What Is Rainbow Bridge?, Is it good enough for you?? Options

[Punky's Mommy]

I'm sure it came from some poetry somewhere. I've never heard of it before coming here. I'd love to read the origins of this place.

But my purpose in posting is more serious. I wonder if you really believe in a Rainbow Bridge? Faith is something we adopt in order to deal with the incomprehensible. It helps people to cope. But what if relying on faith leaves you feeling shallow and deluded? I hope Punky is not at the base of a Bridge with all other animals in all time who have passed on. I do HOPE that he is up there, if it is even up, and his domain is more than the base of a Bridge, and he is content and entertained and active, knowing I will join him soon. But there is no proof of this. I am destroyed thinking there might be nothing after death. Punky is gone. He is no more. Just POOF. Just as he did not exist before his birth.

I ask, is euphemism good enough for you? Don't you feel panicked that this real world might be all there is? If you say "The Bible says it is so" then you again are relying on Faith and I go back to my original question. I've never desired faith more so than I do now, but it leaves me completely unsatisfied.

It's a level of suffering that no one talks about on this board, but I suspect many of you have wanted to.

[BabyHannahsMom]

I think the thought/idea of the Rainbow Bridge is beautiful, and I have to say that I do not think it is impossible. I BELIEVE in Heaven, and I believe if we go, our beloved animal children go too. And yes, sometimes I wonder if "this is all there is," and I don't want it to be because there are so many people and animal children I want to see again. It breaks my heart to think that might not be. So, I do believe in my heart, if for no other reason, than I want to believe. It doesn't hurt to believe, but it hurts not to. There are so many things that are real, but we cannot see them -- the air we breathe, the wind -- the whole huge Universe -- unbelievable, but very real.

Here is something I found about the Rainbow Bridge:

The Rainbow Bridge and The Navajo Connection
by Maryann Watkins

"Rainbow Bridge" is a beautiful piece of prose that suggests our departed pets wait for us to join them in the afterlife.

Rainbow Bridge is also a huge, natural rock formation located at Lake Powell on the Arizona/Utah border.

Is there a connection between the two? Wally Brown, a member of the Navajo Tribe's Bitter Water Clan, says a connection is quite likely. Brown is a Navajo historian; he has researched the Rainbow Bridge and the special significance it holds in the spiritual beliefs of the Navajo.

Brown believes the Rainbow Bridge was discovered during the Freemont Culture which dates to 1200 A.D. Sand paintings of the Anasazi and the Towering Hang People clearly portray the rock formation as well. For centuries, the Rainbow Bridge has been the sacred site of Native American healing ceremonies - ceremonies which heal a person's spiritual nature.

According to Brown, the Rainbow Bridge represents a connection between this life and the next - a path provided to make the passing easier. He says the term "rainbow" comes, not only from the formation's shape itself, but also from the stories of people who saw a bright, white light as they were dying. White light is a combination of all the colors found in a rainbow.

Brown says Navajos believe that all animals can talk and that humans could, at one time, "clearly understand and communicate with their four-legged brothers." He says this communication is a major part of the Navajo stories passed from generation to generation (considered do%%entation of the tribe's history). As time progressed, however, and the Navajo culture became diluted by outside influences, the ability to talk with the animals was impaired. As he put it, "When a people lose a sense of the culture, the beliefs are thrown by the wayside - and the human abilities found in those beliefs are lost as well."

The question is asked again: Is there a true connection between "Rainbow Bridge" (the prose) and Rainbow Bridge (the rock formation considered a sacred site by the Navajos)? Since the author of the piece is unknown, the origin of the concept may never be discovered. Such a connection also depends on one's spiritual beliefs and is very personal in nature.

Wally Brown, for one, says the association fits because the Navajos believe in the equality of all souls - human and animal. He says the thought of being reunited with his beloved animals is quite comforting, and "what better place than the Rainbow Bridge?"
Copyright © 1997 Maryann Watkins
I found this at:

Punky's mommy, another great topic. Thanks.
Love,
Marcia