About Anne Benvenuti

My bio

My bio? I'm too old for this!! If you told my eight-year-old self a few of the highlights, she wouldn't believe you. Or more likely, she'd grin from ear to ear and say, "I knew it!" I got a PhD in psychology. I sailed around the world. I made friends with a baby whale. I have the best circle of human friends you can imagine, and a soulful marriage. I have written two books that I love, Spirit Unleashed and Kindred Spirits. I was raised by two mothers, my beautiful birth mom and deep friend of my entire life, Corinne; and my beagle dog, Sherry, who let me cuddle up with her puppies and who looked after me as one of her own. Later, I was rescued from the abyss by a jack russell terrier, Molly Brown, yes, the unsinkable.

My vita

When asked what I do “in a word,” I often pause for a breath because what I do is integral scholarship and integral practice, and it’s not (yet) a recognized category. So there isn’t “a word” for it. I count myself among many pioneers in this work. I have long aspired to write and speak intellectually rigorous and well-informed work that is also practical, emotionally satisfying, and spiritually challenging. I know I am not alone. Many of us try to climb out of the boxes.

My second book, Kindred Spirits, an exploration of animal rescue, conservation, and sanctuary as a global phenomenon, was published in June 2021 by the University of Georgia Press.

My philosophy

My philosophy is simple: there is a universe to which we belong, from which we came, to which we return. This universe is a living and evolving being and we are members of it, roughly parallel to the way in which billion of cells make up the being that is me. Our existence is small in scope, but magnificent in significance because what we do has the potential to influence what others do, and what the universe does, in ways that we may never know. Therefore, we must do everything in our power to learn about ourselves and the world, to develop skillfulness so that we do the good we intend and not cause the suffering we hope to minimize.