The Rainbow Bridge is an imaginary place where we think or want to think that our beloved pets go when they pass away. On average, we humans find ourselves outliving our pets who do not live as long as we do. Despite this unshakeable statistical estimate that is flawless, we cannot accept it when our pet leaves us alone on the face of the Earth to go, precisely, to the Rainbow Bridge.
Let’s see what place it is and whether we can reach it up there, sooner or later.
The Rainbow Bridge: It Exists
The rainbow bridge exists for those who believe in it and for those who need to think that there is a place where dogs, cats, rabbits and goldfish go to live when they leave the Earth and leave us to our earthly existences. Obviously there is no proof of the existence of this bridge, today it is a legend but could there be a basis of reality? Who can and will ever be able to say? No one.
So it is up to us to decide what to believe and what to imagine when we find ourselves facing the death of our animals . Like many of you, I have found myself facing this suffering and I must admit that it is greater than I could have ever imagined. When you look at it from the inside, it seems obvious that we will outlive our dog or cat who live a maximum of twenty years and before that happens we are perhaps certain that we will accept their disappearance with rationality. And instead… I assure you that in everyday life, in the moment, it is really hard. Is it perhaps worth believing this legend to imagine a dog, or a cat, or a rabbit, or a horse, or any other animal in a peaceful and colorful place, up there, happy waiting for us. For those who believe that it exists, the coordinates are easy: it is located on the threshold of Heaven.
The Rainbow Bridge: Legend
The Legend of the Rainbow Bridge was given to us like many others by the American Indians and is dedicated to every animal that has loved humans but also to all the people who suffer or have suffered in the past for the death of an animal.
To reach the Rainbow Bridge you have to get to the other side of the rainbow. We are near Heaven, in a place that is called a bridge but it is not a bridge like the ones we build on rivers. It has little to do with it, in fact. In the Rainbow Bridge there are meadows and hills where our animals can run and play together.
Miraculously they know how to do it and there are no dogs and cats fighting, not even dogs fighting among themselves and gangs of cats doing the same. I always mention dogs and cats but there is no selection at the entrance. All the animals who have loved us and that we have loved sharing a part of life day after day can access the rainbow bridge .
As you can imagine, how can you find yourself wondering, how can these animals run happy and carefree if they arrived there all bruised? If they died young, most likely they have some bad disease or were mortally wounded, but they are certainly not in the condition to start jumping and running as if nothing had happened, do you think?
It is a typical magic of the Rainbow Bridge , when you come here you regain health and vigor, wounds heal and disappear, ailments disappear and even a possible senile nostalgia is not even conceived. Here everyone jumps and plays 24 hours a day because nocturnal animals are also allowed. If you have an owl as a friend, then do not worry, because the Rainbow Bridge is also for her.
It would all be perfect for the animals that live around here if they didn’t feel a lot of nostalgia for their owners just like we owners feel for them. But legend teaches us that sooner or later we will be reunited, rediscovering the understanding that has always existed between us.
In fact, while everyone is running and playing together, one day one suddenly stops and looks at the horizon, not in the void but towards his owner whose vibrations he feels approaching. So he breaks away from the group and starts running as if there was nothing else but his “human” to go and hug again. And it will be the moment to return to the cuddles of the past, to the rubs, to the caresses that they both missed so much.
The poetry of Alda Merini
On this subject, the well-known and beloved by me , Alda Merini, wrote a beautiful, heartbreaking poem . Here it is:
“Soul that I caress in the evening, and you are a
tired dog, but a dog that is always faithful.
A dog that stammers a name: master, my master.
Don’t leave me, soul, dog, never leave me .”
Books about life after death in the animal kingdom
Those who want to delve deeper into life after death in the animal kingdom, especially that of cats, can read “The Soul of Your Pet: Evidence for Animal Survival at Death ”. In this book, also available on Amazon, Scott S. Smith investigates, tells and questions – and questions us – about life after death in cats. It is a curious book for the curious, to be approached without distrust but with the desire to discover what people think and have thought on the subject. Then there is always The Rainbow Bridge ready to welcome us.