In grad school, I went to a lecture about West African art and culture. It's been a while and I can't remember what tribe the guy was referring to but the one thing that stuck with me all these years is that life is continual. The process goes from birth to a point of transition in one's teens and later when the person's "parachute" opens and they achieve their goals/purpose to dying and their spirit entering the ether for the next generation. In this case, the process was/is so important that people where punished if they conceived a child under the influence (of drugs, alcohol, etc.) Why? Because it weakened the energy channel that creates life.

I have a weird connection to animals...most natural things, including children. Dogs will leave their owners' sides to sit with me or even jump into my lap. Babies and children will look or wave at me as if they know me. It used to freak me out...but that was because I was feeding off of other people's reactions. My neighbor had a puppy who would jump into my arms and, perpelexed, people would ask, "Does she know this dog?" I'd shrug and escape as soon as possible.

This connection or being aware of this kind of relationship to nature was the first indicator that there was a process or flow that creates life over and over. All living things come from this flow and will return...only to come to life, again. This is best represented in the word "namaste" or honoring that place in you where the whole Universe resides. And when I am in that place in me and you are in that place in you, there is only one of us...this means the life continues even when there is death (a part of the cycle).