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The figure of the animal appears in a surprising way within the Medieval West’s monastic spirituality of the eleventh century. The monk is invited to “imitate the animal” in his simplicity and his bravery in combat. Saint Pierre Damien on the one hand, and Othlon de Saint-Emmeran on the other, both invite their brothers to take the example of animals to reach the state of compunction which unites one with God. The two spirituals urge a conversion from discursive reason to “natural intelligence”, a faculty with respect to which there is a question, if not of rediscovery, at least of learning its exercise. On view here is an altogether singular promotion of instinct, accompanied by an abandonment of reason, on the road to salvation. It is to the examination of this thesis, which is surprising in its designation of the absence of rationality as a sure path that leads to God, that this article is devoted.