Animism is a natural human impulse, as odd as that might seem in the context of greater Western culture. If you have ever cussed out an electronic device or a curb you tripped over, thanked your car for making it there in time, or mourned the loss of a beloved item, you engaged with those things in an animistic way. Animism means understanding that everything has a soul, from you and me to every animal, plant, object, and place. It is a cosmological perspective on the nature of reality that is compatible with most cultures, traditions, and paths, and an important feature of the philosophies and cosmologies of a great many religions, both historic and modern.