in some people, but they are not universal, suggesting that in the past some societies or individuals, but not all, flourished because of an instinctive rapport with animals.

Pet DNA

The DNA of today's domestic animals shows that each species diverged from its wild ancestor between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago, during the late Paleolithic or Neolithic period. That's when people started raising livestock. And at least some of them were considered precisely as domestic animals, kept close to human habitations, which prevented them from crossing with wild animals, and special social status, provided to some animals, prevented their destruction as food. Once isolated, the new semi-domesticated animals were able to become the animals we know today.

The same genes that today predispose some people to adopt dogs or cats may have spread among early agriculturalists. Societies that included people with empathy for animals would thrive among those that had to continue to rely on hunting for meat. Why hasn't this spread to everyone? Probably because, at some point in history, alternative strategies also proved viable.

There's one final twist to the story: recent research has shown that affection for pets goes hand in hand with concern for nature. In this way, pets can help us reconnect with the natural world from which we have become alienated.

But what about a person's love for a cat? There are also those who do not like these charming little animals... Why?!

What's wrong with this?

The cat, as you know, is the “tailed doctor,” an animal that can heal people, that can feel people, and that almost everyone loves! If a person is constantly trying to drive away a cat and focuses on how much he doesn’t like it, then this is a reason to really think about such a person. After all, a cat, like a dog, has lived next to humans for many centuries, and, unlike a dog, does not hunt or guard for its owner!

What is the cat doing?

Rats and mice, which are still sometimes exterminated by a cat, are something of a related service. The cat has a different purpose. Cats, they say, have a unique bioenergetic system. Seals can correct the biofields of the surrounding space, sometimes even completely restoring and stabilizing them! Cats really are ways to normalize blood pressure, remove headache, and also help with stress.

At the same time, the cat reflects the human condition. If everything is in order with the owner, then the cat will sleep a lot, wash itself, and eat well. She will hide behind the sofa and closet if a person feels bad! At the same time, the cat will always come to calm down someone who has been unfairly offended.

Connection with a cat

There are no people who don't care about cats at all. There are those who love these animals and those who hate them! There are practically no people who are indifferent to cats. Typically, cats are hated by alcoholics, as well as women with an unstable personal life. And also children who have been subjected to domestic violence. In a word, those for whom everything is so bad that cat stabilization is simply unbearable for them - this is the impact that they are trying to avoid. These are people who don't want to accept help.

Psychologist Alina Cherubini confirms: take any person who is satisfied with his unhappy life, and suggest that he go to a psychotherapist or take calming pills. But he will simply send you away!.. It’s the same with cats - we either accept help from the “tailed doctor”, or a helmet and him, so that it does not interfere with reveling in our suffering.

JoeInfoMedia journalist Diana Lynn reminds us that we wrote about this not long ago, and mentioned the main thing: you can’t get out of a binge if you’re not ready for it! If a wife, for example, tries to feed her husband healthy pills, and the husband is not at all eager to stop drinking immediately, then what will come out of this is... best case scenario about nothing, and at worst - another outburst of husband’s anger and domestic violence to such a degree that it will end in divorce... however, much more traumatic than if there were no attempts to forcefully help. Any violence is bad, and it doesn’t matter whether it is for the good or not.

So, don't force cats on anyone, but remember: a person who doesn't like cats doesn't want to be helped.

Pensioner Kaleria Lvovna is a very complex person.
She lives alone and secluded. She has no friends, almost no one visits her - except that her daughter, a young, fit woman, brings her large bags of groceries from a chain hypermarket every couple of weeks. The daughter never stays with her mother, however, even during their short stay, they often manage to have a loud row. The daughter leaves upset, walking quickly, without looking at anyone; the neighbors hear Kaleria Lvovna’s screams for a long time.

They say that Kaleria Lvovna also has a son. But he has not maintained a relationship with his mother for many years. Kaleria Lvovna doesn’t know where he is or what’s wrong with him.
- And I don’t want to know! - she waves her hand. - He's a bastard! And a bastard. And that says it all!..

Kaleria Lvovna is in a state of permanent enmity with most of her neighbors. The neighbors upstairs, for example, have a three-year-old child playing loudly on the floor, rolling cars, a neighbor on the landing smokes in his toilet and everything stinks, a young mother from the ninth floor parks her stroller downstairs during the day, which, in general, is for no one except Kaleria Lvovna, does not interfere, the handicraft neighbor constantly knocks or drills, whole groups of friends come to the teenage boy, and then they noisily play football in the yard - in the summer the windows cannot be opened... All around Kaleria Lvovna are enemies and foes.

In addition, Kaleria Lvovna loves animals very much. This is also an eternal topic for scandals with neighbors. Kaleria Lvovna feeds cats, brings food to dogs living at a construction site, throws millet from the balcony to pigeons. The neighbors are unhappy. The entrance stinks day and night of sickening cheap boiled fish, cats shit, dogs growl at passers-by, pigeons have littered the entire lawn under the windows, and the windows themselves for the people living on the first floor. Recently, Kaleria Lvovna almost got into a fight with the mother of a one and a half year old baby, who was running after pigeons on the playground and scaring them, it was an ugly scandal. Even the police were called... The police were entirely on the side of the woman with the child, whom Kaleria Lvovna was blaming with all her might with the most terrible words.

Kaleria Lvovna doesn’t particularly like children. They cause only problems - noise and damage to her pets, birds for example.
Kaleria Lvovna has two cats and a dog at home, which she picked up on the street. She walks her dog mainly on the playground next to her house. Every now and then scandals arise with local mothers, but of course.

You better watch your stupid child, chicken! - every now and then it is heard loud scream. - Look, I screamed! She will reprimand me. Wherever I want, I walk there! It's none of your business, asshole! The dog got in their way! Yes dogs, if you want to know better than people!.. And I would kill people like you!..

Has it ever occurred to you that fierce defenders of disadvantaged animals, as a rule, for the most part do not really like people? Why, they really hate it! All these grandmothers, who feed birds and dogs, collect twenty cats into their apartments - as a rule, they are abandoned by everyone, unhappy people, without friends and relatives, constantly quarreling with everyone. Well, grandmas, maybe there age-related changes already. But quite young, successful and socialized “greenies” of all stripes, some principled vegetarians, Greenpeace members - most of them, it seems, are ready to kill a person while protecting animals...

Cute, pretty girls who work as volunteers in dog shelters and constantly find homes for puppies and kittens on social networks, often turn out to be rabid childfree and even childhate, and the meme about “strong” independent woman and forty cats" also seems to be on this topic...

Why is that so, huh?
What do you think?

“When I come to my friends, I ask them to quickly lock up their english bulldog in another room,” admits 27-year-old Ekaterina. She is not afraid of dogs, she just “cannot stand their presence.” Like Catherine, people who do not like animals often experience irritation, disgust, or, conversely, are completely indifferent to the animal world. “Often behind such rejection lies the inability to accept the open manifestation of the instinctive principle characteristic of all animals, their spontaneity and sincerity,” says psychotherapist Irina Zemtseva. - Scares and unconditional love, which is exhibited by pets.” Let's try to figure out why.

Negative experience or lack thereof

Animals charge us positive emotions, give their unconditional love, and we often begin to perceive them as true friends and equal family members. But this is difficult to accept for those who are not accustomed to communicating with them since childhood. Those who have never had a dog, a cat, or a hamster in their home and, therefore, have had no experience of this kind of relationship, often remain indifferent. Sometimes indifference is associated with an unconscious desire to protect oneself from possible mental trauma. “If, for example, in childhood a child had a hard time experiencing the death or loss of a beloved dog, then, having matured, without realizing it, he will see in this situation - a dog in the house - a threat to his peace of mind. And she will do everything to avoid it,” explains zoopsychologist Elena Fedorovich.

Mirror image

“Sometimes we can suddenly see ourselves in our animals,” says Irina Zemtseva. – Since they are “very sensitive creatures, they often adopt our characteristic features. And they turn into a kind of mirror, becoming an unconscious projection of their owner.” So if someone, for example, states that they cannot stand cats, it may mean that they are not at odds with the animals of that species, but with the trait they embody for them. Cats are primarily associated with independence. Consequently, a person either does not possess this character trait (but would like to, because he suffers from his dependence on another person or circumstances), or, on the contrary, his independence causes him suffering (since it condemns him to difficult loneliness).

Georgy, 26 years old, engineer “I was able to communicate with them because I love their owners”

“Parents always said that animals are dirty and smell bad. Maybe that's why I never felt for them tender feelings? There is no emotion when I see a puppy on the street; it rather annoys me. Besides, it seems to me that there is no point in having pets, except perhaps as guard animals or hunting dogs. But still, I think I like the two dogs. Largely because they belong to me best friends. It seems that I managed to love them because I love their owners. These dogs are so happy when I come that they evoke a response in me. However, this does not mean that I am ready to love other animals. But these dogs touch me, I’m used to them and I’m really happy to see them.”

What to do?

Be sensitive

Try to imagine yourself in the place of your friend who has four-legged friend. What feelings does his pet give him? Why is your friend so attached to him? By trying to find answers to these questions, you may be able to see the situation in a new way: discover that pets deserve interest and even love. A warm attitude you can actually learn to use them.

Get comfortable with your body

Communication with animals includes physical contact. Perhaps he is unpleasant to you because you generally feel awkward from any touch, both from people and animals, it’s just that the latter are more direct in their desire for affection. Learn to enjoy tactile sensations. A professional massage, the gentle touch of your partner or the evening ritual of applying cream or aromatic oils on your skin will help you discover these sensual joys.

Difficult feelings

Pets instinctively strive for physical contact with a person and expect a response from us. Communication with them always involves physical contact. When a person says that he does not like animals, this may mean that he is uncomfortable... in his body, as if he is cut off from his bodily sensations. Therefore, it would seem that such a simple and natural physical interaction with a cat, dog or guinea pig causes him fear and anxiety.

Those who are early childhood parents forbade them to behave the way small children usually behave, that is, guided by instincts and your own desires. “It’s amazing, but later, in his friends’ cat, which suddenly jumped onto his lap, such a person will see a clingy, uncontrollable child,” continues Irina Zemtseva. “And, like his parents (who do not accept spontaneous behavior), he will become angry and dislike her.”

To the one who is nearby

You shouldn’t judge someone who doesn’t like animals: he has his own reasons. But you can try to establish contact between him and your pet. Talk about what communication with him gives you. Having seen what role a four-legged friend plays in your life, what attention, tenderness and love he gives you, your interlocutor will be better able to understand the essence of the connection that is established between a person and a pet. You can slowly bring them closer together by showing what games and affection your pet especially prefers. But do not rush and do not force this communication under any circumstances.

"Let's save the animals!"
“The little dog needs a home!”
“Do not be indifferent to the suffering of our little brothers!”

Similar calls can be seen in hundreds social networks, in advertisements on poles, in newspapers, and even in subtitles for television shows. There are more and more people concerned about the fate of animals. More and more often, news reports contain columns about elderly people who keep dozens of cats in their cramped apartments. The number of shelters for dogs and other pets is growing. No one is surprised anymore by the volunteer teams that go every autumn to the ocean coast to rescue dolphins that have jumped out of the water. Charitable foundations in favor of endangered breeds of animals are growing every day. The level of culture and value are not only human life, but also animal life is rapidly increasing.

Analyzing all this, we believe that the world is becoming brighter and kinder. But is this really so? Does the level of hostility between people decrease with increasing love and attention to animals? After all, each of us usually thinks: “he loves all living creatures so much, he’s probably just as kind to people.” But do the ardent defenders of our little brothers have a friendly attitude towards people?

It turns out that this is not always the case. The lack of tolerance for people and even a modicum of love for them among lovers of four-legged animals can be seen in news reports and in complaints on various forums.

Thus, people living next door to cat owners note their hostility and high degree of hostility towards other people. They often complain about threats coming from their animal-loving neighbors.

The image of such people is very colorfully reflected in the heroine “Crazy Cat Lady” of the series “The Simpsons”. This character is a woman who surrounds herself with cats and uses them to protect herself from people by throwing small kittens at them.
Where does that warmth, that awe and love that these people show towards animals go when they have to interact with other people?

The defenders of our little brothers explain their hostile attitude towards others by saying that they are insidious, cruel, and greedy. This is not the case in animals. They will not betray, they will not kill for the sake of profit, they do not have that pettiness, bile and hatred that is inherent in people. But is this really the reason why affectionate attitude to animals and dislike for people? No! These are rationalizations that people seek to justify their behavior. The real reason is the insufficient development of the visual vector.

Mysteries of our vision

As soon as a person began to feel his neighbor, he had one desire - to eat him! He felt hostility towards his neighbor, because every person is a danger to another. But along with hostility came a feeling of complete dependence on each other. People could not and still cannot live alone. We depend on each other, we need each other. But the feeling of hostility from the feeling of dependence does not decrease. And then the need arose for a force that counteracts hostility - love. And this power was endowed with one vector – the visual.

Until now, only people with a visual vector are able to love as fiercely and sacrificially, as is sung in songs and spoken of in poems; the rest are only able to create emotional connections on this basis.

When we love the wrong ones

There are four levels of development of the visual vector, as well as all other vectors: inanimate, plant, animal and human. At the “human” level, the visual vector is capable of boundless love for all humanity - the highest degree of humanism. At the same time, he can create strong emotional bonds with both individuals and animals. But these emotions cannot fill the visual vector at the “person” level; the greatest satisfaction comes from connections with other people.

If the visual vector is at the animal level, then it is not capable of love for all of humanity, but only for individual people, as well as living creatures, plants and inanimate nature - for art, for example. But if the visual vector is at the plant level, then a person is able to experience love only in relation to four-legged animals, without being able to love a person, and, even more so, all of humanity.

But this is not enough to fully realize the visual vector and get maximum pleasure from life. That is why such people need not just one pet, but many at once, in order to create an emotional connection with each of them and, having filled their vector, enjoy life.

They cannot fall in love with a person, rarely create families, and remain lonely. This is confirmed by real-life examples - people who create nurseries or keep dozens of pets in their apartments, as a rule, do not have their own families, loved ones and children. Boundless love for pets can also appear in the event of loss loved one, due to a sharp break in the emotional connection with him. Then a temporary attempt is made to fill the deficiencies in the visual vector, creating smaller and more multiple emotional connections.

If people with an undeveloped visual vector do not create an emotional connection at all, do not give love to their pets, do not empathize with them, sympathize with their pain, then they will remain in fear and severe phobias. Surrounding themselves with animals protects them from fears, but do they benefit humanity?

Are all animal lovers incapable of loving people?

Of course, we can give many examples of people who carefully take care of their dogs or cats, but at the same time do not forget about people. They have children and full-fledged families, which means they are able to love both animals and people. And this does not at all contradict everything written above, it only means that the vector is at a level above the inanimate.
Any more high level includes the abilities of levels below it. But if a person with a visual vector in a developed state has to make a choice between saving another person and a cat, for example, he will give preference to the first.
People with an insufficiently developed visual vector are ready to cry at the sight of a homeless puppy, but they do not feel a drop of compassion for a child in a wheelchair.

The role of the visual vector is to reduce hostility through love, to create culture and secondary restrictions on primary urges, including murder. It is only thanks to the visual vector that we still exist in a team; without its influence, people would not be able to control their hostility towards each other.

With their emotionality, ability to sympathize, sympathize and love, people with a visual vector should reduce hostility in society. Make him truly kinder and more tolerant. And a developed visual vector copes well with this role. Advanced viewers are volunteers who travel to African countries to save children from serious illnesses. They are regulars at nursing homes, orphanages, and homes for the disabled.

With their sensitivity and ability to compassion, they instill hope in the hearts of sick people and the elderly. They create incredible kindness feature films that instill cultural values ​​in people. They write books and poems, sing songs about love and the brightest feelings. With such activities they help not only individual people, giving them their care and attention, but also humanity as a whole, reducing the level of hostility in society.

But remaining at a low level of development, inanimate or vegetative, they are not able to fully fulfill their species role. They are not capable of love for humans and are content with love for animals, which only gives them liberation from fears.

Why doesn't the visual vector develop?

Our vectors develop until puberty, after the end of this period a person cannot develop them, he can only realize himself. The development of each vector requires certain conditions. The visual vector develops, creating emotional connections, learning to love and compassion.

If a child with a visual vector does not create an emotional connection with his parents or with the people who are raising him, he begins to create these connections with his toys - teddy bears, bunnies, dolls. He sees them as living beings, talks to them, making up for the lack of connection with loved ones.

You can help a child develop his visual vector by teaching him compassion:
“Look, you dropped the doll, she’s in pain, let’s take pity on her.”
“Do you see the homeless dog? “She’s hungry, let’s feed her.”
“The child broke his leg, now it hurts, I feel sorry for him, what about you?”

But, if a child, right up to puberty, does not receive proper attention from the people around him, if he does not learn compassion and cannot create an emotional connection with people, then, having passed puberty, he will never be able to do this. And in this case, he will have only two options: to remain in fear for the rest of his life and suffer from phobias and panic attacks, or surround yourself with animals, never loving a person.

Written based on training materials on Systemic Vector Psychology by Yuri Burlan

Alena Nikolaeva, marketing specialist